Issues with my first propane smoker

[doktorekny]

Hi

Im a novice at smoking. I got a propane vertical DynoGlo smoker (with 2 doors) but run into some issues with my first smoke. Questions:

1 - Should the gas be leaking once the valve on the smoker is in the OFF position?   (bottle valve is in the ON position). Basically I finished smoking and fogot to close the valve on the bottle. I know I should close the bottle valve but SHOULD there be any gas leaking out of the control unit on the smoker? I dont think that is normal. I dont do that on my grills at all.  I called the customer service  - they say its normal  but that doesnt sound normal to me

2 - When I was seasoning the smoker, flame was pretty even. When I was smoking - every 3 holes on the burner had a different size flame. Im assuming that is not normal.

3 - How do I control smoke? Common sense says that you open up lower valve to raise temp. In my case it doesnt do anything since in a propane smoker. Opening and closing the vents on top of bottom doesnt seem to do much.

It seems that the manufacturer doesnt want to change my control unit/actuator so Im ready to return depending on what I hear on misc forums

Please help the novice out.

Thank you in advance

 

[gary s]

  Good evening and welcome to the forum, from another hot, day in East Texas and the best site on the web. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about  everything.

Gary

 

[cal1956]

to answer your 1st question

it should not leak but with that said , I have forgot to turn off the tank valve a couple of time's and came back a week later to an empty propane tank

question 2

the flame should be blue and even on all settings

question 3

to get it smoking the way I do it is this : load the meat then the chips/blocks , turn the flame to high , once it gets smoking really good turn the flame to low ,   then ad chips /blocks if you want more smoke ( mine does not even have vent controls, mine is just an open stack with a rain cap  )

i have been using a vertical propane smoker for many years , and i love em 

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• cal1956
• Aug 10, 2015

 

[doktorekny]

Thanks "cal" for your feedback

 

[rdknb]

I do not think it should be leaking, but have never not turned off the tank on mine to see

Flame could be even all the time

I warm up my smoker to the temp I want and also add the wood before cooking.  You want a thin blue smoke when you put on the meat. You can always add more but can't pull out if to much smoke

 

[rdknb]

oh and top vent all the way open when smoking

 

[cal1956]

if you wait and add the wood after it gets warm/hot you won't get much if any smoke on a hot day , most propane smoker do not have temp controls just high, med and low . if you warm it first then add wood the flame might not be hot enough to get the wood to start smoking

that's why I start on high then reduce the flame  .  with a propane smoker in summer , you might even have to turn the flame off for a few minutes to maintain the desired temp because even on low on a hot day the temp will keep rising

 

[doktorekny]

Thank you guys. That is helpful info.  I was lucky enough to have the manufacturer change entire burner assembly (after 3 calls talking to 3 reps). Im installing a needle valve to help the temperature. I will keep all the vents open in the summer.

Thank you

 

[cal1956]

let us know how it all works out for you