# Modifying a electric oven to smoke



## fergy (Aug 15, 2017)

Hi there I have an electric oven I have just acquired 
And I would like to convert it to a smoker 
Something like a smokeshak or a MES with balls 
The oven I have is the 200lt 2000 series contherm 
http://www.contherm.co.nz/Brochures/2000.pdf
It's capable of 500f of as low as 40f above ambient temp
The thing I'm not sure of is the airflow 
It has an air exchange rate of 25 lpm (6 3/5 gpm)
Is that any where near enough ? 
I know there is an option of 5cfm but not sure what it entails 
It does have a fan on when running I suppose I'm after some advise on weather I should try it or the flow is to low and I should convert it first 
Any ideas?


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## fergy (Aug 20, 2017)

Ok going to go with 4" unless anyone can give any ideas why not 
200 lt smoker what size outlet???


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## redoctobyr (Aug 20, 2017)

I just got my first smoker. But I can offer that mine doesn't have a fan or anything, just a vent at the top, and an inlet at the bottom.

The top vent is adjustable, probably around 3" diameter. It's the sort that you can rotate, so that, at most, about half of that area is open. Hopefully this image link will work:

https://i1.wp.com/geardiary.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/MasterBuilt-Vent.jpg?fit=750,563&ssl=1

(if not, it's an image at this page: https://geardiary.com/2013/10/04/smoke-at-home-with-masterbuilt/ )

I have no idea what the airflow amount for a typical electric smoker might be. But if yours had a top open area at least this size (the inlet at the bottom of mine is smaller than the top vent), then maybe it will work fine as-is. I'd at least try it without modifications first, if it was me. If it's easy to turn the fan off, maybe start with that, then try turning the fan on.


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## dward51 (Aug 20, 2017)

It looks like that is a convection oven with the fan and heating element at the top. It draws air from the chamber up into the top, across the element and down a channel in the back to recirculate back into the chamber at the back bottom.  You are going to need a way to introduce smoke into that chamber and add an exhaust to keep the smoke from becoming "stale" and circulate fresh smoke in and out.  I'm thinking a 4" flue is way too large.  Most smokers with that size flue are using that size because of the air flow needed to keep the heat source stable.  You don't have that issue with electric.  You could go with a chip tray in an external "mailbox mod" or a smoke generator like the Smoke Chief from Smokehouse Products.  A much smaller air outlet will then be needed.  I would not try to inject the smoke directly into the air channel on the back of the smoker but would have it feed into the bottom main chamber from one of the sides.  The exhaust may be a little tricky as the entire top of the smoker seems to be taken up with the fan and heater assembly.

It is a similar concept to a conversion of a warmer/proofer I want to make.  I bought this all stainless insulated warmer/proofer for $85 at a school auction but it's about 6" too tall for where I want to put it so it's in storage for now.  The warmer/proofer also had the fans and heater a the top and recirculated down a channel very similarly to your oven.  Here is a diagram of what I have.  The channel in this one has louvers down the length and is also open and the bottom.  This diagram was with a pellet tray inside, but I would move it to the outside in a mailbox mod style or use the Smoke Chief when I get around to converting it.













warmer conversion 1.jpg



__ dward51
__ Aug 26, 2012


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## redoctobyr (Aug 20, 2017)

I'm not familiar with these ovens. But it says it's for drying things. The PDF makes mention of "True one-pass air circulation and heating is provided by fan and finned element combinations".

It *is* forced-circulation, but my speculation would be that it's drawing in outside (ambient) air, heating it, then running it through the box. If it just kept recirculating the same air within a closed box, it wouldn't dry very effectively, I think. Perhaps the "one-pass air circulation" refers to the air coming in from outside, and only through the box once.

Hopefully the smoke going stale won't turn out to be an issue. If there is an inlet for fresh air, perhaps you can attach an external smoke-generator there. Or you could try putting a pellet tray, like the AMNPS, inside the box, ideally in an area where it can get some fresh airflow.


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