Pitmaker "The Vault"

Diffuser plate did not come with mine. I picked up a piece of metal and installed it myself. No big deal.
I'm talking 3.5 -4.0 gallons of water- I'm approximating, haven't actually measured it. Takes a lot of energy to keep it all simmering. Ribs are wonderful- full of moisture, juicy. I do not foil using the water tray.
 
I've got a Vault, with the ball valve design, and a WiFi guru. Here's my thoughts:

1) If you go with a Vault, get the ball valve design - it's a must
2) If you go with a Vault, get a guru - not a must, but it's been really nice
3) If you plan on moving your Vault, have friends available - they say those casters can roll on anything, but it took me and 3 friends, and lots of plywood, to move it 150 feet into my backyard
4) If you decide to do business with Pitmaker, stock up on pain killers - doing business with them isn't that easy

At the end of the day, I love my Vault. I've got 4 smokers in my backyard, it's the only one I've lit a fire in over the last few months. But here are just a few of the issues I ran into:

1) Lengthy delays while waiting for a quote
2) Lenghty delays waiting for a call back to place the order
3) "There's no more extensions available for me to transfer you" when calling the receptionist asking to talk to Sales/Support
4) Pit was late being shipped
5) Was told shipping would be 1 day (Houston->Dallas), it took a week [Side note: not really their fault, but don't say 1 day....]
6) Was shipped the wrong adapters & guru that I paid for
7) Took about a month, many unanswered emails and phone calls, before the correct Guru & Adapters were shipped

Justin (J$) ended up helping me a ton during the process, they should give him some commission as he kept me from canceling/returning the Vault, and now I'm a happy owner.

----

Regarding burn rate, I loaded up 6 pounds of lump this weekend to cook a brisket - here's my chart:

Tam1Dkw.png


There's still some coals left in the basket - and you can see the Guru barely had to run once it got up to 225-250.
 
I bought a SS Vault with the sliding intake damper..I cook with lump wood and chunk, its kinda like doing a long cook with my Primos XL Oval when you get up to about 200-220 start shutting it down big time on the intake...1\4 inch max and she will creep to 225 and stay there for a long time..I highly recomend this smoker if you want a Life Time pit.... Harl Sims
 
hardijd said:
Unfortunately I don't have any other pics.....yet. We keep the trailer in our warehouse, but we've got a comp coming up next weekend so I'll take some pics then. Anything specific you want to see?
Click to expand...
Nothing specific- just trying to get a better idea of a competition rig in regards to set up. Some things I am debating now is propane/cooker(as well as placement), brackets to hold my coolers vs having to strap them down any anything really that would make getting all my stuff together for a comp easier.
 
I agree about the factory casters. I thought they were way too small. I ended up fabricating a new chassis and wheels for mine. 12 inch wheels on the back with 8 inch casters on the front. I extended the wheel base length and width for a wider foot print. I am less nervous about winching it up into to my trailer now. It seemed very top heavy before with smaller foot print. I never had a tip over, but I was concerned. I don't know how I would ever get it back upright if that happened.
 
spedly said:
I am in the market for a new pit myself. I would love to order a Pitmaker pit but I think the shipping costs to Canada would be ridiculous.

Keepin' an eye on this thread. Maybe making that pit dream come true is worth the expense. ;)
Click to expand...

i just got a backwoods from great canadian bbq store check em out itl save some boarder hassle. pitmaker was almost another grand
 
dobdabomb said:
I need those in depth posts, especially with the slide vent issue. Guess I have to pony up the $250 for the ball valve, which should be on there standard just like every other vertical types like this. That is disappointing, as its going to be a $4k smoker now at a min.
Click to expand...

