Auber Dual 1800 watt PID - What heater?

[dwolson]

OK, I have searched the forums but have been coming up blank.  I have an old used Southbend gas convection oven that I am converting to an electric smoker.  The convection holes will be insulated and closed off.  There will be a chimney on top.  It is 4" and has a damper.  I will be using my Smoke Daddy for smoke generation.

This is the type of oven I am converting:

http://www.foodservicewarehouse.com/southbend/bgs12sc/p2541.aspx

I am intersted in utilizing the following PID:

http://www.auberins.com/index.php?m...id=203&zenid=25de4806fdb8fead1e3ad6a282c10abc

I am also looking at using this element with the PID:

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/VULCAN-Stainless-Steel-Finned-Strip-Heater-4E267?Pid=search

So, before I plunge into a purchase, I need some help from those with experience.  One of my main concerns is weather the element will get the oven hot enough or not?  I want to be able to occasionaly get up to 350F for poultry.

Any input?  Any other advice?

Thanks,

Dave

 

[michael ark]

Save your money on everything for meat and just change it over to lp.LP will get hot enough to smolder wood chuncks.Just add a flue pipe.It was 54,000 btu and rated at 500f max temp.So you need to change btu to watts to get a ideal on how big of a element you need if you have to have a watt burrner.

 

[dwolson]

Awesome idea. Unfortunatly all the gas stuff is gone. I didn't mention that I got it as scrap. All I have is the shell. So, im going electric so I can use the PID.

Thanks though.

 

[michael ark]

One of your elements would be 4,265.1775 BTU. So one would not do it. If want to save money get a grill repair burrner and a lp hose on clearnce it's that time of year.

 

[michael ark]

http://www.rapidtables.com/convert/power/Watt_to_BTU.htm  This may help.

 

[justpassingthru]

Hey Dave,

Welcome to SMF!!!

Your link for the oven doesn't work for me, so I don't know how big it is, so I can't really say if the 1250 watt is enough.

I can tell you of my experience with my GOSM that I installed a PID controlled heater strip in, it has 9.6 cu ft, ...I started out with a 700 watt heater and it took waaaay to long to come up to temp with the smoker full so I bought the same heater strip you are looking at from Granger, ...works fine now.

I installed my heater strip and thermostat on the back of the smoker, the heat went straight up, front was cold and the back was too hot, so built a deflector plate to spread the heat around, ...something you might want to think about in advance.

Sure hope you start a thread about your build so we can follow it.

Gene

 

[dwolson]

Hey Dave,

Welcome to SMF!!!

Your link for the oven doesn't work for me, so I don't know how big it is, so I can't really say if the 1250 watt is enough.

I can tell you of my experience with my GOSM that I installed a PID controlled heater strip in, it has 9.6 cu ft, ...I started out with a 700 watt heater and it took waaaay to long to come up to temp with the smoker full so I bought the same heater strip you are looking at from Granger, ...works fine now.

I installed my heater strip and thermostat on the back of the smoker, the heat went straight up, front was cold and the back was too hot, so built a deflector plate to spread the heat around, ...something you might want to think about in advance.

Sure hope you start a thread about your build so we can follow it.

Gene

Gene,

The interior dimensions are 20"X29"X22.5".  So, I think that makes a area of 7.23 square feet...right?  You think the 1250W, 120 volt should do the trick?  Is it feasible to get to 350F?

Michael Ark,

Thanks for the info!

 

[michael ark]

I looked at you oven website and found the same oven in electric.http://www.foodservicewarehouse.com/duke/e101-ev/p513431.aspx  It is 11kw as a oven so some were less than that you should be in the range you want.I see your way up north so your going to need all you can get for a year round smoker.

 

[dwolson]

Yeh, it gets pretty cold up here.  The oven is insulated pretty well though.  I typically will be around 225'ish for most of what I do.Occasioanlly I will want to do checkens or turkeys.  In those cases I woudl like to get to the mid 300's to finish them off.

 

[dwolson]

I just found these.  These would be better becasue of the higher wattage I think.

1550watt:

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/ww...uery=2xdy7&op=search&Ntt=2xdy7&N=0&sst=subset

1900watt:

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/ww...uery=2xej8&op=search&Ntt=2xej8&N=0&sst=subset

 

[michael ark]

Ths may help save a whole lot on pid and he uses the element you listed.http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/91229/just-the-beginning-of-my-fridge-smoker-project

 

[dwolson]

Hmm, yeh I talked to him.  He said he has trouble getting up there to the higher temps.  However, he has a much larger smoker.

Thanks a mill for the help and input!!!

 

[justpassingthru]

Morning Dave,

I not an expert, so I don't know how much I can help you, but I've had mine over 450° the first time I used it, ...I programmed the PID wrong, I would think the heater would heat to whatever temp it would reach before it failed and that would probably be higher than any temp we would need for smoking.

The reason I installed electric is because of my ambient temp of 81°, I couldn't go below 180° with the propane and I wanted to make sausage, ...and that was at night and I like my sleep.  LOL

The 700 watt worked fine with the smoker empty, but when it's loaded with sausage it takes the wattage to bring the temps up, I have the Auber ramp/soak  PID, it's different from yours so I don't know how yours works, but with mine in the ramp cycle if the set temp isn't reached by the time programmed it won't advance to the next step, with the 700 watt I had to program ramp times of 1 1/2 hours to climb 20° and I didn't feel comfortable with that, now with the smoker full the 1250 watt will climb 20° in less than 15 minutes.

For me I only have a 100° window to reach, 80°-180° for sausage so the 1250 watt is perfect, I use the propane and the WSM for the higher heat smokes.

I hope that helps,

Gene

 

[michael ark]

Here is another way to save money unless you already have a smoke daddy.http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/91229/just-the-beginning-of-my-fridge-smoker-project