Pressure tank smoker

[samann]

Don't know if this is of any interest, but I made a pretty nice smoker out of an old water pressure tank:

tank.jpg

First I cut the fire door opening and removed the bladder: (nasty and smelly)

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Next is removing a safety dome located about 2/3 of the way up inside the tank: (This is used for the air regulator later)

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After that is removed I could cut the main door

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The next step was cleaning all the rust out of the inside, probably a good thing I didn't know in advance how much work that was going to be.



Now that is was all cleaned up, I attached the doors and welded on the strap metal: (you can see the bladder and liner in the box in the 2nd picture)

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For the inside I installed (3)- 21 1/2" cooking grates and a 20" heat deflector (an old disc plate, very heavy duty) there is about 9" between grates and 7" between the heat deflector and bottom grate.(I use those disposable foil turkey roasters for my drip/water pan.

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I built a weber-style air regulator using the safety dome I cut out earlier:

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Than I made a short stack out of 4" pipe and installed a stove baffle for a little added control.

The last job that ended up being more work than I thought was stripping off the old paint, the light blue came off easy, but there was a brown primer that was a bear to remove.

In the end, I got a nice nice flat black high temp finish on it

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I located temp. guages at the 1st and 3rd grates, when everything gets dialed in they are bottom grate is about 40 degrees hotter than the top.

The capacity is pretty good for a vertical, I've had 10 butts on at one time and it could go 12 if needed...probably 6 whole briskets.

I didn't think it was bad for a first effort.

[keend]

Nice job, show us a pic with it loaded up.

[Bob G]

Looks awesome.

[thunderwagn]

Very nice! And to think I just took one of those to the metal scrap yard 2 weeks ago.... I think we might have another one we pulled out and put in our storage facility. Hmmmmmm....

[jaronimo]

That is pretty cool. It never even crossed my mind to use one of those tanks, and I constantly see things that make me think "I bet i could make a smoker out of that"

Good job. Now lets get some food pics...

[jestridge]

Junk yard is our friend, BTW nice smoker. WARNING!!!! always be very careful cutting into a tank,because most of the time we don't know what have been in them.

[PTSidehow]

Very nice build, turned out great you will enjoy using it for years to come. Till you get the bigger,better bug.

The primer on them is more likely an epoxy paint, due to the fact that they are a type of pressure vessel and used in mixed air water service. Prone to rusting in that environment.

When using one of the pressure well tanks it is important to make sure that all the air is removed and the air valve inside is removed so the pressure doesn't build up if cutting with a torch or plasma. Had a friend that got a face full blast of air and hot bits and pieces when the bladder let go. When he was making a parts washing tank.

On your use of the safety dome as a Weber type air regulator, how did you handle access to control the amount of opening with out being able to see the size of the vent holes. And did you enlarge the two base side holes so your hand arm doesn't get burned when you are adjusting it?

A very nice build!

[Sizzlepig]

I have one of those tanks right now that is a work in progress. Cut in to sections it will be like a magnum WSM.

[samann]

Thanks PT...actually the regulator has an arm that runs thru a slit that I made in the base ( hard to see in the picture) so it works pretty slick

[samann]

[attach]Mike's party.jpg[/attach]

couple of pics from my nephew's wedding reception (sorry, I couldn't resize the meat pic) 4 butts and 6 whole chickens

[PTSidehow]

Originally Posted by samann

Thanks PT...actually the regulator has an arm that runs thru a slit that I made in the base ( hard to see in the picture) so it works pretty slick

That's even better, as I was thinking a slot and a little white paint showing the universal signs for open to closed
Also your last shot shows that it is a biggun that you had, most are about half as tall in these parts.

Looks like a plan for people to follow.

[samann]

yeah,, it's 5' tall and 26" around, but it's pretty efficient, that 9-hour smoke at Mike's party only took 30lbs of charcoal and 8 or 10 splits of apple wood, so small loads aren't going to kill me

[Stevesonfire!]

Nice! Good smoking!

[Yleekyoti]

Nice job. Thanks for the pics. I have a pressure tank and i just noticed my weber kettle grates fit in it. was gonna build a horizontal but started thinking vertical.

[cowgirl]

Great looking smoker! I saved a water pressure tank too... knew it would be good for something. Thanks for the idea.