# Smoker Build Question



## Hoover (May 27, 2004)

So I'm sitting my garage looking at this 5' long 24" pipe that is slowly going to evolve into a smoker. Got the bottom base frame and legs built this weekend. I was going to just keep it horizontal and make it a double door or just one big door. But looking at it it's just going to be huge. 

So if you were me would you put like a 20" wide vertical at the end? Does people use them that much? I have a pit now I built about 6 years ago and it has an upright but I rarely use it. Mainly because its kind of small. 

What's the crowd think? I'm building this one possibly for my brother but maybe bigger then he wants. Mainly building it for something to do.


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## RB II (Feb 26, 2009)

I am not a big fan of a smoker chamber on a BBQ pit. I like them seperate with a small fire box. You could make part of it a direct/indirect combo. Just make a rack for charcoal below the meat grates.


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## Team S.A. Blue (Sep 8, 2004)

*Feldon's BBQ Pit/Smoker Build Calculator for All Firebox Shapes v3.7*​
*New Permalink feature!* Save your Smoker calculations or Share them with a friend!
There are any number of ways to design and build a BBQ Smoker. Hopefully this calculator will help you with the calculations. The general rule of thumb for a horizontal smoker is that the firebox should be 1/3 the size (volume) of the cooking chamber. These are just guidelines based on years building smokers but your mileage may vary!
*Cooker Chamber Type & Size*
Enter your cooking chamber's dimensions below under either Cylinder, Tank, _or_ Rectangle:
*Cylinder-type Cook Chamber*​ *"Tank" Cook Chamber*​ *Rectangle/Square Cook Chamber*​ *Calculations*​ Diameter

_inches_
Length

_inches_
Tank volume

_gallons_
Height

_inches_
Width

_inches_
Length

_inches_
Cooker
Chamber Size

_cubic in._
Recommended
Firebox Size

_cubic in._
*Firebox Dimensions*
Enter the dimensions for your planned square _or_ round firebox.
An undersized firebox will require frequent fueling and may not adequately heat the cook chamber. A slightly oversized firebox is preferable.
*Firebox Dimensions (Square)*​ *Firebox Dimensions (Round)*​ *Calculations*​ Height

_inches_
Width

_inches_
Length

_inches_
Diameter

_inches_
Length

_inches_
Specified
Firebox Size

_cubic in._
Recommended
Firebox Size
(1/3 of cook chamber)

_cubic in._
Size Differential

*%*
*Chimney Size*
Enter the diameter of your chimney pipe to find out how long it should be.
â€¢ A chimney that is too short may produce insufficient draft (drawing of air). A chimney that is too long may cause the air to cool before it exits, reducing effective draft and worse, dripping of exhaust materials onto food!
â€¢ Many horizontal smokers have an exhaust between 30-40 inches in length, but there is no hard and fast formula.
â€¢ If you are building a horizontal smoker with a vertical cooking cabinet, realize that the cabinet partly acts as an exhaust, thus you may greatly shorten the chimney.
*Chimney Pipe Diameter*​ *Calculations*​ Pipe Diameter

_inches_
Recommended Chimney Volume (5% of firebox volume)

_cubic in._
Length of Chimney

_inches_
*Firebox Air Inlet Opening*
Enter the size of the firebox air inlet (intake) from the outside.
The air intake from the Outside into your Firebox controls how much oxygen is available to your fire. If the calculator determines your size is too small, you'll need more than one intake.
*Firebox Intake (Square)*​ *Firebox Intake (Round)*​ *Calculations*​ Length

_inches_
Width

_inches_
Diameter

_inches_
Recommended
Air Inlet Area
(firebox volume * .003)

_square in._
Number of Intakes

*Firebox-to-Cook Chamber Opening*
â€¢ For a round or half-moon opening between your Firebox and Cook Chamber, check out the recommended Diameter you below.
â€¢ For a square, rectangle, or custom shaped opening, the Area of the opening should be equal to or slightly larger than the calculation below.
â€¢ If you intend to attach your fire box at the lowest possible point on a cylindrical cook chamber, with just enough room for a half-moon opening (which maximizes cook space by lowering the grate height), then you'll want to make your half-moon opening slightly larger and then install at least a 1 1/2 inch tall grease bridge at the bottom of the opening to prevent grease incursion into the firebox.
â€¢ *If this will be a Reverse Flow smoker, then the opening at the opposite end of the cook chamber from the fire box should be at least as large as the firebox-to-cook chamber opening.*
*Opening Size (Round)*​ *Opening Size (Half Moon)*​ *Calculations*​ Recommended Diameter
âˆš ((firebox volume * .008) / (Ï€/4) )

_inches_
Recommended Diameter
âˆš ((firebox volume * .008) / (Ï€/2) ) * 2

_inches_
Recommended Firebox-to-Cooker
Opening Area
(firebox volume * .008)

_square in._
*Forum Link:* 
Copy and paste the above code onto your favorite BBQ forum. Readers will be able to check out your BBQ Pit calculations with the numbers you've specified.

*Email Link:* 
Copy and paste the above code to share your BBQ Pit calculations with friends and fabricators via e-mail or other communications.

*Example Pit Configurations*







This calculator is based upon the BBQ pit building ratios and formulas developed by Alien BBQ in his revelatory BBQ pit building guides. One of his best articles is Lessons Learned in Pit Building / Modifying. My starting point for this calculator was the Excel worksheet created by *Tom C* on TheSmokeRing.com (an excellent BBQ discussion forum and website).

The HTML, Images, and Javascript contained within this website are Copyright (Â© 2011-2012) by Morgan Feldon and may not be used without express written permission. If you have any questions, comments, or feedback, please e-mail me at morganfeldon (at) gmail.com.


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## Team S.A. Blue (Sep 8, 2004)

Sorry about the above post. It didnt paste like i wanted it to. 
Go down to the bottom of the page and click on Excel worksheet, It will help you design it so that it drafts correctly.


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## Hoover (May 27, 2004)

Wow that's a lot of information. I dug around for a while. Thanks for the post.


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## kamreese (Jul 16, 2006)

*bbq smoker*

build it with 2 doors, so the doors won't be so heavy. you are right the verticle is not used much. be sure to build a big enough. fire box. i built a 7' 24" pit on a trailer. studied alot of pits. talked to alot of pit builders and they all said they should have built a bigger fire box for their pits. everyone of them said the same thing. i did no scrimp on my fire box.


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## Fishdaze (Nov 16, 2004)

Are you building a round firebox using part of that 5' pipe, or building a square box? If it was my pit, I would rather have one door. you could put a counter weight on it if needed.


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## Hoover (May 27, 2004)

Sorry guys forgot to come back and check this. I wound up going with a vertical chamber as well. It's what my brother wanted. Basically it will be a sqaure 24x24x24 firebox, about a 38" horizontal and 20x20 upright.


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## Hoover (May 27, 2004)

Well I started this forever ago. Was going to finish it for my brother for his birthday in September, but that didn't happened. Finally buckled down and gave it to him for Christmas. Need to a little tune from the main to the vertical part. The max the vertical can get up to is 200 which is ok, however, the main part can go from 320-450 and it stays at 200 would like to get it tuned down some where there is like a constant 75 degree difference. The plate on the vertical goes all the way down half way of the pipe so gonna start drilling some bigger holes in that plate and see if that works if not I can cut some of it out and see.


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