24" pipe + welding project - Which Pit design?

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jd-santaclarita

Got Wood.
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Hi All - I know this is probably a loaded question, but hoping to get some thoughts. I been on a kick lately to add to my arsenal (fast eddy PG and UDS) to add a nice texas caliber pit that would look nice on the property (well at least to me it would). I was originally looking at buying one, but man the prices are really high. I also feel like there would be something satisfying about building my own. I just started welding, got a millermatic 211 which can do 220v (need to get 220 ran in my shop though). First up is some steel garden planters, but I got my sights on doing a pit after that. I also just ran across a local pipe yard and they have 24" (3/8") pipe at ~$60/ft. The owner showed me a pit he was building in their shop and i thought "dang, maybe i should try to tackle this". Anyhow, I haven't settled on any particular design. I was starting to lean towards a vertical/cabinet style when i was thinking of buying something, but ultimately cost started coming into the picture. Thinking the cabinet style or verticals maybe a bit too complicated, but not sure. I don't have any true requirements. Mainly, just want a nice pit thats pretty fuel efficient, that i can "kinda" get to run "kinda" self sustained for blocks of time with stoker type setups, yet still let me cook a good amount of food when the need arises 8 briskets and some sausauges and some flats of chicken thighs would be max i'd ever do, although doing a little pig is on my bucket list.

Anyhow, knowing i've got decent access to any length of 24" pipe (or 16", 20", 36" as well) and am definitely a beginner welder, any thoughts on what would be a good design/approach/plans?

Thanks all,
JD
 
I would build a small or normal back yard cooker first, fine tune your welding skills. There are plenty of welds that are not flat and easy, now that im thinking of it, there are very few. Now thats not to discourage you, but its a whole lot easier to make mistakes on a 300 dollar build than it is on a 2000 dollar build. Besides you can always sell your first "practice Pit" and probably make a few bucks on it to help off set the cost of your final build.
 
Bludawg said:
Build a Vertical : 2 door UDS no blower needed.
Click to expand...

Do you mean something like getting a 5-6' tall piece of 24" pipe, weld a bottom piece on it, weld a top on it with a stack and cut a couple doors on the side? Or are you meaning fabricating something from 55 gal drums?

Thanks,
JD
 
jd-santaclarita said:
Do you mean something like getting a 5-6' tall piece of 24" pipe, weld a bottom piece on it, weld a top on it with a stack and cut a couple doors on the side? Or are you meaning fabricating something from 55 gal drums?

Thanks,
JD
Click to expand...
^^^this^^^
 
Here's one I peiced together. Pretty simple. Cooked on it once so far. I haven't much time lately. Plus I should be able to help with any welding questions.
 
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Thats definitely piqued my interest. Do you think a vertical pipe like that would run mainly with charcoal (large UDS style firebasket) or more of a stickburner/fire? Did you go square firebox for a main reason (smaller diameter pipe? easier to make airtight doors/etc?) or would a 24" pipe be large enough to just use it straight through without the square box at the bottom, assuming cutting a firebox door and somehow making a good seal?

Thanks,
JD
 
I really like the effort Muscrat put into his and he can certainly answer based on his experience, but IMO you can do either charcoal or wood or a combination but I lean more towards the stickburner side. FYI, here is a vertical 26" build with the firebox in the tank, separated by a 5/16 diffuser plate.
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=162551
 
I went with square box because the tube was only 20" diameter. A 24" tube would allow you to make the box and tube all one piece. I'd shape it like a rocket.
I tried to burn this one on charcoal and couldn't get it hot enough. Might be cause of the diffuser but not sure.
 
Thinking about the design and construction of it and wondering a couple things. Is a dome top needed or would a flat top with a stack coming out the middle do just as well? Being I'd be starting with a 24" piece of straight pipe it would be much easier to cut and weld on a flat piece of 3/8" steel to the top and bottom vs trying to find/make a dome of some sort.

