# Started modding my ecb..



## rvial (Jul 17, 2014)

IMAG0239.jpg



__ rvial
__ Jul 17, 2014





. 

I can close my intake now!


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## rvial (Jul 17, 2014)

IMAG0237.jpg



__ rvial
__ Jul 17, 2014






Added a charcoal grate.


Still need to add the gasket and vent in the lid.


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## bobank03 (Jul 17, 2014)

nice job. Didn't you glue on a gasket on your lid too? What are you smoking this weekend on the re-designed unit? I'm doing some chili and maybe a meatloaf or two.


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## bobank03 (Jul 17, 2014)

I like the intake mod too. I bet that works like a champ!


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## rvial (Jul 17, 2014)

I have not had time fir the gasket yet, will probably do it this weekend though. I hope.  I pulled a butt out of freezer this week, got it ready to go in tomorrow. only about 4 or 5 lbs


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## rvial (Jul 17, 2014)

I ot a thermometer as well gotta pyt it in. i hotta go buy or borrow a bigger drill bit


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## bobank03 (Jul 18, 2014)

sounds good. You can roll up some foil and close up the lid gap for this weekend, no problem. And don't worry too much about the vent on the dome. When you run the smoker, you run it with that dome vent full open so you don't get smoke backing up in the smoker which makes the food acrid. The weber vent is only to close when not smoking. If you need a step drill they are available at harbor freight if there is a store around.


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## bobank03 (Jul 18, 2014)

rvial said:


> IMAG0239.jpg
> 
> 
> 
> ...


looks like you have a helper? I see a s small foor in the pic? LOL!


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## thinblueduke (Jul 18, 2014)

Looks good... enjoy your next smoke!


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## rvial (Jul 18, 2014)

Bobank my daughter was out there helping me. As much as a 2 1/2helps with anything..:)  
Yeah I got to thinking last night at work that there really wasn't much point in making a vent in the lid that I could open and close. 
I will just drill a few holes later on and save the little bit of aluminum I have left in case I need it for something else.


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## bobank03 (Jul 18, 2014)

I hear ya. I bought a grill cover on sale for like $5 and I use it to cover the ECB when I'm not using it, so mine is just to make it look purty... Serves no purpose, whatsoever... So when is that Butt going on the smoker? Today or tomorrow? 

I'm interested to see how you like that intake vent you made. I'd like to see a pic with the smoker setup to run, so basically just the lever sticking out (a thought occurred to me that it might not be quite long enough and it will be hot?) so wear some gloves? 

I'm looking forward to getting mine going this weekend too. 

Points for you!


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## rvial (Jul 18, 2014)

I had not even thought about it getting hot to be honest. I will find out, If it does I may have to rethink things.    I am planning to throw it in after I wake up in a few hours maybe even after I go to the grocery store so I can make sure I dont find sojething else i want to make for lunch next week :).


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## bobank03 (Jul 18, 2014)

it might not get too bad... We shall see!


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## rvial (Jul 18, 2014)

Yup we shall!!   I found some chicken thighs to go on as well. Probably marinate in some sun dried tomato vinaigrette and wrap in bacon..maybe it will be good!


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## bobank03 (Jul 18, 2014)

Yeah? Maybe? I'm throwing some pork chops on tonight but I will probably just grill them with a little rub on them. I'm making a grocery run tomorrow morning for some goodies to c
Smoke this weekend...


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## rvial (Aug 10, 2014)

How many holes should I put in the lid to vent after I put the gasket around the lid?


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## thinblueduke (Aug 11, 2014)

After following a recent post, it looks like it's not so much the number of holes as the total area of the holes.

I'm guessing temperature and amount of smoke you generate are going to factor in as well.

If metric helps, I usually smoke between 100 and 120 C, and I have ten 5.5mm holes drilled in the top. I don't think it's quite enough.


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## rvial (Aug 11, 2014)

I just don't want to put to many: )


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## thinblueduke (Aug 11, 2014)

I was nervous about it, too.  I started with this.













ventholes.jpg



__ thinblueduke
__ Aug 11, 2014






I ended up widening the holes, and I should probably widen them even more, but it was a good place to start.  Another factor is whether you've got smoke coming out elsewhere.  If you've got a nice seal around the rim, the smoke's got to come out somewhere.  If the smoke is escaping around the rim, you can get by with fewer and/or smaller holes... I think.