I was one of the first vault owners ever to have a ball valve intake system in late 2012 and to my knowledge I am the only vault owner that has a 3/4 valve and a 1/14 valve. When the pit is loaded up with meat, you need the extra airflow of 2 valves. I cook dry and rarely ever use the large valve except when I need it to recover from massive amounts of food in it. Get the ball valve a 3/4 and 1 1/4 and never look back. No rust whatsoever but I clean my pits after any large cook or comp and reseason with canola oil. I can run my vault 180 degrees to 450 dry any day of the week. The ball valve design fixes any runaway temp worries of that pit.

grantw said:
i just got a backwoods from great canadian bbq store check em out itl save some boarder hassle. pitmaker was almost another grand
Click to expand...

A vault is also twice the pit as a backwoods. Look at the weight and that alone will tell you what you need to know. Backwoods are awesome pits, not dogging them one bit
 
grantw said:
i just got a backwoods from great canadian bbq store check em out itl save some boarder hassle. pitmaker was almost another grand
Click to expand...

Another Canadian...awesome! Where are you from?

The Backwoods is my ace in the hole. It's not my #1 pick but I have a fat boy spec'd out "just in case." I talked to a sales guy from Stumps yesterday and the quote I got for shipping was very close to what Great Canadian is charging for shipping. I sent an email to Pitmaker today but haven't hear anything back yet. Right now if I had to pick between the Backwoods and the Stumps I think I'd pick the Stumps.
 
jmoney7269 said:
I was one of the first vault owners ever to have a ball valve intake system in late 2012 and to my knowledge I am the only vault owner that has a 3/4 valve and a 1/14 valve. When the pit is loaded up with meat, you need the extra airflow of 2 valves. I cook dry and rarely ever use the large valve except when I need it to recover from massive amounts of food in it. Get the ball valve a 3/4 and 1 1/4 and never look back. No rust whatsoever but I clean my pits after any large cook or comp and reseason with canola oil. I can run my vault 180 degrees to 450 dry any day of the week. The ball valve design fixes any runaway temp worries of that pit.

Is that the standard option for the value, those sizes? I wanted to make sure and check and see if that is something I need to ask George about. He mentioned that the option was like $230 to add but I need one for the guru which I assume will fit on the 3/4 and the larger is closed at all times unless you have to ramp it up. Correct?

Your the only owner? Thought I heard a couple on here with this option? Not sure if you saw the Venturi rig they built but a guy I know here is the owner and I get to use it shortly to make sure if the vault is for me. It's gotta be a $40k rig.
Click to expand...
 
Yes to my knowledge I'm the only one that has a 3/4 an a 1 1/4 valve. It wa my idea that George tried to talk me out of. Turns out everyone likes it that has it. I would not recommend buying a vault withough this setup unless you plan on chasing temps. George said eventually this will be their standard setup.
D6C4A22C-86EE-4701-A2F1-3C637430C6AD-1979-000002E6625DEB64.jpg

B2B4A5A5-A254-4C51-AED4-E2019072893A-1979-000002E66C92B58F.jpg

I also have a reducer in the water drain valve so if I ever want to cook direct on the vault, I just put the charcoal basket in the cook chamber. Works really nice for finishing up meats like ribs and briskets after they rest and are ready or glazing
5DFAF5BD-8493-4BFB-8312-C42A7FE6D278-1979-000002E677195ABE.jpg

My vault is so airtight, you cannot close the cook chamber door without a valve open. This is a video of how tight it actually is. It whistles when I close the door. I adjusted the slam latches and now it's impossible to slam without a valve open.
This was months ago, last 30 sec of the video is where it's at
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMe2aLFyfTk&sns=em"]J$ BBQ vault ribs with charcoal - YouTube[/ame]
 
Ah great.

Ive followed you on youtube and added you on facebook recently, interesting to see how many guys on here are connected elsewhere. Good to attach faces and teams to all on here. Those are great pictures.

So if I do the ball valves they install, there is no guru adapter needed correct? I am about to buy a new guru to have a second and needed to know if I should get any additional adapter if I choose the pitmaker route or does the fan just slide right on in?
 
