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Should I get rid of my (gas) 24" Camp Chef Smoke Vault??

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    Should I get rid of my (gas) 24" Camp Chef Smoke Vault??

    This is getting ridiculous. Even though I have had excellent results with this unit, I am so tired of waiting for this thing to get to temperature in optimal conditions (warm outside temp, low wind etc.)! I pre-heated water for the water pan, made sure that I had the (4 racks) at room temperature before loading them up into the smoker. It's been half an hour now and the thing is cranked, vents "closed" and has not yet hit 200F ! I know that this is supposed to be a time investment but should this take this long? My Maverick probe is set up correctly in the oven cabinet, I just feel that there is something wrong here. Either that or I've become really impatient. I guess I'd be interested to hear others with similar gear if they have this happen regularly and if not what they did to speed things up. I'm starting to think I need to change my equipment!

    So it took me about 5 minutes to write this - temp has skyrocketed to 201F fro 198F...

    Thanks in advance,
    Dan
    Last edited by jdanham; September 22, 2018, 02:37 PM.

    #2
    I don’t know your cooker, but typically what I do is start my BGE and then do food prep. That seems to make the watching and waiting go faster.

    Comment


      #3
      You shouldn’t let meat come to room temperature smoke adheres better to a colder surface.

      I would say 30 minutes isn’t completely out of the realm of reality.

      Comment


        #4
        I don't know your cooked either but it almost sounds like you might have a bad regulator.

        Comment


          #5
          When I want it hotter, usually vents are wide open, and I get lower temps by closing the vents. Try flipping your vents wide open and see where the temp goes.

          Comment


            #6
            Thanks for the feedback!! I opened up the vents and things were looking good - up to 237F, but now it's dropping down (at full throttle!) There is a bit of a breeze here but it's not that windy. I used `room temp' to indicate that the meat had time to warm up before hitting the smoker.. The thing with Camp Chef you have to purchase the adapter kit for natural gas from propane and it requires you to drill a larger opening to accommodate natural gas. All the jets are firing perfectly!
            I might have to pull everything apart and clean things out.

            Comment


              #7
              The problem with Smoke Vault is the flow restricter kicks in quite easily. After having the problem you are experiencing I learned about the restricter. I now slowly turn on the tank valve and never turn it more than 3/4 to 1 turn. Still have plenty of gas flowing. Some people recommend up to 2 or 3 turns as the max, but I haven’t had a problem reappear in dozens of cooks at 1.

              If you are connecting to a piped in natural gas source you might not be able to control the flow. I have piped in propane for all my other gas cookers, but I have to use a tank for this one to reduce the flow.
              Last edited by Donw; September 22, 2018, 03:21 PM.

              Comment


                #8
                Yes it was converted to natural gas because we had two outlets installed outside for fire pit and BBQ/smoker. I'm going to take a closer look at this now that you mention it. Thanks!

                Comment


                • Dadof3Illinois
                  Dadof3Illinois commented
                  Editing a comment
                  When you connected it to NG did you get the kit from Camp Chef?

                • LA Pork Butt
                  LA Pork Butt commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Natural gas won’t bur as hot as propane. I am not sure if that makes a difference with the temps you are shooting for.

                • johnec00
                  johnec00 commented
                  Editing a comment
                  When you converted from propane to NG, did you change the gs orifice? On my Fire Magic, the propane orifice is 0.0465" diameter versus 0.067" diameter for NG. This works out to a 2:1 area difference. So if you're running NG through a propane orifice, you're getting significantly less flow area.

                #9
                I had similar problems until I installed a needle valve between the gas bottle and the smoker valve. I could dial the flame down so low even Groucho Marx would have trouble lighting his cigar or crank it open to full flame. Still took some fiddling around to hold at target temperature but once dialed in it held throughout the cook / smoke. If this solution interests you go visit a nearby propane supplier (not big box store) and discuss with them. Take your smoker valve with you. They can likely put one together for you on the spot and it isn't very costly. I think I paid under $20.00 when I did this. Made all the difference in the world. Only other suggestions would be to look into PID control but then your upping your financial investment.

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