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Cold Smoker blower

oxicottin

Sep 14, 2012
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First I'm new to the forum so I wanted to say hello.... Now im wanting to start a project and have looked all over the internet and cant seem to find what im looking for at a cheap price or even what I will be needing to do it safely. I want to build a cold smoke generator for smoking food in my smoker. What I need is a box that would house a small (110v Electric) blower fan that I need to be able to adjust the air flow by a dial separate from the fan of course. I have seen these units built using adjustable speed fish air pumps but I wanted a little more air movement for mine. I have a pic of one someone built but I have no info on it plus they built it using a battery which I wanted mine to plug into the wall. Can someone please point me in the right direction?

Thanks,
Chad

xcoldsmoker4.jpg
 

CocaCola

Apr 7, 2012
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That is just a small squirrel cage fan with a variable speed control... If that is all you want, it's simple enough, just replace the battery with a wall wart that can handle the draw of the fan...
 

oxicottin

Sep 14, 2012
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Thanks for the reply, where do you recommend I get the squirrel fan and what fan and variable controller and which ones would I need?

Thanks,
Chad
 

duke37

Jan 9, 2011
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You can get a small 12V fan out of a computer power supply. A multiway switch to switch in series resistors will vary the speed. Start experimenting with 10 ohm.
More powerful 12V fans are used in car heaters. These probably take more current than a simple all wart can supply.
 

CocaCola

Apr 7, 2012
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Well there are probably 1001 ways to go about this, this is just one of those ways... I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible using easily sourced stuff that can be had cheap... You could of course do this with parts from Radio Shack as well, but I'm too lazy to figure out what parts they actually have in the stores...

You can get a basic speed controller like this, it has the knob and it all setup for a small fan like you show in the picture above...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Desktop-Com...749?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item337a30f46d

On that particular speed controller you would cut off the bigger connectors wires, and attach +12V to the yellow wire and GND to the black wire... Red would just be taped up and not used... The little plug will plug right into the fan...

Like this one...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1x-NMB-DC-1...296?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27bdd54d30

Note this is a blower fan (squirrel) if you want a regular fan they are easily had as well... Like this...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-Pin-12V-P...?pt=US_CPU_Fans_Heatsinks&hash=item2a12868d9d

The above is a small one, there are lots of sizes to be hand if you go this route, just Ebay search for "3 pin computer fan"

For the power supply you would need a 12v wall wart rated for at least 1A (1000mA) like this one...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-1A-AC-D...?pt=US_Battery_Converters&hash=item2c67dea132

You would cut the plug off that and attach it to the yellow and black wires as described above, best to use a volt meter to verify what is positive and negative before you hook it up...
 
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oxicottin

Sep 14, 2012
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Sep 14, 2012
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Thanks guys for the replys... I have one last question then my search is on... Why do I need a 3 pin fan and if I were to get a different speed controller would I look for one for a 3 pin fan.

Thanks,
Chad
 

CocaCola

Apr 7, 2012
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The three pin fans are set up for the speed controller I linked you to, if you use a two wire fan that speed controller will not work and you will have to use a different setup... That could be a simple pot in series instead of the speed controller, that is one of the other 1001 ways to do it...
 

carlosboyd

May 18, 2022
12
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May 18, 2022
Messages
12
First I'm new to the forum so I wanted to say hello.... Now im wanting to start a project and have looked all over the internet and cant seem to find what im looking for at a cheap price or even what I will be needing to do it safely. I want to build a cold smoke generator for smoking food in my smoker. What I need is a box that would house a small (110v Electric) blower fan that I need to be able to adjust the air flow by a dial separate from the fan of course. I have seen these units built using adjustable speed fish air pumps but I wanted a little more air movement for mine. I have a pic of one someone built but I have no info on it plus they built it using a battery which I wanted mine to plug into the wall. Can someone please point me in the right direction?
concrete floor grinder
Thanks,
Chad

xcoldsmoker4.jpg
Hard to find a 3" y connector to stick in the top vent upside down and blow air into the opposite side so smoke and forced air from the fan come out the stem of the y. Maybe put a cork in the grease trap drain hole to keep all air coming in through the mailbox mod. Mine has been plugged for a couple years. I haven't generated enough juices in the bottom drip pan to use the drain hole so I foil over the hole in the bottom drip pan and plug the drain from the outside to keep all air coming in through the 3" chip loader opening.
 

roughshawd

Jul 13, 2020
465
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Jul 13, 2020
Messages
465
I built one.
I took a 2" square steel tube and cut about 7" off of it and welded it to a 2" flat bar. Drilled a 1" hole in the front side about 2.25" from the plate. Then I cut a 1" square steel tube at a slight angle to allow for exhaust and welded it over the hole. Then I drilled another 1/2" hole about 1/4" up from the plate in the side of the 2" to allow for air draw.
Now this is the tricky part...
The nozzle (1" square tube) is angled to help produce air sucktion from the excaping smoke that is puring out of it, but it doesn't have enough draw to kindle the coals in the pot, so started with a real small hole (1/8" drill) then drilled a nother larger hole (1/4") an angle from the back side toward the end of the exhaust tube to accept a 1/4" tubing that I connected to an aquarium air pump. The key here is hole placement. If it's to far forward, (that is too close toward the exit point) then it just puffs the smoke away, and if its too close to the touch hole (to close to the 2" tube) it will blow the smolder out. when it is positioned approximately 2.34 of the distance of the tube length divided by the total volume of the ID of the 2"tube i.e. length for a chip hopper assuming at least some the volume is filled and therefore is lessened, and figuring that the 1/4" hole is a 4th of the exhaust,

When I tested it the LEDS all flashed and everything, and the buzzers beeped loudly while the voluminous silence of the cold smoke billowed into my smoker. (wrong board for handymen!!)

Anyway, the pro smokers gave me the idea is that it doesn't take a lot of smoke, to smoke things, and any smoke at all is good for smoking, you have to remember, that when you cool smoke, you are stopping its ability to cook, and it is not OK for eating afterward without first cooking it or cooking it first. The chips go down the 2" tube, and the fire is started with an open flame through the hole in the side of the 2" tube. you will need to put a flue over the side hole by drilling an 1/8" hole next to the 1/2" hole and securing a piece of beer can shaped into 1" cover so that it can be raised or lowered to increase or decrease the amount of air that passes through the firebox. I have heard of people trying to create refrigerators that cool compartments of the smoker, but I wasn't trying to build anything that important. I was after efficiency. You might try it.

Hey?!!!? How about hide glue to hold my battery box!!! wow what an epiphany!
 
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