Does the 5 CFM blower cut it for you on your stoker?


 
R

Ryan Gardner

TVWBB Fan
It sure as **** doesn't seem to cut the mustard for me.

Maybe it's my altitude (around 4800 feet) - but I know from past experience that the 5 CFM blower absolutely CANNOT maintain a fire when I'm trying to do stuff at a higher temp (eg 300) (i.e. turkey, or a rib roast) - I have to go out there and play the hair dryer game to keep it up higher.

Tonight I'm starting a cook and it's a bit cold out there, but not that bad - (mid 40's) - but seriously, with a half chimney of lit coals dropped onto 1.5 chimneys of unlit coals and it's not able to push the temp over 190 - I'll have to go out there and use my blow dryer to light some more coals and get it up to 220 or so and then hope that it can at least maintain the fire while I sleep.

Has anyone tried using the 10 CFM blowers with the 18" (old school) WSM's? I'm considering ordering one - wondering if that might solve my problems.
 
Ryan, I'm at about 500 ft. above sea level and don't have any problems on my low and slow cooks, I'd say below 300. If I try to get over 300 with my 5 CFM fan forget it, I'm propping doors open etc. This is on an 18" WSM. I'd think a 10 cfm could pull it off for you. Hope this helps.

BTW, I'm a former SLC guy, Spanish Forks a very nice area. Isn't the deer hunt coming-up? If memory serves me correctly I took a pretty nice 4x4 out of the mountains to the east of you back in the 80s.
 
I did notice my 5 CFM blower was making a bit of a whirring noise - but if I pinched the housing on it a bit the noise went away. This led me to believe that the screws had worked their way loose - so I tightened them up. We're talking... maybe 1/8th of a turn max on each screw to get it tight again - and the noise went away... not sure if it made it more efficient or not.

Yeah, 300 cooks are bear with the stoker. If the 10 CFM blowers were cheaper I'd definitely get one right away for when I want to do stuff in the 300's.

Yes, the deer hunt is coming up quite soon. I'm not a hunter, but I have many friends who are. (They are out Elk hunting soon too)
 
Ryan,

I've never had an issue maintaining 300 degrees with a 5 CFM. Maybe you should try a different fuel source. At the last contest we went too I used Kingford's new Competition charcoal and I had a hard time keeping the temp DOWN. I had to pull the ribs off and put them in the main smoker. Lump burns hotter than K as well.

Also, you do know the fan part has to point UP don't you? There's a flow valve in there. If you shake the unit you can hear it flap.

-rob
 
Yeah, I know how to point the blower in the correct way
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It would be cool if the stoker would just let you gang together two 5 CFM blowers and use them simultaneously instead of just one 10 CFM blower. I'd be a lot more interested in picking up an extra 5 CFM blower than I am in picking up a 10 CFM one.

The 5 CFM one just ran my cooker fine for 18+ hours at temps I set from between 225 to 260.

I was using lump before when I couldn't get it to maintain a 300 degree burn. Maybe I'll give it another shot on a weekend I don't care about the results and see if I can get it to maintain 300 degrees with a different brand lump or something.

But... going back to my point... I'd much rather buy another 5 CFM blower and use 2 blowers than buy a much more expensive 10 CFM blower.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">stoker would just let you gang together two 5 CFM blowers and use them simultaneously instead of just one 10 CFM blower. I'd be a lot more interested in picking up an extra 5 CFM blower than I am in picking up a 10 CFM one. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ryan, you can do one of two things if you want to use two 5 CFM blowers. The easiest way is to have the two blowers hooked up, each connected to it's own pit probe in the smoker. If you want to use one pit probe for both blowers, you'll need to solder the two blowers together. That way, the stoker will only read one blower, and you can pair it with a single probe. I thought about doing this when I bought my 22" WSM, as I had 3 5CFM blowers and didn't want a new one. John at Rock's talked me through what needed to be done, but I ultimately ditched the 22 in favor of a larger cabinet style smoker.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">but seriously, with a half chimney of lit coals dropped onto 1.5 chimneys of unlit coals and it's not able to push the temp over 190 </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have a 10cfm Guru and don't depend on it to do high temperature cooks. For turkey or rib roast I use the Standard Method for firing up the WSM. The more lit the better for 300 and above.
 
I don't have a WSM, I built a Stump clone and use a 5cfm fan. My cook chamber is 2' x 2' x 4'tall and I have no problems maintaining temps with just the little 5cfm fan. I did a test cook the other day to try a hot-cook for a brisket. The Stoker maintained 350 with no problems during the cook.

I'd be concerned with the 10cfm fan causing too much ash to be blown around in the cook chamber.
 
Steve and I have very similar sized cookers, Stumps Clones, and I'm a former Egg owner. I purchased my Stoker when Rock's couldn't get 5 CFM fans so I have a 4 CFM fan.

When I built the clone I purchased a 10 CFM fan and power source because I thought I would need oomf for the much much larger cooker. For me the 10 CFM was complete overkill and I quickly reverted back to the 4 CFM set up. Granted it takes over 40 minutes to get up to temp vs about 20 with the 10 CFM but it's not like having a blowtorch in my firebox either, which I feel is too hard on the steel. Once up to temp the unit purrs like a kitten and easily maintains +- 1 deg max for the duration of the cook.

My 10 CFM fan and power supply now sit in a box in the garage, a waste of $100+. Also, I never had trouble holding 350 deg temps with the 4 CFM on my BGE and I can't imagine the WSM being much different.
 
That makes sense Pat. All you need to do is get another 5CFM and wire it in parallel to the other one, mount it and you're done. It will read as one unit on the stoker.

For that matter, you could just get a 5 volt DC fan and come up with your own mounting system and wire it in parallel to save a few bucks.

Either way works. You can find a 5v DC fan pretty cheap on Ebay:

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R4...t=See-All-Categories

The trick is mounting it.

-rob
 
It cuts it for me. WSM 22. I usually burn off the remaining fuel at the end of a cook and it easily reaches 300+.
 
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