Smoker fire

old sarge

old sarge

Active member
Staff member
I have mentioned this here (somewhere) and on other sites regarding wood catching fire or smoke leaking around the door. One can get an inexpensive feeler gauge made of brass (make sure it is flexible) and check for gaps in the fit between door and frame. Using a pencil, mark the start and finish of each gapped area. Don't expect the gap to be uniform around the entire door. Get a roll of 3M high temperature flue tape and cut to fit the gaps. You may need to layer it. Leaking smoke will eventually leave enough deposits to slow or stem the leaks around the upper areas. However, it will do little to nothing for air being drawn in via convection around the lower portions of the door. Cut off the amount of air and you might eliminate the fire issue.

Just a nickels worth of help.

Happy smoking.
 
It is a simple inspection and an even simpler fix if it is too much air causing the wood to ignite rather than smolder.  Takes just a couple of minutes.
 
FWIW, The past 5-6 smokes, I've placed a clean quarter so that it blocks the exhaust vent by about half.
No other mods, full temperature and I haven't had a problem with the combustion of kiln-dried hickory.



~Martin
 
That's an awesome suggestion Martin.

I think this trick would work well for cold smokes where you want to keep as much smoke in the box as you can since you won't be running the element as hot as you normally would.
 
Good tip, Martin.  I'll have to try that.  Gregg - I haven't tried a quarter, but put a small upside-down glass over the hole when cold smoking.
 
With the glass, you can see the smoke in it.  When it completely dissipates, you know there may not be much smoke left in the smoker!  Simple, but effective.
 
So here's my latest on trying to avoid the "belch".  I have been using the slow temp ramp up approach by setting the initial temp to 80F for the first half hour.  During this time, I get a nice thin smoke that slowly exits the #2.  After the first half hour, I have raised the temp to 225F, which produces a lot of smoke and I get a few mild "puffs" coming from the box as the temp gets up over 180F.  The mild ones are not too bad, and then they stop after a few minutes, and smoking resumes with no combustion.

Yesterday, I used this method again, but also tried the quarter covering half of the hole on top.  First half hour, no problems with just thin smoke.  I ramped the temp up to 225F, and as the temp rose, I experienced the normal "puffs" and then the big belch...so forceful that it blew the quarter off of the hole!  Wow...not what I was expecting.  But again, after the belch, the #2 resume normally and produced an excellent whole chicken and baked potatoes (one the best smokes I have had!)

I wonder if I need to take  more time in raising the temp...instead of going all the way to 225 after the first half hour, perhaps I should raise it first to around 120F, let it go through a cycle, and then up it to 225?  The other experiment that I will try this weekend is to foil the bottom of the smoke box to see if that helps.
 
I have been doing 125 for about 45 minutes before going up to 225 with good results.

Many of my last smokes have started in the dark, so I wasn't watching it 100% of the time. But I haven't noticed even the small belches with this method.
 
Thanks...I will try extending the time for the ramp up and see how this goes.    I am a bit curious, though, as to why this only happens once during the ramp up in temp.  Does the wood char in such a way after fire that it can't re-ignite?  After the big belch, it seems like nothing had happened and the light smoke rolls on...
 
I am using cherry wood from a tree that I pruned 3 years ago...so, I suspect it is very dry by now as it has been sitting in a wood pile for 3 years.    I also have a bag of hickory that I purchased from Home Depot, so I am sure that is dry.
 
You might try putting some of the wood in an airtight container with a wet rag for a few days to up the moisture content a bit. 
 
Thanks, will do.  I have been soaking the wood chunks for a couple of hours before smoking, but I am doubtful of whether this really works.  I'll keep experimenting...
 
i have tried the foil pouch on my Western Apple wood...( BIG Box stuff...) it worked well. no belch.

i am 1-1 on this approach so nothing is proven yet. I made a foil pouch for my 5-6 oz of Apple and poked a bunch of BB sized holes in the foil... Thin Blue Smoke.

I will keep trying that approach to see what happens.
 
Thanks Bob...I was debating between a foil pouch or just putting a foil base on the bottom of the smoke box.  I will give both a try... I have so many options, I will need to take off the rest of the week to try a method a day!  ::)
 
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