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How to mount fan on OKJ?

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    How to mount fan on OKJ?

    Thinking ahead here as I haven't even ordered the adapter yet, but where do people mount a control fan on an OKJ? Search results are pretty thin and the only video I've seen was a guy that mounted the guru bulkhead adapter on the barrel side of the firebox under the cooking chamber. Location wise, that seems pretty nice since you don't have to worry about the cord as much and whacking the fan when messing in the firebox. It would keep the fan somewhat protected and out of the way. However, are there downfalls to blowing the air away from the chamber? The vent door isn't sealed super tight, so I'm wondering how much heat and smoke I'll be blowing right out that little gap, before it bounces back up towards the cook chamber?

    Also, are there other adapters that work without drilling? I have no problems putting a hole in the smoker for one, but hey if you don't have too why do it.

    #2
    The air would easily turn as it is super heated in the firebox. Yes you would need to seal the firebox door well for it to work correctly.

    Comment


      #3
      What are you planning on using as fuel when you use a fan?

      My experience with offsets says that wood needs a flame to avoid bad smoke. Smouldering wood is not good. A fan controlling combustion air to a wood fire hasn't worked out for me, unless it really is just an augmentation.

      Here's a video of such a setup where the fan is just adding extra air. In other words, the intake vent is left open and the fan is only puffing a little extra to trim up to the set point. A flame is established and the additional air is only to accelerate the flame a bit. By the way, the fan used in the video was mounted as a Lone Star Grillz factory demo on the vent slide. A fan port is now added on the rear of the firebox if you build your order with that extra/option.

      My view of a fan on an offset is that it is not really worthwhile if you are firing with wood. Firing with lump charcoal is a different matter. I have used a fan on my offset using a fire management basket and a fan controlled by a FireBoard PID controller. In this case of firing with lump, you need a good tight seal as pointed out by Ahumadora.

      Comment


        #4
        I thought about doing this with my offset, and I was going to just drill a hole in the side of the firebox to mount a Guru adapter - the same one that is on my kettle, and if using I would close the intake vents. I decided its not worth it. I have too many leaks due to the way my dad designed and constructed that thing back in 1985. And while I could seal those up, I think it would not be conducive to using wood, only charcoal.

        Any time I have tried to use straight wood and no charcoal with that offset, I had trouble with trying to damp down the fire by controlling the air intake, and ended having to run with the top of the firebox open - otherwise I would get black sooty smoke from not enough oxygen to the flames. Trust me, with a moderate sized fire, and the top of the firebox open, I was STILL getting plenty of heat into the cook chamber.

        I think your plan will work if your intent is to run the OKJ on mostly charcoal, and some wood chunks. I don't think you will be able to use the fan and get a good wood fire with decent smoke, without more airflow than the fan allows for.

        Comment


        • glitchy
          glitchy commented
          Editing a comment
          Yeah, I was running with the firebox side door wide open during my burn in, I couldn't get hot enough with it closed, so it would probably end up for charcoal cooks if I install one, or to stoke the fire and even temps out a bit.

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