Smoke Vault gas smoker makeover

[Ringer]

And the drain pipe stack has to go, wife will never adjust to that

Sure enough! But for us guys...if it works

 

[mosparky]

Glad my spit-ball'n helped. I've gotten so much help here just from reading other folks troubles and solutions, glad to pay it forward.
Gonna have to agree with your wife. At the very least paint that thing Black,

 

[Nefarious]

Glad my spit-ball'n helped. I've gotten so much help here just from reading other folks troubles and solutions, glad to pay it forward.
Gonna have to agree with your wife. At the very least paint that thing Black,

I guess I agree as well. I was just able to sort out the problem without having to buy the wrong parts. Yesterday I had a 38" stack that gave me more confidence that what you said was in the right direction.

 

[Nefarious]

Ringer I am in the waiting room for wifes surgery and its too cold to work outside. Do you get water in your mailbox when you burn pellets? I do, and it is from the pellet tube. It collects on the bottom where it touches the mailbox. I'm trying to decide if I need the intake holes bigger.

 

[Ringer]

Ringer I am in the waiting room for wifes surgery and its too cold to work outside. Do you get water in your mailbox when you burn pellets? I do, and it is from the pellet tube. It collects on the bottom where it touches the mailbox. I'm trying to decide if I need the intake holes bigger.

First, good luck on your wife's surgery. I do not get water in my mailbox. I do get sticky creasote tar stuff though. I microwave my pellets for 2 minutes prior to lighting them. I usually see steam every time I stir them out of the microwave though.

 

[mosparky]

Above my pay grade here, but I'll throw this out for consideration. The moisture condensation may be endemic of the spent propane atmosphere and somewhat unavoidable. That's the only significant difference from your Vault and my MES.
You are in relatively uncharted territory. I think a few members have added mailboxes to gas smokers, but they seem to have gone dark. Now you maybe the one and only active member doing it.
My vote is "don't worry about it". Your mailbox is stainless, the Vault is stainless, nothing is going to rust. Other than the nuisance of the un-answered question ( I know how irritating that is ) there doesn't seem to be any reason to persue the cause. Leave it as a curiosity and enjoy the great food.
I look forward to hearing the cause and remedy if you choose to persue the answer.

 

[Nefarious]

First, good luck on your wife's surgery. I do not get water in my mailbox. I do get sticky creasote tar stuff though. I microwave my pellets for 2 minutes prior to lighting them. I usually see steam every time I stir them out of the microwave though.

Thanks, I appreciate your perspective. Thats 2 minutes on high? I will play around with that, I have a couple.of days of loafing around. If that makes it better, I'm ok with it. The problem is, it drips out of the holes in the bottom and leaves a big black stain and you know who won't be happy with that.

 

[Nefarious]

Above my pay grade here, but I'll throw this out for consideration. The moisture condensation may be endemic of the spent propane atmosphere and somewhat unavoidable. That's the only significant difference from your Vault and my MES.
You are in relatively uncharted territory. I think a few members have added mailboxes to gas smokers, but they seem to have gone dark. Now you maybe the one and only active member doing it.
My vote is "don't worry about it". Your mailbox is stainless, the Vault is stainless, nothing is going to rust. Other than the nuisance of the un-answered question ( I know how irritating that is ) there doesn't seem to be any reason to persue the cause. Leave it as a curiosity and enjoy the great food.
I look forward to hearing the cause and remedy if you choose to persue the answer.

I'm not so worried about the mailbox or smoker, it leave a big black spot under the mailbox on my paving stone patio and that won't go over big.

i agree the easiest work around will be sufficient, although knowing why would be a good thing. I have to take the mailbox off again so I might just drill the holes another size bigger to see if it makes a difference.

 

[Ringer]

Thanks, I appreciate your perspective. Thats 2 minutes on high? I will play around with that, I have a couple.of days of loafing around. If that makes it better, I'm ok with it. The problem is, it drips out of the holes in the bottom and leaves a big black stain and you know who won't be happy with that.

Yes sir, 2 minutes on high then stir them, you will see steam. You can go another 20-30 seconds after that but I wouldn't go too far past that. They will burn and stink.

Also, mosparky is probably spot on with your moisture source being spent propane.

 

[Nefarious]

Also, mosparky is probably spot on with your moisture source being spent propane.

If thats true then I should be able to run for a period of time without burning the wood and get the same puddle?

 

[mosparky]

maybe, maybe not. The result may be due to the chips burning in the spent propane atmosphere. Gonna have to give some thought as to how to prove the theory. Maybe try running the chips in an unlit smoker, see if you get moisture without the spent propane.

