UD-erlee ridiculous

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BRBBQ

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:mad:Twice this week I tried cooking on my UDS and twice this week I've had my fire go out. :mad:I really don't understand I've never had any problems before. About two hours into a cook my smoker drops to 150's the fire burns straight down thru the charcoal it doesn't seem to jump to the other briq's. When I buildt this uds I noticed I had an air flow problem with 2 or more Boston butts in the thing, so I drilled an extra hole in the bottom for more intake. Now I have four 3/4" intakes and four 3/4" lid exhaust. My first UDS worked great with just two 3/4" lid exhaust and four 3/4" intakes:shock:. Makes no sense to me, Oh yea:!: it always goes out when I leave for a couple hours, go figure. I'm using RO briqs never had a problem with them.
 
I wish I could help you. I know for me it was about more air flow. It seems like you should have enough, but a couple more lid holes will improve it.

One of "in-house" drum experts will chime in soon.
 
How about pics. Fire basket, drum. Is it possible you have a buildup in bottom?
 
Larry I'm with you, I've seen the good blog in this forum about UDS maybe I should put eight 1/2" holes in the lid. Everybody seems to have some thing differant.
 
I've never had my fire go out, but when I increased from four to eight holes in the lid, air flow improved dramatically.
 
i don't have a uds yet but i think from all the reading that yer top vents are inadequate. also, as mentioned, is the basket high enough so it doesn't choke on ash ?
 
BRBBQ said:
:mad:Twice this week I tried cooking on my UDS and twice this week I've had my fire go out. :mad:I really don't understand I've never had any problems before. About two hours into a cook my smoker drops to 150's the fire burns straight down thru the charcoal it doesn't seem to jump to the other briq's. When I buildt this uds I noticed I had an air flow problem with 2 or more Boston butts in the thing, so I drilled an extra hole in the bottom for more intake. Now I have four 3/4" intakes and four 3/4" lid exhaust. My first UDS worked great with just two 3/4" lid exhaust and four 3/4" intakes:shock:. Makes no sense to me, Oh yea:!: it always goes out when I leave for a couple hours, go figure. I'm using RO briqs never had a problem with them.
Click to expand...

You need more exhaust, should be able to run on 1 intake, let alone 3!

Also, check your intakes, i've noticed some ash build-up in mine lately.
 
Norcoredneck I seen the thread you posted with the info on Drums, I guess I'll have to build it to those specs. I washed my drum out before I used it, no ash, fire box is 4 inches from bottom, I think I know the problem. I was tryng to save on the charcoal and only had my coals 2 briqs deep, usually it's 4 briquetts deep the lenght of the charcoal box. I thought I didn't need so many briquetts since I normally have so many left over. Thanks for the help. If I can figure it out I'll post some pics.
 
OSD I believe thats the problem, I only notice a problem when I put more food in my smoker, it doesn't seem to draw enough air. Once I take the lid off, away it goes. Today I had 2 spares and a butt in the smoker, thus bad air flow, once I took the ribs out it came up to temp and has been running steady now for 6 hours. And I added more briquetts, problem two.
 
Norcoredneck said:
How about pics. Fire basket, drum. Is it possible you have a buildup in bottom?
Click to expand...

With Norco on this. Sounds like too much intake and exhaust for a drum to me. You can always crank things down. How are the pipe nipples done and how much air space below the firebasket do you have? Seems odd.
 
I've never had any problen using a Weber kettle lid (4 exhaust vents) and I only use 3 3/4" vents and 2 of them are usually plugged. I'm with Norco-lets see your charcoal basket, I'd be willing to bet the ashes are not dropping and are smothering or you have ash buildup in the bottom of your drum, blocking your intake.
 
Here is the wierd thing with mine, I was doing a long cook,(4 huge butts) and I have a Weber lid for mine. Before I have had some leaks around the lid so I made a kind of gasket with aluminum foil. On this cook I replace it. Well we had storms all day and night, and I mean rain out the a$$!! Well some how when I made my gasket and the way the lid sat, I made low point on the lid and a high point on the gaskett meat and water ran down the lid and down the inside of the UDS. Here is the wierd thing, it didn't effect the cook!!! The thermometer read a little low but I figured it was from the rain hitting the outside of the cooker. I put them on at 4pm and when I went check at 6 am to pull. I HAD 1" of water on the inside of my UDS. And the butts perfect!
 
Basket

I'm not a computer wiz, so I'm trying to figure out how to post pics. I read the "STICKY" but not sure what I did wrong. I'll try again.
 
could you do a test run (dry run) to diagnose your issue, its like a engine, fuel, air, and spark
 
I have 8 - 1/2" holes in the lid and 3 - 1" in the bottom.
6# of Wal-Mart brand cheap charcoal chugged along for 8 1/2 hours @ 225*+/-, checked in the am and it was still 140*.
 
for the pics, I export my pics from iPhoto to my desktop then use the "manage attachment" button below the message box and upload the pics from the desktop and they are put in the message box when you post or preview your reply.
 
on the UDS problem my guess would be you need more exhaust but it would be good to see the whole thing.
 
I agree with not enough oxygen getting to the coals.

You may also need to consider how you are lighting the Royal Oak. Maybe you are not getting a good initial burn on the coals? I blast mine with a weed burner for a few minutes. Then I leave the lid off for a few more. My temps run a little hot initially but settle in around 250 for the duration of the cook with very minor adjustments along the way.

It's really all about the O2 getting to your fire. Like it's been said before Air Intake for the o2 and Exhaust for the Co2

I use 8 1/2' holes in lid. I have 4 one inch holes on bottom and usually will run with 2 wide open and sometimes adjust the third with a ball valve if I need to heat things up a touch.
 
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