Insulated Smoker Project

[DVA]

I started an insulated smoker project last year. This thing is a vertical smoker with the fire in the bottom and cooking chamber in the top, it looks like one of the fridges with the freezer in the bottom. The only thing different from the freezer type design is I put the fire in the bottom and the heat raises up inner walls holding the cooking grates and smoke pores over the top of the inner walls to flavor the meat. Smoke drops to the bottom of the cooking chamber and exits up a chimney that starts at the bottom of the cooking chamber. The smoker a 20 inch wide by 20 inch deep by 30 inch tall cooking chamber that will fit up to 8 cooking grates.
The internal frame was fabricated out of 1 inch tubing and 2 by 1 inch 16 gauge tubing. The walls are 14 and 18 gage material as it is what I had available at the time. I had to seam weld all of the sheet metal on 5 sided to make a leak proof smoker.
The doors are fabricated out of 16 gauge sheet and have used tadpool fiberglass gaskets for the seals. I used stainless steel piano hinges and purchased some spring loaded push to close freezer latche (the coolest addition to the prject).
Between the cooking chamber and the fire pit I have welded in a water pan fabricated out of 11 gauge steel that holds about 5-6 gallons of water and water is drained out of a 1 inch ball valve on the side of the smoker.
The smoker has two inches of insulation and 16 gauge sheet metal cover on the outside. The outside sheet metal was powered coated and the outside of the smoker was painted with BBQ paint to protect from rust.

This project took about 150 hours to build but well worth the experience and the smoked food is always appreciated by my family and friends.