- Aug 2, 2017
- 6
- 10
Hey guys, new to the forum! Mods: I posted in this group as well after realizing it may not get the views needed to generate responses in the folder above this one...
So I picked up the smoker bug recently at home, and I'm kind of addicted.
I volunteer with the FD and our non profit is looking for new ways to make some $...
As it happens, at one of our stations I ran into a fire hose drying cabinet:
So I'm estimating the unit is 4' wide, maybe 3 1/2' deep, and maybe 6' high, 10 racks inside. Three sides are insulated, the top has a fan to eject the humid air, the bottom is a grated floor that is open to the back where the electric heating coils are (and maybe another fan to push air in).
So we of course see this and think of how many racks of ribs we can do at the same time, and automatically think "let's ditch the crab feed and go with a BBQ fundraiser"...
So some random thoughts and ideas...TOTAL newbie to something of this scale, so maybe some of my ideas are non-starters...so be gentle. :)
1. Insulation part 1. This has been used to dry fire hose exposed to who-knows-what kind of chemicals that spring up at fires. We are thinking we may need to re-insulate it to make sure off-gassing doesn't poison our customers.
2. Insulation part 2. We were thinking to keep the racks from tearing it up, whatever insulation we put in, we may need to somehow slip in some stainless steel sheeting to protect it. Currently it's just a foil-covered something-or-other type material...we don't know how badly it could be torn up if a rack gets put in crooked.
3. Insulation part 3. If we pull the insulation, what is a good replacement (it's maybe 1" thick)...those rack runners are welded on, so ideally something pliable enough to be slipped between the runners and the wall, but strong enough not to tear in the process.
4. Insulation part 4. Do you guys think the doors need insulated as well?
5. Heat. Pellet or Propane? Pellet is of course great, but requires a generator to provide power constantly. Gas is not as great, but no power required. We aren't thinking of using wood in an offset box simply because of space...this unit needs to fit on a smaller sized trailer for transport, and hauling a 2nd trailer of wood just doesn't appeal to our easy set up and operation model.
6. If pellet...we were initially thinking of getting two of those pellet feeders that have their own temp sensor...one on each side...but we have NO idea if two will provide enough efficient heat to cook over all of the racks (and we are thinking the bottom 2 may need to go to make room for whatever heat source we go with).
7. If gas, I have no idea where to find cooking-grade gas burners that can somehow have a temp hold ability (like my little Masterbuilt unit does).
8. Transport-ability...as mentioned in item 4, we'd like this to fit onto a small flatbed trailer that we could use to make it mobile and easy to set up/tear down for fundraising BBQs.
9. Fan on the top...keep or remove? Opening is like 8" or 10" around, so I'm thinking that's WAY too much heat loss on the top. Was wondering about just having that sealed and putting a smaller one on top or maybe get creative and use some building fire piping adapters to make it scream "FD" a bit more.
10. Existing heating element...thinking we just rip it off the back and seal it...add some vents to the bottom on the sides to adjust airflow.
11. Raised flooring...thinking of keeping that and maybe setting it up to catch the drippings and make it easy to clean out.
...and of course a nice new paint job, FD decals...blah blah blah.
So if you were to be given this cabinet...would you even try what we are thinking of? If so, what are your thoughts on the items above? What thoughts do you guys have that I haven't even contemplated?
Thanks!
Rob
So I picked up the smoker bug recently at home, and I'm kind of addicted.
I volunteer with the FD and our non profit is looking for new ways to make some $...
As it happens, at one of our stations I ran into a fire hose drying cabinet:
So I'm estimating the unit is 4' wide, maybe 3 1/2' deep, and maybe 6' high, 10 racks inside. Three sides are insulated, the top has a fan to eject the humid air, the bottom is a grated floor that is open to the back where the electric heating coils are (and maybe another fan to push air in).
So we of course see this and think of how many racks of ribs we can do at the same time, and automatically think "let's ditch the crab feed and go with a BBQ fundraiser"...
So some random thoughts and ideas...TOTAL newbie to something of this scale, so maybe some of my ideas are non-starters...so be gentle. :)
1. Insulation part 1. This has been used to dry fire hose exposed to who-knows-what kind of chemicals that spring up at fires. We are thinking we may need to re-insulate it to make sure off-gassing doesn't poison our customers.
2. Insulation part 2. We were thinking to keep the racks from tearing it up, whatever insulation we put in, we may need to somehow slip in some stainless steel sheeting to protect it. Currently it's just a foil-covered something-or-other type material...we don't know how badly it could be torn up if a rack gets put in crooked.
3. Insulation part 3. If we pull the insulation, what is a good replacement (it's maybe 1" thick)...those rack runners are welded on, so ideally something pliable enough to be slipped between the runners and the wall, but strong enough not to tear in the process.
4. Insulation part 4. Do you guys think the doors need insulated as well?
5. Heat. Pellet or Propane? Pellet is of course great, but requires a generator to provide power constantly. Gas is not as great, but no power required. We aren't thinking of using wood in an offset box simply because of space...this unit needs to fit on a smaller sized trailer for transport, and hauling a 2nd trailer of wood just doesn't appeal to our easy set up and operation model.
6. If pellet...we were initially thinking of getting two of those pellet feeders that have their own temp sensor...one on each side...but we have NO idea if two will provide enough efficient heat to cook over all of the racks (and we are thinking the bottom 2 may need to go to make room for whatever heat source we go with).
7. If gas, I have no idea where to find cooking-grade gas burners that can somehow have a temp hold ability (like my little Masterbuilt unit does).
8. Transport-ability...as mentioned in item 4, we'd like this to fit onto a small flatbed trailer that we could use to make it mobile and easy to set up/tear down for fundraising BBQs.
9. Fan on the top...keep or remove? Opening is like 8" or 10" around, so I'm thinking that's WAY too much heat loss on the top. Was wondering about just having that sealed and putting a smaller one on top or maybe get creative and use some building fire piping adapters to make it scream "FD" a bit more.
10. Existing heating element...thinking we just rip it off the back and seal it...add some vents to the bottom on the sides to adjust airflow.
11. Raised flooring...thinking of keeping that and maybe setting it up to catch the drippings and make it easy to clean out.
...and of course a nice new paint job, FD decals...blah blah blah.
So if you were to be given this cabinet...would you even try what we are thinking of? If so, what are your thoughts on the items above? What thoughts do you guys have that I haven't even contemplated?
Thanks!
Rob
