Water heater pan


 

Dustin Flavell

TVWBB Pro
Thoughts on using a water heater drip pan in place of the water bowl? Products are cheap aluminum. Also, I always run my WSM with no water and the water bowl is foiled.

I am working on two projects dropping the water bowl/cooking grates down on the 18” WSM to accommodate a third cooking grate and need the unused, deep stock water bowl removed so it doesn’t interfere with the charcoal.

The other project is turning the mini ranch into a 26” smoker. For the prototype run I foiled an old 22” cooking grate which worked fine as a deflector but would like something easier that doesn’t require refoiling each time. These pans are cheap too at 15 bucks seems like a better deflector than say a pizza stone in a similar size.

Thoughts? concerns?

Thanks
 
Do they make them small enough to fit in a 18.5" WSM?
I like your idea, just never seen one that size.

Tim
 
If I’m reading you right, you’re going to try the water heater pan on the 26” ?
That would seem pretty reasonable, or a 35 gallon drum lid? That would be a bit more durable.
I use a heater pan as a grate cleaning “sink” and they are pretty flimsy, I have my doubts about the longevity in one of those. Might be just fine.
If you’re just thinking of a deflector for the 18, a heavy pizza pan might prove suitable.
Where are you going to find a center section for the 26” smoker modification? That would be a fuel hog but, hooeee! You could smoke for an army on that!
I want to see pictures of that! Neat idea.
 
Last edited:
Sorry I responded to this post and it disappeared. Your right about the water heater pan nd the 18. I don’t believe they make one that small. Hadn’t thought through the 18” project much since I’ve been working on the 26er first. Pizza stone should work. Think I’ve seen quite a few posts on different options for the WSM.
 
If you want to increase mass you could line the pan with a single layer of terra-cotta floor tile. Home Depot or whoever, about 6x6, cheap. Buy a box and,use them as trivetsof anything else. I redid my kitchen floor and, used the leftovers for pizza stone application directly on kettle grate. Works pretty well.
I guess that’s a somewhat different direction but, another way to “temper” the heat some.
 
If I’m reading you right, you’re going to try the water heater pan on the 26” ?
That would seem pretty reasonable, or a 35 gallon drum lid? That would be a bit more durable.
I use a heater pan as a grate cleaning “sink” and they are pretty flimsy, I have my doubts about the longevity in one of those. Might be just fine.
If you’re just thinking of a deflector for the 18, a heavy pizza pan might prove suitable.
Where are you going to find a center section for the 26” smoker modification? That would be a fuel hog but, hooeee! You could smoke for an army on that!
I want to see pictures of that! Neat idea.

Here’s a link to my proto type 26” smoker with some pictures. https://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?73904-Smoking-on-the-26er Since this post I have worked on it some. I purchased a Cajun bandit rotisserie for the middle section this summer. Last week I added 4, 5/16-18 x 3/4” bolts to the top of the ring to place the cooking grate on. And added 7/8” conduit plugs to the holes where the rotisserie spit goes through. Getting there. The 22” cooking grate foiled works pretty well and is durable so I was looking for something else to use as a heat delector. Saw the water heater pans at HD and thought well that could work. They were in a box so I didn’t grab one. Sounds like based on your assement (and a few reviews on HDs site) that they are pretty flimsy. Might not be the way to go especially since it will be pretty close to the coals. I like the idea of the 35 gallon drum lid... that might work... or I could keep using the foiled cooking grate. It’s getting close to being done just a few more minor tweaks ;)
 

 

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