Fan for 22.5" WSM


 

BigDave

New member
Does anyone know if the recommended Delta blower (6.5 CFM) will work for a 22.5" WSM without a servo damper? I usually cook around 250-275, but occasionally do higher temp cooks in the 325-350 range and I am concerned the Delta fan doesn't have enough air flow to get my cooker that hot. The 22.5 is a pretty big volume of air with a large surface area.

I was planning on using a 10 CFM blower I found on Amazon and mounting with a dog bowl.

I eventually want to build a servo damper and if I go with my own blower and I wouldn't be able to use any of the existing servo damper designs.

Thanks.
-Dave
 
My guess is without a damper of some sort you would not be able to hold low and slow temps on a kettle because enough natural convection would pass through the blower opening to let things get out of control. You may be able to clamp down on the top vent enough to keep things under control, IDK, have no real experience with a HM on a kettle.

If you are just planning on doing low and slow I dont see the need for a larger blower, I would just stick with the standard blower. If you want to do higher temp cooks then IDK what to suggest blower wise. I can do 500F to 700F with the standard HM blower in my Akorn, but it is insulated, IDK how far 6.7CFM will take you with a kettle, but it is a fair amount of air flow, I think it should work fine for higher temps because a kettle is really a small grill.

If you don't want to go full on servo damper you could build a basic gravity damper, like a flap damper or ping pong ball damper, they are generally effective in controlling overshoot although somewhat more abruptly than a servo damper.
 
My comment about holding 250F is not about having enough flow to achieve 250F, that will be no problem with 6.7CFM flow. My concern was the potential for uncontrollable overshoot without some sort of damper. However, I also was mistaken, thinking he was using a kettle rather than a WSM for some reason...

Does your Auber blower have a flap damper on it or anything? If the Auber fan does not have a flap and you can hold 250F without issue that answers the question.
 
OK, so you at least have a simple flap damper, rather than unrestricted flow when the fan is off...

Have you done any higher temp cooks with the Auber fan? Can you hold 375F?
 
I'm in the exact same boat, I have a generic bullet smoker that I only use if I need to smoke enough food for for a crowd, otherwise I use the Akorn for most everything.
 
I will be rigging a basic gravity flapper using a mini door hinge and thermal tape on a dog food bowl. I will just go ahead and use a 15 CFM blower I can get from Mouser for way cheaper than what I can get from Auber. If and when I go to a servo damper, I will figure it out.

With the ability to set less than 100% on the HeaterMeter I should be fine. Thanks for the advice.
 
That sounds like a good plan, I don't think you should need a fancy damper for a WSM, a simple flap should be fine.
It's too bad that someone who uses a WSM didn't chime in and let us know what top end temp they can achieve with the stock HM blower, that would at least let know know if the stock blower will get you where you need to be or if you need to bump up to the 15CFM unit. My guess is you could hit 375F with 6.7CFM on a WSM but I am not 100% sure.
 
It's too bad that someone who uses a WSM didn't chime in and let us know what top end temp they can achieve with the stock HM blower, that would at least let know know if the stock blower will get you where you need to be or if you need to bump up to the 15CFM unit. My guess is you could hit 375F with 6.7CFM on a WSM but I am not 100% sure.

It would have been nice. I am a little surprised at how few active posters there are with WSMs since the HeaterMeter forum is hosted on TVWB. I am just want good temp control (set it and forget it) so I can finally get a good night sleep. My favorite thing to smoke is brisket, but I am tired of the poor sleep so I can keep and eye on the vents.
 
Long unattended overnight low and slow cooks are best done on some sort of insulated grill like a ceramic kamado or insulated steel like am akorn or keg, 'cause a fuel load lasts forever in tight grills like these. Thin walled grills like kettles and bullet smokers bleed a lot of heat out of the thin shell, so while a HM can regulate and hold the temp nice and steady they tend to burn more fuel doing it. So your your real question is "how long can this grill hold the target temp with a full load of coal", if you want to sleep through the night. Then again, you can setup the HM to text and wake you if your temps drop if you like!
Your best bet is to setup some sort of minion method coal arrangement and let the coals burn off a bit at a time and at least have the flap damper on your fan.... going completely passive with servo damper only during the cook will burn a bit less coal than using the blower if you want to stretch the life of your fire a bit....
 
I will use the minion method, I already do. Most of my cooks now are OK overnight, but I have had a few that fluctuated enough that it makes me nervous and I have to check on it. My remote thermometer has occasionally failed me for various reasons. I think ash buildup is my biggest problem and I expect a little extra air flow across the coals to help that out.

We will see. I am just waiting on a new solder station and then I will commence my build and see if my assumptions are correct.
 
It would have been nice. I am a little surprised at how few active posters there are with WSMs since the HeaterMeter forum is hosted on TVWB. I am just want good temp control (set it and forget it) so I can finally get a good night sleep. My favorite thing to smoke is brisket, but I am tired of the poor sleep so I can keep and eye on the vents.

Someone with a WSM and a Heatermeter did chime in. The top temperature is largely dependent on the size of the fire at the outset. The 6.5 blower can certainly push more air than the WSM vents alone. So, if you can get those temps without a blower, you can certainly maintain them with.

If you want to get some rest, you will be very happy with a Heatermeter / WSM combo.
 
Someone with a WSM and a Heatermeter did chime in.

Sorry, I should I have been more clear. I meant someone with a WSM that has the stock fan or had issues with the stock fan at high temps. I appreciated your feedback.

I actually like the Auber fan for the WSM (simple yet elegant attachment solution), unfortunately, I just have to keep things as cheap as possible right now.
 
if you haven't ordered the fan, I would suggest using TWO dampers(and no fan) instead.

I have a uds and for about the last three months Ive been using two dampers on my rig. It will hold 180°(I did a brisket at 180 for 30 hours), and wide open it will hit around 380-385 degrees. There is no chance of the fan accidentally cooling your fire,or blowing ash, or anything like that.

I just had two micro dampers printed, and bought a y splitter on ebay, and of course the servos. I think my total cost was about 30-35 bucks
 

 

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