Ruedeleglise Posted September 10, 2018 Share Posted September 10, 2018 (edited) All that glistens is not gold, or caveat emptor! In a bout of enthusiasm I bought a “reasonably priced” cold smoking cabinet. It looked the goods in the illustration so I anted up the money and awaited delivery. When it arrived I must say I was impressed. It all slotted together well and appeared sturdy enough. Before I even used it I added two handles either side to make it possible to lift and move about without having to hug it. The instructions were sparse to say the least and when I asked a question I got told “oh no don’t take any notice of that, we now advise ..... Ah well I thought not much can go wrong with a metal cabinet. Now I have to admit I had never cold smoked before, only hot smoked and was used to billowing smoke emanating from every joint etc. Cutting a long story short once I had got a smoke generator that worked efficiently and fired it up, I found smoke billowed out of either side of the vertical sliding front. Yes the illustration shows a hinged door, but the specifications had changed and it was a loose fitting vertical sliding door. Damn all came out of the rather small vent at the top. I have now made a totally different close fitting front from ply which is held on with clips. Smoke now hardly leaks at all and comes out in a steady stream from the vent and a hit and miss vent I put on the top. I haven’t as yet fitted a small extractor fan. I must now smoke something! I hope my impulsive buy has now been converted into a functional unit! Photo 1 the very efficient smoke generator. photo 2 the smoker as illustrated on eBay and photo 3 my set up now. Edited September 10, 2018 by Ruedeleglise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Before you add the fan you should try it without to see if you have sufficient natural draft through the unit. You will need to watch that the unit does not remain closed for any length of time once the smoke generator has stopped producing smoke though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruedeleglise Posted September 12, 2018 Author Share Posted September 12, 2018 Yes. I see what you mean. Thanks for your advice. As I like to tinker about I will be fitting a fan with variable speed control. Probably the one you have, but running on 6 volts, in a tube with a hit and miss sleeve on the “chimney “ for more control. I am just about to smoke a side of salmon today without the fan, so I will find out ! I will report back later! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruedeleglise Posted October 17, 2018 Author Share Posted October 17, 2018 Update on my posting about rebuilding / improving a cold smoker. .....Computer fan fitted successfully with good results. Then with the cooler weather it became apparent some type of heater would be needed...so....a thermostatically controlled 250 watt heater used in reptile cages has been incorporated under the unit and walled in. The unit now bears little or no resemblance to the unit as bought, has cost a ridiculous amount but it appears to work well! A less impulsive buy with a bit more research and reading would have been a good thing! However having with your combined advices corrected its shortcomings all is not lost and I have learn a lot. Now to produce the finished goods at a consistent standard to justify the capital outlay! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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