 

[Nefarious]

maybe, maybe not. The result may be due to the chips burning in the spent propane atmosphere. Gonna have to give some thought as to how to prove the theory. Maybe try running the chips in an unlit smoker, see if you get moisture without the spent propane.

just a discussion. I don't know and am just talking about things that might jar some thoughts.

By spent propane you mean the bi products of burning the propane?

There should be no reason for any air from the smoker to end up in the mailbox, the draw is the other direction. Also, the hot air from the combustion in the smoker will only go down into the mailbox if there is sufficient pressure and we just unblocked the restriction and there is a steady flow out of the smoker through the exhaust vent.

It is known that there is liquid in the pellets, several people have posted that they microwave them and get some steam from that process.

I can't work tomorrow, my wife just had ACL surgery and the temp is in the low 30s. Very unlikely I will be working on it in the next couple of days. I will do the following:

Run for 30 minutes with no wood burning.

Microwave the pellets as Ringer has done to see if that has an effect. I should have already done this.

 

[Fueling Around]

Combustion (or burning) of almost anything primarily produces water vapor and carbon dioxide.
I'll use propane as an example. C3H8 + O2 = H2O + CO2 (no I didn't balance the equation).
Burning wood adds a lot of other components (creosote) but the primary output is still water vapor and carbon dioxide.
The creosote will condense or collect as a dark varnish on the cooler surfaces. Here is my Jumbo Joe lid after the first smoke.



The inside of your mailbox should have a similar varnish.

Cool it even more and the water vapor condenses into liquid and dissolves the creosote to produce the nasty drips on your patio

Fix? Put a drip pan under the mailbox

 

[Ringer]

If thats true then I should be able to run for a period of time without burning the wood and get the same puddle?

I took a look at my mes setup and found a huge drip puddle under my stack. Mine is a side stack and it has a little rain guard on it. The moisture collects around the rain guard and drips down the stack onto the deck. I don't really ever go to that side but sure enough its there. I agree with Fueling Around and mosparky here. They identified the "why" but I'm not sure there is a way to solve it within reason. You could insulate the exterior of the mailbox but im not sure that would even work. Like they said, a drip pan mounted under it or set on the floor under it would mitigate the side effect though.

 

[OldSmoke]

I am not getting any water from my generator. That may be due to it being smaller, and the air eductor keeps a flow of air moving though the box so moisture, if there is any, moves on through. The box stays pretty hot.

Overall, I am very happy with the addition. It works great when smoking at lower temps for cheese, jerky, and salmon.

 

[OldSmoke]

This is my fan setup. Although it should be mounted in the middle of the back panel, I recommend not mounting it directly to the back of the smoker. It gets really hot. I ended up adding some standoffs to leave a bit of an air gap to provide some cooling. Most of the convection fans have a long shaft so this should not be a problem. I also put some screened vents in the sides of the box to help cool. I used a metal electrical junction box.

I do believe the fan is a game changer for these little cabinet smokers. I get consistent temps throughout the cabinet, better smoke dispersion, and better bark. It is great for jerky where you need some drying action.

 

[Nefarious]

I'm able to work on this some more, no longer playing nurse to wife after her ACL surgery.

OldSmoke when you mix pellets and wood to get more smoke do you just mix it all together or do you put in layer of pellets and layer of wood, ...?

I am getting more smoke after I plugged 3 of the mailbox holes but still I can hardly see it at times. I smoked some ribs for 4 hours on Tuesday and could just barley taste the smoke.

 

[OldSmoke]

I just mix it together. I go lighter or heavier on the chips depending on how much smoke I want.

 

[Nefarious]

Made some good progress today. First I did what I should have.done the first time. I put the pellets in the microwave for 2 minutes and it greatly reduced the liquid in the mailbox.

Next I just decided to plug 2 of the intake holes in the mailbox and was able to get much more smoke consistently. Closed a third hole and then changed the temperature from 270° to 220°, ... All the way down to 120° and got what looks like the same amount of smoke, one never knows until cook time but that all looks good.

I have 3 more things to add:
1) since I cut the exhaust out of the top, that hole needs plugged and then I need to add a vent stack. I'm going to put the vent stack on the side opposite the mailbox.

2) i want to add a circulation fan as both OldSmoke and Ringer have done. I'll start to figure that out now. This will be mounted on the back just above the thermometer. Or maybe where the thermometer is and lower the thermometer. I have to go back and look it over.

3) the help with the temperature swings I am going to add some thermal mass the sides of the smoker. I will use hardie board and the pieces will be about 6" high x 1 6" long. They will sit on the inside area about the level of the handles.

 

[OldSmoke]

This will be mounted on the back just above the thermometer.

Keep it mind these are not a normal fan. They do not blow at you, they are more like a paddle wheel. Getting centered on the back panel seems best. I’ve seen some mounted in a corner or on the top panel and I wonder about the effectiveness.