Electric "module" in propane unit.

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ericksaint

Fire Starter
Original poster
Jun 12, 2017
67
11
So after doing a batch of snack sticks in my 30" Masterbuilt dual fuel I got to thinking. I have a needle valve but the wind was ridiculous so keeping low temps with such a small flame was kind of a chore, even after making a wind block around most of the bottom I had to babysit the thing A LOT. Next step before doing another smoke now that winter is here, is a welding blanket jacket and maybe some other insulation.

So what I wanted to do was have a removable electric module that I could use when I smoke at low temps like that, would never get up over say 170 pit temp with electric. Not looking for any high temp stuff on the electric.

I want to build a PID to set and hold the temps as needed for sticks and sausage. Was looking at making the PID with a SSR that controls an outlet, then use an element plugged into the outlet to keep it removable. Pellet tube will be used for smoke.

I have seen the $50 universal element on Amazon, but I don't think it will fit in my cabinet, or barely fit, cabinet is about 13x13. But then it looks like I'd have to cut a hole in the side to mount it and plug in the controller that comes with it. Would I then just run that controller set to high, plugged into the PID and let the PID do the temp control?

I have the cast iron mod done to my unit, could I mount the element above that and leave it in all the time? Or would the flame/heat from using it as a gasser mess up the element? Or since the temps are so low could I just run a single burner 1000w hot plate in place of the cast iron, I know I would likely have to disable the thermal protection of the hotplate, and have that cranked to high, again hooked to the PID? I don't ever use the waterpan rack that came with it. I just use a waterpan on the lowest rack, which I thought about replacing with some firebricks I have in the garage. So there would be room to mount the element and have a heatsink between the element and the smoke chamber, but kind of wanted it to come out when not in use.

Sorry for all the questions. I searched threads but really only came up with stuff about people wanting a full power electric smoker, I'm just looking for low temp and the smoke will be coming from elsewhere.
 
I have to measure the actual internal dimensions of the box tomorrow. I'm going by size of a spare rack I have in the house. It's 13.5x13.5ish, so I probably have about 15x15 actual dimensions. It would likely fit, but it would be tight and not an easy to remove part once it was installed. I'm ok with it not coming out, just concerned if I were to get a flare up from wood chunks in the pan burning the element.

I have an old hotplate here that I used to use for lighting hookah coals, no idea what watt it is, gotta be 10 years old. I'm going to setup my maverick in the oven, then run that in the bottom with the door cracked like I was doing a jerky batch. cook area is going to be similar but not exact, and the oven will be way more insulated than my actual smoker is. But it might be a decent test to see how hot it will get the space in the oven. Like I said, I don't see a need to ever go over 170 for my needs.
 
I went looking for it and couldn't find it so I must have junked it. Meh, oh well. A new 1000w is like 10 bucks at walmart.
 
I've been toying with the idea of putting an electric charcoal starter with dimmer switch or SSR setup (no PID,I'm too cheap) to warm smoke in my WSM 14.5.I'm aiming for the same temps as you are.Will probably end up with a hotplate burner though.
 
Hotplate seems the easiest to take in and out for me. I'm going to start there and see what happens after some bench testing. Nice days are about gone here in the midwest, so I may play around all winter with it. Who knows. I like to tinker. I'm not keen on spending 200 bucks on the plug and play units, though they are nice. Inkbird has a complete PID kit on amazon that you can pick up minus the project box for a decent price. But there are a ton of others to choose from depending on your budget. Honestly I just like this one because a lot of others I looked at were in Celsius only, this one does both.

 
I'll check it out further when I have some time to do the ohms law calculation. But I think you only get a 1/4 of the wattage running at half the voltage. So you'd only be getting 650 out of that without running a 220 outlet to the unit.

I'm guessing that's a 220 element because it's for an electric stove.
 
It doesn't say it's 220,I just assume it is since I wouldn't think they'step it down.Don't really know...Have to see if I can find my meter and test my stove.
 
I don't have any real input and it seems like you are on it. I'm just going to watch and see how it goes :)
 
When you go past about 1500w on 120v you need to go to to a higher amp breaker. I only have 15 amp service in my house, if I recall you need 20amp for a large element like that.

That being said, I stopped and picked up the $10 1000w hotplate from wally world yesterday. Been working on some testing.

I have it in the oven at max with the door cracked, so far I haven't noticed to burner clicked off, its always been glowing.
20171123_132852.jpg

It got up to about 150 in a half hour, this is where it's sitting after a solid hour. Thats about 175, my maverick probes were in the garage, this thing is pretty accurate.
20171123_135956.jpg

This is all with an ambient house temp of around 65 and no wind, so not sure how well it would work in the cold Wisconsin winter. I'll give it another 30 minutes with the door cracked then close the door and see what happens in the sealed oven. Figured door cracked is a more realistic test of the smoker because of its leaks, burner openings etc.

I did pick up a fiberglass welding blanket and I have about a roll of reflectix leftover from another project. So I might be able to get it pretty well insulated.
 
So with the oven door closed it got to 250 before the thermal cutoff inside shut it down. I had opened it up before I started playing around. I didn't see a thermal cutoff mounted to cabinet housing so I'm guessing it's the little red thing on the dial that I circled in red in the pic. So I guess if I need to bypass that and just make it a plug in only element it'll be easy enough.

20171123_125735.jpg
20171123_162216.jpg
 
That's weird, my store had about 10 on the shelf.

Supposed to be windy, but close to 50 tomorrow. So maybe I'll get a chance to check some pit temps outside while working on the insulation.
 
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