Smoking in the garage?


 
P

pj lietz

TVWBB Fan
Hi All,

This may be a noobish question, but would it be safe to run the smoker in the garage over night? It's a 24x26 foot unit with one free car stall in it. It also have 2 large windows and I could leave the man door open for the night if needed. The reason I'm asking is I'm doing my frist over night cook today, but the weather is going to be bad. Rain all night with some wind.

Thanks
wsmsmile8gm.gif
 
PJ, is it connected to the house? Probably not the wisest idea if so, even with the ventilation. If it is not, with all the windows and door open and good cross breeze and/or fan, you'd probably be alright, though I'd still avoid it.

Better yet would be to run it outside with a decent wind block (don't worry about the rain).
 
Personally, I would be too worried about potential fire issues to attempt it. If I was doing a couple of hours for ribs or something, I would probably attempt it, but not an overnight. There's no way my paranoia would allow me to do it.

If you can mitigate the fire hazards, it would probably be OK. By opening a window and a door, creating the cross breeze would be enough to ventilate the space.
 
Food for thought, there's several people that burn down their homes or garages every year thinking they can cook in safely. Who knows what the air flow is like in your house/garage and if any CO will make its way into your house. Plus you'll be leaving greasy deposits in the garage from the smoke. I don't think its worth even the small risk. My wsm has cooked through many rains without hassle.
 
I had posted this back on January 3:

This was a post over at the BBQ Forum by Ed Roe:

Posted by roeboat on December 27, 2009 at 09:35:34:
In the past I've left my pit inside my shop and opened the (3) doors to ventilate and cooked that way. Today, just for giggles I pulled out my 4 gas meter and checked the carbon monoxide level. In just two minutes it was over 100 ppm. Unbelievable. Don't take chances. Ed
 
Thanks all,

It's a detached garage, so I wasn't worried about smoke getting in the house. I was wondering about risk of fire in the garage though and the rain on the smoker cooling it off to much. But if the rain is not an issue I'll fab up some wind blocks today and leave it outside.

Thanks again.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dan N.:
I had posted this back on January 3:

This was a post over at the BBQ Forum by Ed Roe:

Posted by roeboat on December 27, 2009 at 09:35:34:
In the past I've left my pit inside my shop and opened the (3) doors to ventilate and cooked that way. Today, just for giggles I pulled out my 4 gas meter and checked the carbon monoxide level. In just two minutes it was over 100 ppm. Unbelievable. Don't take chances. Ed </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Wow. That's the last thing I would have worried about given good ventilation. Does anyone know at what PPM carbon monoxide is dangerous?

EDITED: A little Google-Fu later and HOLY CRAP: http://www.carbon-monoxide-poi...icle1-co-levels.html
 
Never, EVER.
My garage burnt to the ground (unattached) in 1999. Fire started by an electric garage door opener (short).
Early September, all my yard and lawn equipment was in there along with all the tools, all the stuff guys use.
Everything was lost.
Insurance covered it, sure, butt imagine the crap you go through to replace everything, and to rebuild.
My advice to you or anyone thinking of cooking under cover:
postpone your first overnight cook if it rains.
or you may have your first overnight garage fire.
 
Look at it in terms of risk vs reward. The best BBQ in the world isn't worth risking a fire or carbon monoxide poisoning. Build a wind/rain break or live to smoke another day.
 
I smoke and grill on the edge of the door of my garage all the time ! BUT I had a 3 ft overhang built on my garge when we built it . so tech iam NOT in the garage . I would never dream a hauling it inside the garage just not worth it IMHO.
 
Not recommended due to carbon monoxide issues. A little wind is not an issue. For rain, just wrap a piece of foil around the lid handle and let it hang over the lide vent. You'll have some water in the charcoal bowl tomorrow, but so what. Not a big cleaning issue.
 
Thanks again all,

I'm now thinking of building a folding 3 sided wind breaker about 6 foot tall, 4 feet wide and 3 deep with a slanted roof on it. The roof will be raised a few inches off the sides to let smoke out as well. I think it will come in handy as I plan to smoke year round and we get some crappy weather up here.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by pj lietz:
Hi All,

This may be a noobish question, but would it be safe to run the smoker in the garage over night? It's a 24x26 foot unit with one free car stall in it. It also have 2 large windows and I could leave the man door open for the night if needed. The reason I'm asking is I'm doing my frist over night cook today, but the weather is going to be bad. Rain all night with some wind.

Thanks
wsmsmile8gm.gif
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Don't do it....
 
PJ, part of the lore, and yeah, maybe even part of the macho [whether you're M or F] is getting out there and doin' watcha gotta do in lousy weather. Just search some of the winter Q threads. I mean, c'mon, you're a Canuck - you can't be afraid of a little weather!
 
Lol, thanks Mike. I'm not worried about me and the weather, it's the smoker I was worried about. As for being a canuk, everyone thinks I'm nuts when I fire up the carcoal grill in a foot of snow
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OK, this may look a little bizarre in your back yard, but it keeps the weather out and your temps up:
2006_1215_162856AA_edited-1.jpg


Get a roll of Reflectrix and some aluminum tape in the plumbing/heating section at HD/Lowes, cut & fashion to fit.
 
In my town a home burned down last year due to a gas grill being kept in the garage. The owner had returned home and threw a backpack on the grill. Fire department investigators determined that the backpack landed on the igniter which set the flames going on the grill with the cover closed. Eventually the grill heated up enough to catch the adjoining wall on fire and the house burned down. No one was hurt as the family managed to get out in time.

Another reason to always turn off the gas supply at the tank.

Ray
 
Mike,

Reflectix says the insulation is safe to 180F.

Have you experienced any problems with higher temperatures in your Weber?

Tim
 
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