water heater jacket mod


 
Tony C.

Tony C.

TVWBB Wizard
picked one up at homedepot for 20 bucks and made my own guru silver smoker jacket. may not be as pretty, but i bet the R value is better. i also used some foil tape on the edges to make sure no insulation made it's way into the WSM through my pitminder fan. i'm doing an overnight of 2 butts tomorrow and they are calling for rain/wind and turning to snow overnight tomorrow. this should help alot.

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Tony, cover your lid handle with foil or something. It will quickly become a dark brown if you don't.
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What I hate most about using the SJ is that all the moisture that would otherwise evaporate once it leaves the WSM condenses on the inside of the jacket and runs down the side of the WSM/jacket and pools on what ever your WSM is on. With 4 butts, that's enough to swim in!
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Not bad for 20 bucks!
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Bill
 
Snow in Virginia Beach?

I lived there from 1975 to 1985, and we had one 10-inch snow, and one blizzard with 50 mph winds and about 6" of snow (it blew snow into people's attics through the vents). I hope you don't get anything on that scale!
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I don't recall which snowstorm it was, but one time people attending the circus at Scope (in Norfolk) got snowed in, and had to spend the night in the coliseum with all the "fragrant" circus animals.
 
the blizzard was in 1980 and it was 6' if i remember right, i was only 8 years old though, so i may be wrong
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bill Hays:
Tony, cover your lid handle with foil or something. It will quickly become a dark brown if you don't.
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What I hate most about using the SJ is that all the moisture that would otherwise evaporate once it leaves the WSM condenses on the inside of the jacket and runs down the side of the WSM/jacket and pools on what ever your WSM is on. With 4 butts, that's enough to swim in!
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Not bad for 20 bucks!
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Bill </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

i don't know about the BBQ guru one, but if you look at mine you will see i left a little sort of chimney opening on the back so moisture and smoke can escape. since i use a pitminder my top vent is only open about a toothpick width anyway so i will position the opening on the cover over the vent in the lid. if i remember correctly from other posts the silver smoker jacket doesn't have a hole in the top for the vent.
 
The SJ from the Guru folks doesn't come with any holes in it but there is one with a few small holes, right where the top vent is, in Calgary and I hear it works pretty well.

Bill
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i should have made the jacket sooner. i filled my charcoal ring to the max and only used 1/4 of what was in there. here they are after 18 hours under the jacket and at 200*. when they get to 205, i'll wrap in foil and put in pans in the cooler with a little boiling water and towels on top to hold until 3pm or so. i filled my charcoal ring to the max and only used 1/4 of what was in there.

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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bill Hays:
The SJ from the Guru folks doesn't come with any holes in it but
Bill
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I've bought 2 jackets from Guru. The first one had no holes. The second one has a grommeted hole about 3/4 inch diameter that can be placed over a a vent hole. Helps a lot. Also, the new one is made of stronger and UV resistant material.
 
I was just at Home Depot today looking for heater jackets. The only one they had was the fiberglass filled ones, is that what you used?

I looked at HD, Lowes and Menards for the non-fiberglass foil ones but the was none to be found.

I will probably go back to HD this week and get the foil one there. I was planning to seal the edges with duct tape instead of spending more on foil, is this OK?

Also, if I am just using it as a wind-break, is it necessary to "seal" the top as shown?

EDIT: Last question, is the water-heater jacket OK to use in the summer as well, when it is 90 and windy? Or should i go with a windbreak for year around use?
 
you don't have to fold the top in, i just did it because it was supposed to snow. i'll probably never use it in the summer. i think duct tape will be fine as long as you make sure none of the insulation is exposed. don't want that getting into your smoker.
 
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