Can't get it above 200

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cjj67

Newbie
Original poster
May 27, 2010
5
10
I built a reverse flow smoker and my problem is that I can't get the temps up past 200. I don't know if my vent holes are too small for air to the fire or that the opening in the reverse flow plate is too big (I read that in this forum) or if I am not using enough chimneys (2) or what. I don't have access to fruit wood so I am trying to find some hard woods or avocado. Again, thanks for all the help and postings. Oh yeah, my first attempt was properly moved to the Roll Call section. I should have thought of that. Enjoy the long weekend!!!

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What kind of fire is it?  You said you didn't have access to fruit wood but are you using charcoal also?  I would try things like cracking the door open a little on the firebox.  You could also lay something over the RF opening to decrease the size a little.  This will help trouble shoot to see if your problem is in the openings.  Hope this helps..  Let us know the outcome.
 
how did you do the fire box opening? can you upload a pic of the fitting you made, it looks like a piece of ductwork or something . the gap at the end of your baffle plate, from what i have been told and also by my own research, should be equal to the square inches of the space under the baffle plate. it winds up being a little more than the area of your firebox opening. did you use the calculator to help you with the size of your openings?   (calculator for round firebox) good luck!! 
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I think your firebox might be too small. and the opening to the cooking area looks small too.
 
from what I can see of the pics, I think the opening from the firebox to your smoking area is way too small. While you did a very nice job on it fabrication wise, you really need to have like almost half the radius of the firebox opening from the firebox to the smoker. so almost like cutting the end of the firebox halfway down and weld that onto the smoke box like you see with other pits. Now you don't have to make it like that but you still need the opening that big to allow good heat transfer.
 
I really appreciate all the help but I need to get a larger fire box. The opening from the firebox to the cook chamber is 5x10 inside measurement with what I thought was at least on a 30 gallon tank. From what I've been told, it is not anywhere near 30 gallons. I did use the calculator to determine the opening between the two tanks, but that was under the impression that I had the correct sized tanks to start with. Apparently I don't. Thanks for all the help and great guidance but I should fix this before I waste any more of your time.

Thanks again.  
 
if you need it here is a volume calculator that will tell you the volume of your tank in gallons. the one at the top of the page is for square tanks and the one at the bottom is for round tanks.
 
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