Stumper repairs required

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 4:12 pm

Jim,

Your grate is very close to the top of the firebox, is there any reasoning behind this. Are there any disadvantages to having the grate lower?

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 5:13 pm

The way mine is built is exactly the way Stumps builds his pits. So I really can't answer if there is any advantage or disadvantage, it is just the way the original is built.

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 10:16 pm

The advantage is that it is the original design. Deviation from the original design requires blood, sweat and tears to make it perform anything like the original.

Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 7:55 pm

Well I got my heat deflector built. It is 2 pieces of sheet steel with about 1/2" space between them. It is sloped down from the fire side and is about 1.5" away from the back of the cooker and the door and 2" from the opposite side to the fire. My "heat tube" extends into the cooking chamber by 6" and the heat deflector is well over that, right up to the fire wall. That should prevent that "hot area" right above the outlet. Just got the door hinges(fire box) to finish welding on. Make a new ash pan and then paint. Should be done soon. Pictures to follow.

Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 8:24 pm

Jim, Glad to hear you are close to the end.

Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 10:28 pm

Well I gave the repair job its final coat of high heat paint tonight, and when I get back from Sask. I am going to give it a good cleaning and then fire it up. Should be fire in the hole one week from tomorrow. Maybe have to throw on some meat as well and see if it still works as good as it used to. Will take pictures when I get back and get it fired up.

Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 7:38 am

Jim, that's great news. Congrats! It's a good thing you have other pits to use while this one was out of commission. Or have you just been using the gasser? Laughing

Sorry, I had to take my turn at poking the big bear.

Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 8:25 am

Well Steve, between Bertha, 2 WSM's, 1 drum and my offset, I have not had to use the gasser for any "smoke cooked foods". It will be good to get the Stumper back working though. And why shouldn't YOU take a shot, everyone else that gets a chance does. Very Happy

Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 6:30 pm

Personally, I have been holding off due to the elder respect thing and all that. Laughing

Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 6:35 pm

Thanks Tom, I appreciate that. Very Happy

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 3:51 pm

Well, back from the fishing trip and needing to get the stumper going for next weekend catering, I got it out of the shop and a fire it as I type. Started with 1/2 chimney of lit Basque's lump at 1 pm, 1:15 I added another 1/2 chimney in the ash pan. 2" ball valve wide open. By 2:30 the bottom thermometer was at 350F and the top at 225F. I closed the ball valve to about 1/4 open and let her go until 3 pm. Temp stabilized to 250F top and bottom. 3:45 I put 3 sausages on, 1 on the bottom, 1 next up and the last one next up again. Nothing on the top shelf. I want to see how even they cook on each shelf. I will let them go for 1 hour and check. Sure smells good.

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 5:31 pm

At 4:30 I took the sausage off. They were all at 195F, just a little more done than I would have liked, but they tasted just fine. I forgot that when the door is indicating 250F, that it is actually about 40 deg hotter on the shelves. Got to learn how to cook on that thing again now. Confused

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:12 pm

I feel your pain Jim. Very Happy

Bottom racks are for yardird and briskets with my clone. I put the big cuts and the fast cookers on the bottom 2 shelves. I am cooking 3 briskets for Fathers Day. Isn't that the day Fathers work? Laughing

Enjoy!

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:37 pm

Just went out and checked the stumper. It is rock steady at 225F on the door, top and bottom (that is about 260-270F on the shelves). All I put in was about 5 chimneys of lump. That is 7.5 hours running. I am curious as to what the temp will be in the morning. I sure like the idea of not having to be constantly feeding and checking the fire. Good to have it back up and running again, for sure.

Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 4:38 pm

Well I went out this am at 8:30 and the temp on the shelves was still at 150F, which is a good "holding temperature". So from 10:30pm until 8:30 am the cooker dropped about 100F in 10 hours. The fire was all but out at 8:30. That is a lot of mileage out of about 9 lbs of lump.