Water Heater Smoker...

[BobBrisket]

http://www.weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t=17199
Click on Smoker Gallery in Reconfigure's post.

Don't know if you guys have seen this or not. Talk about points for creativity. Our water heater is getting replaced this summer if it lasts that long and this gave me the idea to make a big vertical out of the inner tank. Toss out some ideas and suggestions for me.

 

[yelonutz]

Wait till Norcoredneck see's this one! Nutz

 

[JamesB]

That looks to be a pretty nice build for sure! Only concern I would have (other that the glass lining) is that all of the modern water heater tanks I've seen have been pretty thing metal. I'd bet his grates alone weigh more than the rest of the tank...

Very nice all the same.

James.

 

[BobBrisket]

Would that glass lining need to be removed? If so how? Burn it off, sand blast, or take a grinder to it. Would it be a bad thing to leave it on? I've never seen one of these internal tanks.

 

[JamesB]

Would that glass lining need to be removed? If so how? Burn it off, sand blast, or take a grinder to it. Would it be a bad thing to leave it on? I've never seen one of these internal tanks.

The only way that I know to get rid of the lining is to sand blast it... I would not want that stuff flaking off into the food! Other may know more.

James.

 

[Norcoredneck]

Wait till Norcoredneck see's this one! Nutz

Seen it at 10:05 :biggrin:.

 

[Norcoredneck]

The only way that I know to get rid of the lining is to sand blast itJames.

Nothing a little Liquid Nitrogen and a quick blow with a hammer wont fix :twisted:

 

[BobBrisket]

So how thick is this lining? Is it thick enough to be shattered with a hammer and then maybe scraped off?
Can a person rent a sand blaster at one of them tool/equipment rental places?
I'm seriously wanting to add something like this to my project list.

 

[ibait2fish]

Not all water heaters are glass lined, some are just steel. The steel heaters are more
popular hereabouts, do to the minerals in our water (we don't really have hard water, just that the types of minerals that we have eats tanks fairly quickly, and the
steel ones last longer). Wall thickness would be pretty thin, but shouldn't
be a problem, unless you try to use it in cold weather. The upper and
lower heating elements need to be removed, they'll cause hot/cold spots in a dry tank. Removing all electronics is a good idea due to plastic, won't get on your food,
but will be quite a mess, and could be a fire hazard, and stinky/noxious/poisonous.
If you use a fiberglass lined tank, you could try using a powerfull ultraviolet
light inside the tank for a couple of weeks. It'll cause the fiberglass to crack
and breakdown. Easier to scrape due to the crack edges, and easier to due a final
clean on the metal because any glass lefttover will be thinner. Sand blast, or
just sand.
Hope I helped.

 

[BobBrisket]

Our area has lots of minerals in the water too. I hope it's just steel. Thanks for the info. I will keep it in mind fo sho!

 

[Mark]

I viewed the slide show and while an impressive job, me thinks the guy probably doesn't get laid enough. Lotta effort to build a cheap offset horizontal.

Most residential water heaters have glass linings approximately 5 mils (.005") and/or have a sacrificial anode rod. Commercial water heaters can be made of stainless steel or cement lined. And they're usually significantly larger than residential ones.

The glass can be removed easy enough, but I wouldn't want to fark with it (personally). Like JamesB said;the metal's too thin to justify that kind of effort. Maybe a commercial water heater (with an big emphasis on maybe).

Talk to a local plumber.

 

[matthew burt]

the inner tank is steel but not very thick at all.
matt
phat jacks bbq

 

[CajunSmoker]

The tanks are very thin and the glass lining is more impregnated in the steel than it is just a coating. I've heard of people heating the steel with their torch until the popping stops and the glass will be mostly gone. I throw away a hundred or so of these a year and will continue to as I agree with Mark and James that this is too much work for the reward that you will get. Better to go to the scrap yard and try to negotiate a nice piece of 24" or larger pipe to build with. At least when you finish, you have a nice smoker.