Homemade Sausage Making

I'm looking for suggestions for a heating element for my cabinet smoker that is 48"x24"x18"(265cm x60cm x45 cm) i already have a controller, but the little hot plate that came with it wont get past 90*F. I could get a bigger hot plate but am hoping for something better. I've seen replacement elements that seem like they would work well when conected to the controller but not sure. Any thoughts/suggestions?

Glen,
Go to an electrical wholesaler and check out what size oven heating elements they sell. A sparky friend of mine is going to rig up either one or two elements in my large smoker, all hooked up to a digital controller.
Heating elements are quite cheap.
I have tried a hotplate as well but these are only suitable for very small smokers.
Good luck,
Jan.

Glen,

What voltage do you have to work with and what type of controller do you have? If you go too high in amperage you may need a contactor or relay in line to compensate.

Also, is the smoker insulated? If you're trying to heat up an uninsulated smoker in a cold area that could also be a factor in what to get.

For the new smoker that I'm building I purchased a 110 vac heating element made for converting a vertical wood smoker over to electric. In my tests thus far I've been able to get temps up to 300 degrees F without issue. But, I'm insulated and also in Texas.

Charlie

Charlie, I will be using 110, its a Ranco single stage ETC. The smoker will be well insultated when i'm done, I'm a year around guy and it gets stinkin cold here. I'd like to know the name of the element you got and where you found it. Thanks for the help

Here is the electric element I have in my cooker. All I had to do is cut a 3/4" round hole in the back for the cord to come out. The element fits perfect in my smoker cabinet. It is designed for smokers. It has more than enough power to heat my smoker over 200 degrees and is fairly inexpensive. I did insulate my smoker for the winter months in Wisconsin.

http://m.basspro.com/Brinkmann-Replacem ... 7284/37254

Blackriver wrote:Here is the electric element I have in my cooker. All I had to do is cut a 3/4" round hole in the back for the cord to come out. The element fits perfect in my smoker cabinet. It is designed for smokers. It has more than enough power to heat my smoker over 200 degrees and is fairly inexpensive. I did insulate my smoker for the winter months in Wisconsin.

http://m.basspro.com/Brinkmann-Replacem ... 7284/37254

Same element here. Easy to install and works great with controllers.

Charlie

Allied-Kenco sells quality elements and accessories.

hey glen can't help with the heater but if you want to type the degree symbol° hold down the Alt key and type 248 ,just sayin.orf...

Even better over there on the lefthand side under the emoticons is a large group of symbols that ≈ to almost any ° of special mark that you need.™

GrillinGlen wrote:I'm looking for suggestions for a heating element for my cabinet smoker that is 48"x24"x18"(265cm x60cm x45 cm) i already have a controller, but the little hot plate that came with it wont get past 90*F. I could get a bigger hot plate but am hoping for something better. I've seen replacement elements that seem like they would work well when connected to the controller but not sure. Any thoughts/suggestions?

Here's what I use: http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.ph ... c&start=30 describes the setup.

The sixth (last) photo is what you need. It shows a 1750 watt element that was part of a $5.00 purchase at Goodwill, a heater element from a Rival "Crock Pot Grill." This heater element goes into the smoker cabinet, controlled as shown. The smoke generator is external, driven by an 1800 watt hot plate which is turned down to 1/2 to 3/4 output to generate smoke. Need I mention that the two are on separate 20 amp circuits?

There's an awful lot of electrical power involved, so PLEASE wire the things with hefty enough wire (I used 12 gauge), ground everything properly, and get an electrician or someone knowledgeable in wiring to help if you are inexperienced. We want smoke, not an electrical fire.

I recently saw a very indenious smoker setup where a guy took an electric oven and robbed all the dials and the wiring from it and placed this on an upright ice box. He had one range top element in the box that he would put a pot of wood on for cold smoke and smoke generation and then he had the oven range element on the floor for the heat. It all worked off the ovens controls and thermostat. I thought it was very smart and also very cheap cause he saved the oven from the junk pile.

Butterbean wrote:I recently saw a very ingenious smoker setup where a guy took an electric oven and...

Great idea! ...even better than the recent post with the modified dishwasher. (...although you gotta admit that one is really clever.)
I wonder how well the oven controls at our typical low temperatures. My home oven won't let me enter a setpoint below 170°F, and at that setting it varies ±25°F.
He must have modified the controller...?

What? El Duckster... you wrote...

...recent post with the modified dishwasher

Listen Pato Loco, I had to modify a dishwasher once. He drew first, but I was faster from the hip than he was. I "modified" him and he still limps to this day. Now... you say you modified one of "them there" controllers? Hang up yer` irons Duck... you`ll have a happier quack and a more harmonious outcome!

el Ducko wrote:

Butterbean wrote:I recently saw a very ingenious smoker setup where a guy took an electric oven and...

Great idea! ...even better than the recent post with the modified dishwasher. (...although you gotta admit that one is really clever.)
I wonder how well the oven controls at our typical low temperatures. My home oven won't let me enter a setpoint below 170°F, and at that setting it varies ±25°F.
He must have modified the controller...?

All that was simply screwed onto the side of the ice box just like it came out of the oven but he did have a digital thermometer on the side too. I suspect the low temps would be possible given the size of the box was probably six times larger than the oven it came off but how all this would work is over my head. It was really clever I thought.

Butterbean wrote:...I suspect the low temps would be possible given the size of the box was probably six times larger than the oven it came off but how all this would work is over my head. It was really clever I thought.

Clever indeed. Maybe it's the big box, and some ventilation.
...think I'll get a 6-foot-plus box, put both the oven and our buddy, ol' Chuck E. Wagon inside, then shoot some ventilator holes.
Hmmm. Do ya think all that hot air will overload the oven controller?