Opinion of Firebox Size

Looks smallish to me.. Fire box.. should be larger IMHO..

It is small. It may still work if it drafts well.

Have read about a lot of problems with this Manufacturer.. would steer clear..

In order to draft properly the FB needs to be 1/3 the volume of the cooking chamber.That looks a might small

I pluged the figures into Feldons calculator http://www.feldoncentral.com/bbqcalculator.html

the pit looks to be 36X60 and given the firebox dimensions
it is undersized

36x60 61041.60ci
20 X24 11520 ci

according to the calculator it should be 20347.20 ci

so that is about 50% the size it needs to be

I would be VERY careful! Here is a link you might want to review; in this post is a link to another thread describing similar issues. Bottom line, firebox may be undersized by as much as 1/3-1/2, no grate in the firebox and the exhausts/intakes are way too small to get proper airflow.
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=168551
I'll admit to a certain level of confusion, but it appears there may be 3 different pitmakers putting out products that all look very much like the ones in your picture, especially the pit in the background of your picture.
The three manufacturers are Custom Pits, HBTWelding and Greasy Hill (if memory serves you found Greasy Hill and shared their web site in an earlier post); please note the discussion in the links above lead me to think Custom Pits has corrected their issues. Also note Gamblerpro1 did the math using the calculator and the actual dimenstions of his rig and concluded the firebox is undersized by 1/3 confirming Bludawg's estimate below.

Bludawg said:

In order to draft properly the FB needs to be 1/3 the volume of the cooking chamber.That looks a might small

I pluged the figures into Feldons calculator http://www.feldoncentral.com/bbqcalculator.html

the pit looks to be 36X60 and given the firebox dimensions
it is undersized

36x60 61041.60ci
20 X24 11520 ci

according to the calculator it should be 20347.20 ci

so that is about 50% the size it needs to be

Click to expand...

Finally, its a little hard to see in the photos, but the pictures on the HBTWelding and Greasy Hill websites show a LOT of stitch welding as opposed to continuous seam welds. If this is the case they could be prone to leaking smoke & heat and, at least in my experience the areas between stitch welds are magnets for moisture and rust.

Sorry to not be more positive. I really like some of the design features of these pits.

No...

naw thats way to small.. intakes look way to small too.

tell him you want him to fire it up and see it in action.

let him put his money where his mouth is

does look like a sloppy build on top the small firebox. Stitch welds easy to see in that pic

WvQ said:

Thanks everyone for the input, I'll pass on the trade.

Click to expand...

I don't know what kind of trade you are talking but if you are coming out good on your end and you want/need the smoker then go for it. If you have issues with it not getting up to temp it can always be modified for a bigger box it is only metal after all. If you were any closer I would offer to do it for you for the price of the materials.

www.pigroast.com
www.bubbagrills.net

Quality: there is NO substitute. These are proven, and have been proven, over MANY years.

Also, look at Tuscaloosa Q's; I hear good things about those as well.

what a waste of steel

I wouldn't touch it.

Run Forrest run

Yeah, the firebox pic shows a lot of short cuts and overall bad design. If it looks that bad close up, I have to assume the rest of the welds etc are of the same quality, and it's not pretty.

Almost looks like a 10 year old did it in the second week of his first semester of metal shop. I know that sounds harsh, but that's what I see.

aarolar said:

I don't know what kind of trade you are talking but if you are coming out good on your end and you want/need the smoker then go for it. If you have issues with it not getting up to temp it can always be modified for a bigger box it is only metal after all. If you were any closer I would offer to do it for you for the price of the materials.

Click to expand...

Yup depends on the trade - I got stuff Id trade for it for sure......

Hmmmm u paid retail on M&P or got it cheap? Really depends on how bad u want it.......is the Ar sitting unused while u dream of a Smoker? Do you have multiple guns and one lil smoker? The firebox looks small but you don't know till you cook on it - just gotta get a deal u feel is fair EVEN if you have to spend a few hundred $ on it IF you have to get firebox reworked........ Me ? Id try for straight trade no cash.