There are no slide dampeners, just 2 ball valves that are 1 1/4 each you have to specifically request that one of the ball valves be a 3/4" instead of the 1 1/4. Order the guru with the 10 Cfm fan and UDS adapter. Email them so that you get the order on paper otherwise they could not make it to your specifications properly. They put my ball valves on the wrong side. I told them and they were like no problem it's gonna be another 6 weeks since they make vaults in batches. I had a big Cookoff and a few catering jobs lined up already so I just took it as is. You want the ball valves on the same side as the handle in case you ever want to upgrade to a trailer
 
jmoney7269 said:
There are no slide dampeners, just 2 ball valves that are 1 1/4 each you have to specifically request that one of the ball valves be a 3/4" instead of the 1 1/4. Order the guru with the 10 Cfm fan and UDS adapter. Email them so that you get the order on paper otherwise they could not make it to your specifications properly. They put my ball valves on the wrong side. I told them and they were like no problem it's gonna be another 6 weeks since they make vaults in batches. I had a big Cookoff and a few catering jobs lined up already so I just took it as is. You want the ball valves on the same side as the handle in case you ever want to upgrade to a trailer
Click to expand...

Gotcha, great info. So the guru fits on the 3/4. I am ordering a new wifi one here this week that will not be coming from them, so I just needed to make sure what adapter was needed if I do order a vault here soon. I guess that makes sense on the side the valves need to be.
 
Why speculate? Just order what we discussed. Your over thinking it.
 
Not speculating, just curious as a larger value opening should help more. If that link from bbq guru hold correct you can have two equal 1 1/2's for aesthetics purposes as well as efficiency.

How did you tweak the slam latches to be that sealed. Looks as if the exhaust ends are different now than when you bought yours. Seems to be one built in the middle instead of a slide at the top.
 
I ordered it how I wanted it. Just keep adjusting the slam latches tighter till the gasket flattens out. The vault is not something you can just throw a bunch of airflow to and expect to hold temps. Very minute air changes are needed to change temps. It's just better to pick a temp and cook at it. It takes 30 min for temps to go up, and 2 hrs to get them down. You have all the answers needed to order yours. If you want it different than what the owners with great success with temp control, that's your gamble. Good luck.
 
dobdabomb said:
Not speculating, just curious as a larger value opening should help more. If that link from bbq guru hold correct you can have two equal 1 1/2's for aesthetics purposes as well as efficiency.

How did you tweak the slam latches to be that sealed. Looks as if the exhaust ends are different now than when you bought yours. Seems to be one built in the middle instead of a slide at the top.
Click to expand...

Hi Dobdabomb,

We can provide you with a 1-1/4" to 3/4" stainless adaptor for $20 to go into one of the identical drain valves. It works great. We recommend the larger dual drain valves, because we want to maintain full unpowered draft functionality, that we believe the single 1-1/2" Valve may not provide.
 
Good reply George. Every Pitmaker owners needs are different. i do feel that 1 single valve is not enough airflow to adjust for the shock of a big load, but still, its real easy to overshoot the set temp with a big roaring fire once the meat heats up. I'm pro Pitmaker. One piece of advise I can offer from one of your posts on the Facebook about always wanting to hear from customers about feedback to make a better product. If you ever just made the vault solely with ball valves, you would alleviate the temp problems of some new vault owners therefore lowering the concern for temp control all together. When it gets windy as hell or rainy, I close up the exhaust a little and let the guru do the rest. Everyone at cook offs that sees mine, and how little I work, they are jealous and call me a cheater lol. Work smarter not harder.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

F
Pitmaker vault vs Lone Star large cabinet
Replies
4
Views
485
Inthewoods
I
F
Vertical smoker similar to Vault
Replies
10
Views
2K
MustGoFast
M
PitRow
Recommendations needed: freezer alarm
Replies
11
Views
1K
nmeyer414
N
S
Equipment switcharoo (warning, stupidly long and likely boring!)
Replies
10
Views
376
DBBQ
D
D
Need advice from the community
Replies
2
Views
253
sudsandswine
sudsandswine
Back
Top