Heat Sinks

[Alan Keen]

Hi Folks,

This is my first Post outside the intro forum.

I notice that the use of bricks; stones; sand and water are used as heat sinks.

Do you remember the old Night storage heaters from the 60's? I was wondering if a 2x2 stack of those in the middle of the charcoal basket would act as a heat sink whilst using the snake method or, come to that put in the water bowl for any heating method?

Has anyone tried them?

Alan

 

[Bob Bass]

Hi Alan,

Have never used a Night storage heater. But... if you wanted to heat something, would you place it next to (let's say) the stove's burner or on top of the stove's burner ?

 

[Russell Y]

Storage heater brick/Fire brick seem to be close to the same thing. So they can be used interchangeably. I haven't heard of putting them in the charcoal basket, it seems like it would take away from space for fuel.

I have heard of using them in the water bowl. Heat sinks like firebricks or clay pots server the same purpose, they help stabilize the temperature of the WSM. One downfall of these types of heat sinks is that if it gets too hot, the heat sinks will keep it hot.

The more heat sink mass, the longer it takes to come to temperature and the longer it stays hot. Too small of mass and it can't contribute to keeping the smoker stable. So finding the balance is what you would need.

 

[Steve Cleveland]

I have been using two foil wrapped bricks in my water pan with good luck.

 

[Bill Schultz]

I have had nothing but gravely sand in mine since day one, foiled on top and changed as needed. works very well, about half full

 

[Phil Perrin]

I like the clay saucer method. Haven't had a problem since I started.

 

[Chad Bman]

I like the clay saucer method. Haven't had a problem since I started.

Same here, but I haven't tried much else. Water twice, but that was it.

 

[Clint]

Why bother - run the pan dry! (control the temps with airflow - it responds quickly & predictably

I didn't used to foil the top but I have been recently, it makes cleanup easier. I don't foil the bottom, I don't care what that looks like.

 

[Gene_N]

Same here, but I haven't tried much else. Water twice, but that was it.

I used water for my first 5-6 smokes. It works as designed but dealing with greasy water is a major pita. I switched to a foil wrapped 16" clay saucer. I wrap the bowl in foil and all the grease drippings goes straight into the trash.

 

[Gary S]

You might enjoy a read of this post Alan.

http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?39641-WSM-Using-Heat-Sinks&highlight=heat+sinks