# how much draft?



## engineman (Jul 18, 2014)

most  ecb draught mods seem to be 2 weber type vents in the bottom, yet reading several posts, they only get opened half way.

Is the original central hole big enough for the required air flow, if so, why all the extra vents??


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## kc5tpy (Jul 18, 2014)

Hello.  Some build mods are for "just in case".  Better to add it in the first time than to have to redo something and maybe repaint.  When it comes to air flow in the smoker, some of it has to do with where the smoker is sitting.  Do you have a good breeze around the smoker?  If the breeze is coming from the left now and then 3 hours later the wind direction changes do you want to be picking the smoker up and turning it?  How about if today you have VERY little or no breeze from ANY direction, you need all the vents you can have.  Also you can open the vents to bring the smoker up to temp and then start shutting down to reach the required smoking temp.  Another useful reason for the extra vents is that it turns the ECB into a more useful smoker.  Lid off.  Take out the water pan, remove the top cooking grate, build a REALLY hot fire with all the vents open and now you can use the ECB to grill steaks.

As I have said, I don't have an ECB now but I owned one many years ago.  It rusted down from lack of use.  I didn't know about the mods way back when.  They have improved slightly but the old ones were like a bear with a sore head without the mods.  I HATED that sucker!!  I would follow the advice of the ECB owners as they have that smoker doing fantastic things for what it is.  Can't beat experience.  Just my opinion.  Maybe other folks have better ideas.  Keep Smokin!

Danny


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