Need EXPERT opinion

[riseabove50]

so I got this drawing online and made a few notes of modifications I would like to have. I wanted to see if the experts on this site could weigh in and let me know if they think these mods (with the red arrows) would work. the idea behind these mods would be to have the option of using the warming box for either it's original purpose, or change it to a vertical smoker and bypass the main chamber if I only want to smoke a smaller amount of meat - say for a small group. I hope my notes are legible on the attached. thanks in advance everybody.

[k.a.m.]

riseabove50,
The live smoke damper is not needed.
The damper between the firebox and the R/F tunnel is not needed.
The firebox does not need to be 3/8" thick, 1/4" is more than adequate .
I hope this helps.

[riseabove50]

KAM, would you mind elaborating? Why would the live smoke damper and FB - RF tunnel damper not be needed considering my intended purpose? ...not arguing - genuinely curious.

I would think with the proposed modification, it would work just fine if I only wanted to use the warming box as the smoking chamber and use less fuel to do so, thereby bypassing the main chamber.

I'm glad the FB can be 1/4" thick. the guy I found I most likely will go with for building my smoker only offers 1/4". I was concerned.

as always, thanks for the wisdom.

Mark

[riseabove50]

probably should have mentioned that the main chamber will be 5 feet long on a trailer rig. thus the reasoning for the modification.

[stykface]

I'm glad the FB can be 1/4" thick. the guy I found I most likely will go with for building my smoker only offers 1/4". I was concerned.

1/4" is thick. REALLY thick. Some would say it's overkill but I say that's just right. 3/8" is overkill and far too pricey. My burn box is the only thing 1/4" thk and it's perfect. The rest is 3/16" which even then is stout.

[stykface]

So which side is going to be the "warming chamber"? The large horizontal tank, or the vertical rack? I can't see the large tank doubling as a cooking chamber. Just too big. I can see, however, the vertical stack being one. Instead of having an open inlet as the "warming" opening, I would run smaller vertical pipes along the sides that are closed off completely to the vertical rack chamber. This way the smoke goes directly from the burn box and out to a plenum space above the final and top rack, kind of like heating coils. The main inlet can still be there when you want to use only the vertical chamber for the main smoke and heat cooking area. Hope that makes sense... if not I could draw something up for you to illustrate the idea.

[CypertJ]

I hate to say it this way, but...
You're complicating it to much and I'm afraid the benefits that you are looking for (reduced fuel burn) by being able to close of the main chamber is going to turn into a disappointment. You can set up an offset cooker to draft really well and you can set up a vertical cooker to draft really well but trying to do both from the same firebox is going to leave you with sub-par results. Kind of like towing capacity vs fuel economy, you will be stuck in the middle.
Just my opinion.

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[bullypitbbq]

Riseabove50. I totally understand ur modifications and the reasoning behind it. Its totally do-able in my opinion. I say go with it.