Wondering if theres any design formulas that one should pay attention to? I know for offsets, theres a calc of like 1/3 sized firebox or something of the likes. And with the UDS theres a sweet spot of 24" from grate to coals (iirc). Wondering with a vertical pipe, direct below coal/wood fired if theres any calculations or does 24" from coal to first rack sound about right? Or are there some more detailed plans somewhere I should try to follow? In the end, it looks like this might be a cross in between yalls curved end tank designs and a really tall UDS with access doors.

Thanks,
JD
 
Not sure on the box sizes. I wouldn't worry about the size. As I sit here I'm thinking the box size theory's are bogus. I'm currently cooking on an offset I just finished and the box is 1/3 the size of the chamber. But the size of the fire is way small. Seems like a lot of wasted space.
 
I agree with Muscrat, at least for a vertical, don't need a calculator. With a little trial and error (I've build about a 1/2 dozen verticals intended to be used as a stickburner) and here is how I come up with my dimensions:
* your pipe is 24" so that is a fixed dimension
* I like to line the bottom of my firebox with firebrick splits, they are 1-1/4 thick so I set the bottom of my firebox door opening at 1-1/2"
* I allow 3" for a 2-1/2" ash pan; cumulative = 4-1/2.
* I allow a foot or so for the fire, bottom grate to the heat diffuser, cumulative now at 16-1/2, maybe 18". This sets the location of the top of the firebox door opening
* I like to allow 4-6 inches from the heat diffuser plate to the first cooking rack, so a cumulative 24" to the first cooking grate & bottom of the cook chamber door opening.
* From there just make it as tall as you feel comfortable, for example a 36" tall cook chamber starting 6" above the heat diffuser is plenty of room for 5-7 cooking grate locations; add a few inches and the whole thing could top out at 5'-6".

I would add that with these dimensions, mine work pretty well as charcoal burners also, but it takes a while to get them up to cooking temps, maybe 45-60 minutes unless I feel line heating it up ith a Texas match (aka weed burner).

Edit: Oh yea, I think you will be fine with a flat top. I used to worry about condensation and creosote dripping from a flat top but I just don't see it in my verticals, even on the rare occasion I use a water pan. On a traditional offset or RF cooker the possibility of condensation and creosote is prettry high so a domed/curved top is pretty important IMO, but I guess there is something about the air flow in a vertical that keeps it free on condensation.
 
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Thanks for the info. I'm warming up to the idea that this is doable :) One thing I'm nervous about is being able to cut the doors out and get them sealed up tight. Is there a good guide or standard practice to handle this? At this point, i've only got an angle grinder so not sure if thats even remotely sufficient to cut 3/8" doors of this size AND how to deal with the possible bend/flex, etc. I'm assuming theres some good practices on cutting/hinging/flanging/etc?

Thanks,
JD
 
Another question in addition to the 'how to's of door cutting/flanging/etc" I had while plotting this out was the heat diffuser plate...

I know its kind of a debatable topic in the UDS world, but wondering how it would apply for this larger vertical build. When I tried putting a diffuser plate (3/16" plate, with some 1" holes drilled in it) it completely sucked all the heat out of my UDS. I had to get the fire going pretty good to get it up to 250* in the cook chamber, which would have eaten all the fuel in no time. I pulled it out, temps shot up over 100* immediately without the plate, so i stopped using it. The downside for me is that the fire starts raging quickly when I have the lid open and tend to the food.

So wondering with this build, how to handle the diffuser to solve 2 issues:
1. Keep it really fuel efficient (ideally, 10-20lb bag of lump, a couple chunks of wood for more smoke, seal it up, let the stoker type atc run it all night while i sleep for instance).
2. Allow for opening the cook chamber door and tending to the food without raging the fire.

As I write this, I'm wondering if theres a way to build an adjustable damper style heat diffuser? Maybe fabricating something like this: http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImages/300/30/30349097-ce82-4567-8ac3-1ea582f7d53d_300.jpg

Where theres a simple rod attached to the fins that sticks out through the side of the pit for manual adjustment. Then just shut it fully closed when opening food chamber. Or have I lost my marbles?

Love to hear some thoughts.
Thanks,
JD
 
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