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## rvial (Aug 12, 2014)

I might start with 5 a little bigger than what yup did and go from there


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## thinblueduke (Aug 12, 2014)

Go for it! Try it for a smoke or two and see how it responds.


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## rvial (Aug 12, 2014)

That's the plan. Hoping for ribs this weekend. .depends on what's cheap!


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## trikkyp (Aug 20, 2014)

Anybody have reccomendations on where to get a suitable ecb gasket online?  I checked all the local hardware stores and they look at me like im crazy


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## bobank03 (Aug 20, 2014)

I went to True Value and bought a rope style stove gasket. Go to Amazon.com and search "rope gasket" and you will see an array of possibilities. "Stove Gasket" on Homedepot.com gets about 12 different results. 

Sometimes you will see them as woodstove door gaskets as well. 

Hope this helps.


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## bobank03 (Aug 20, 2014)

rvial said:


> That's the plan. Hoping for ribs this weekend. .depends on what's cheap!


so didja do the ribs? I'm doing baby backs this weekend... Can't wait.


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## rvial (Aug 20, 2014)

I ended up having something going on and was unable to do anything on it: (

I got mine from Amazon


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## rvial (Aug 20, 2014)

And looks like I will be working this Sunday too: (


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## trikkyp (Aug 20, 2014)

Just ordered one on amazon.  Cant wait to slap it on!


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## thinblueduke (Aug 21, 2014)

My cotton rope method isn't working as well as it had been.  The rope has lost a lot of its flexibility, and gaps are starting to open up.

Amazon Japan sells gasket rope, but only in 1-meter lengths, and the ECB's circumference is something like 1.4m,


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## bobank03 (Aug 22, 2014)

TBD I think you could stitch those together some how. You could figure a way to do it.


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## engineman (Aug 23, 2014)

bobank03 said:


> I went to True Value and bought a rope style stove gasket. Go to Amazon.com and search "rope gasket" and you will see an array of possibilities. "Stove Gasket" on Homedepot.com gets about 12 different results.
> 
> Sometimes you will see them as woodstove door gaskets as well.
> 
> Hope this helps.


i bought 12mm gasket on ebay, but it was like elastic, so after i glued it on, it was only about 8mm, so it didnt seal properly.

i then bought 18mm on amazon, thinking after streatching it, it would end up about 12mm.

this one didnt strestch at all, obviously a much better quality, so thinking this will be too big.

fitting it today, so will see report back on the outcome.


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## bobank03 (Aug 23, 2014)

engineman said:


> i bought 12mm gasket on ebay, but it was like elastic, so after i glued it on, it was only about 8mm, so it didnt seal properly.
> 
> i then bought 18mm on amazon, thinking after streatching it, it would end up about 12mm.
> 
> ...


too big is much better than too small, in this case. You want to seal up that gap around the lid so that you get a much more even flow of smoke. Mine still allows a tiny bit of smoke around it in a couple of places, because I didn't get it down tight enough in a couple places but 99 percent now passes through the vent in lid. There really shouldn't be much stretch. Here is a pic of what I bought. 













rope gasket kit.jpg



__ bobank03
__ Aug 23, 2014






The adhesive included in the kit is worthless. You will need high heat RTV or some other similar type of high heat sealant/ adhesive.


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## engineman (Aug 23, 2014)

rvial said:


> I might start with 5 a little bigger than what yup did and go from there


THINKING LOGICALLY ABOUT THIS, and presuming there arent any leaks elswhere, then if the exhaust vent size is 1/2 the size of the intake vent, then 1/2 the smoke will have to find another way out, i.e. through the bottom, door, seal etc., or will become stale and create tar and other nasties.

i stand to be corrected.


