Running an electric smoker

[N-Trouble]

Looking at picking up a Traeger Lil Tex smoker to be able to throw in the trailer. Anyone know what kind of watts these things require to run? I have 160w solar and plan on adding a 300W inverter.

[DaHose]

The burner on pellet smokers only kicks in to start the fire. Once running, it stays lit by the auger feeding pellets slowly. If it somehow does go out, the electric automatically starts it back up.

I am SOOOOO wanting a GM Davey Crocket with the wifi kit.

Jose

[N-Trouble]

Dons2436,
Thanks for the recommendation on the GMG Davey Crocket. Picked one up last week for $325 on sale and it's an impressive little smoker. Smoked some ribs for about 5 hrs last weekend and they turned out great. Ran the smoker off my battery bank on my 5er for the full 5hr with little to no drain.

[N-Trouble]

I think I am going to go with the GM Davy Crockett. Lots of good reviews out there and it looks like it uses little power and is easily portable

Now whether to get the WiFi feature or not...

[dons2346]

N-Trouble wrote:

dons2346 wrote:
Take a look at the Green Mountain smokers. A friend just bought the Davey Crockett and it is much nicer than the Traeger. You can actually put a small turkey in it where you can't in the Traegar. It can be powered by either 110vac or 12vdc.

Don't get me wrong, I have a large Traegar and it works fine but for a portable, I'd get the Davey Crockett Green Mountain

Heard good things about them as well. The Davey Crockett is listed at only 219 sq/in of cooking area which is pretty small whereas the smallest Traeger(Tailgator) is listed at 305 sq/in. SO how is it the Davey Crocket can fit a turkey but the Traeger can't? Not that I plan on smoking a Turkey but the Traeger looks larger. I do like the fact the Davey Crocket can run off of 12v though.

OOps, my bad. I was thinking about the Traeger PTG when compairing with the Davey Crockett.

I have the Lil'Tex and I wouldn't want to carry that around even in the back of a truck

[dkf435]

The Traeger is a barrel type barbeque with a pellet stove feed system hung on the side.

Not sure if they are using a thermocouple to sense the start of burning to shut down the glow rod or it just comes on for the 4 minutes at each start up sequence.

David

[N-Trouble]

dons2346 wrote:
Take a look at the Green Mountain smokers. A friend just bought the Davey Crockett and it is much nicer than the Traeger. You can actually put a small turkey in it where you can't in the Traegar. It can be powered by either 110vac or 12vdc.

Don't get me wrong, I have a large Traegar and it works fine but for a portable, I'd get the Davey Crockett Green Mountain

Heard good things about them as well. The Davey Crockett is listed at only 219 sq/in of cooking area which is pretty small whereas the smallest Traeger(Tailgator) is listed at 305 sq/in. SO how is it the Davey Crocket can fit a turkey but the Traeger can't? Not that I plan on smoking a Turkey but the Traeger looks larger. I do like the fact the Davey Crocket can run off of 12v though.

[dons2346]

Take a look at the Green Mountain smokers. A friend just bought the Davey Crockett and it is much nicer than the Traeger. You can actually put a small turkey in it where you can't in the Traegar. It can be powered by either 110vac or 12vdc.

Don't get me wrong, I have a large Traegar and it works fine but for a portable, I'd get the Davey Crockett Green Mountain

[RJsfishin]

I gave up on electric smokers years ago, and for more than one reason, not including being short on power.

But to answer your question, give it up !

I use bricketts,....much easier to regulate the heat, and have enuff heat on a cold day

[N-Trouble]

So is the 300w igniter rod only used at startup or does it cycle on/off throughout the smoking cycle?

[N-Trouble]

I do have a small propane smoker but requires a bit of attention to keep temp constant. Whereas the digital pellet smokers are pretty much set it and forget it.

I have an onboard 4k Onan I can run at startup or fire up late in the smoking cycle if I run out of juice. My battery bank is dual 6v.

If using it during camping I would probably do smaller cuts that require 4-5hr at the most, and avoid the larger cuts such as a pork shoulder which would need close to 10hr.

[Muddydogs]

I would think a water bath propane fired smoker would be the best choice for off grid smoking. No draw on the battery's and will run a few days on a propane tank.

[kmbelt]

Here you go, someone with a similar question.

http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-22328.html

[BurbMan]

MitchF150 wrote:
I think you can run a TV and a DVD player with a 300w inverter??

Good luck!

Mitch

I have 150W inverter and it runs the TV and various phone/laptop chargers just fine.

That said the OP would need more than a 300W inverter to run a 300W smoker....with 160W solar he's at a 140w deficit, or 140w / 12v = a net loss of 12 amp/hrs. Very hard to run any kind of resistive load for an extended period of time without a generator to accelerate the recharging.

[Sprink-Fitter]

dkf435 wrote:
The Traeger grills are a off shoot from their Pellet Stove and Wood Furnace business years ago. The grills were excellent quality until they took manufacturing off shore to China. Have many friends that still use the original models.

According to their site the glow rod igniter is 300W and another 50w once lit to run the fan and the auger. Think I would want at least a 1000 watt generator or inverter with 2 or more likely 4 6v batteries to make it thru a run.

David

Even though the igniter is 300w some bbq competitors light them by hand the use batteries to keep it going.