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## bobank03 (Aug 23, 2014)

engineman said:


> THINKING LOGICALLY ABOUT THIS, and presuming there arent any leaks elswhere, then if the exhaust vent size is 1/2 the size of the intake vent, then 1/2 the smoke will have to find another way out, i.e. through the bottom, door, seal etc., or will become stale and create tar and other nasties.
> 
> i stand to be corrected.


Right on the money, I'd say!

Since my ECB (Charcoal Brinkmann) is wide open from the bottom; some smoke escaped around the bottom, even before I sealed the lid. I think that will always be an issue to a point, unless you seal the bottom to only an air intake vent. I have seen this, by removing the legs and sitting the ECB directly on concrete blocks, though I don't have a picture right now.

I agree that not enough exhaust vent after sealing the lid is worse than not sealing the lid. My holes are 5/8 inches and I have four of them (about 2 cm each) and I am considering adding a second set of 4 with the weber style vent cover. 













ecb dome and vent.jpg



__ bobank03
__ Aug 23, 2014


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## engineman (Aug 23, 2014)

bobank03 said:


> Right on the money, I'd say!
> 
> Since my ECB (Charcoal Brinkmann) is wide open from the bottom; some smoke escaped around the bottom, even before I sealed the lid. I think that will always be an issue to a point, unless you seal the bottom to only an air intake vent. I have seen this, by removing the legs and sitting the ECB directly on concrete blocks, though I don't have a picture right now.
> 
> ...


another quick thought,;  if the exhaust is much bigger than the bottom air vent, then surely this will draw more air due to convection, ( heat rises etc ), and therefore give a higher reading in the smoker, than if the two vent settings matched.  So without an adjustable ex vent, then the very irratic heat readings some folks are having, could be due to static exhaust holes drilled in the top.

Not that i know what i am talking about, as i havent even smoked a sausage yet.

my mods are pretty well done, and hoping to post them in the next few days, and have a practice burn soon.


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## bobank03 (Aug 23, 2014)

engineman said:


> another quick thought,;  if the exhaust is much bigger than the bottom air vent, then surely this will draw more air due to convection, ( heat rises etc ), and therefore give a higher reading in the smoker, than if the two vent settings matched.  So without an adjustable ex vent, then the very irratic heat readings some folks are having, could be due to static exhaust holes drilled in the top.
> 
> Not that i know what i am talking about, as i havent even smoked a sausage yet.
> 
> my mods are pretty well done, and hoping to post them in the next few days, and have a practice burn soon.


pretty much everything I have read here is that the closeable vent is only to close the holes when not smoking/ cooking as this will cause creosote to build up and give your food an acrid taste. Always control temps via the intake and never the exhaust. Another concern is that the more air that gets to you fire, the hotter/ faster it will burn. It is a balancing act really, which is why the small Weber Smokey Mountain sells for $199 and the charcoal ECB sells for $49.

Me personally, I would rather spend $49 and tinker around making them work better then spend $199 and have nothing to do


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## grillmonkey (Aug 23, 2014)

You can have too many exhaust holes, but it's not as much of a problem as too few. Too few and the smoke can stagnate and you may not be able to get the smoker up to temp, too many and you may experience too much heat loss through the lid. But, in the case of too many, you can always poke some aluminum foil in the extra holes.

The best bet is to mod the smoker to allow you to regulate the intake and exhaust.


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## thinblueduke (Aug 24, 2014)

engineman said:


> THINKING LOGICALLY ABOUT THIS, and presuming there arent any leaks elswhere, then if the exhaust vent size is 1/2 the size of the intake vent, then 1/2 the smoke will have to find another way out, i.e. through the bottom, door, seal etc., or will become stale and create tar and other nasties.
> 
> i stand to be corrected.


I don't think this is necessarily the case.  What comes in through the intake vent is air, not smoke.  The amount of smoke produced isn't necessarily the amount of air that comes in.  In addition, gases do not have a defined volume, so principles that apply to solids or liquids may not apply to gases.  We can all agree, however, that it's vital to get nearly all of the smoke out of the ECB by some means or another, and that the most desirable place for that smoke to exit is through the top.

Don't forget that the ECB isn't exactly designed with very tight tolerances, so you have to assume that there are going to be leaks.


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