Metal Box Smoker

by flip
(south africa)

I have built a metal box smoker out of iron plates, with electric oven element below, can I spray it with heat resistant paint or should I leave it without paint?

Answer:-

Sounds like an interesting project and what a great idea to use an electric oven element, I hope that it works out for you.

I assume that the reason for painting your metal box homemade smoker is to weatherproof it and "maki it look nice"?

If you are looking to protect and weatherproof your smoker then there's not reason why you shouldn't use a heat resistant pain on the outer skin of your metal box smoker provided you make sure that the paint is of the right specification.

If your paint is not to the correct specification then you run the risk of (at best) unpleasant or (at worst) poisonous fumes coming off during your cooking, neither of which will add any pleasure to your cooking experience.

In order to better understand what you need do a dry run with your smoker and crank it up to whatever you believe will be the highest temperature that it will run at. When you have it running at the hottest possible for hour or so, take a surface temperature reading so that you know what temperature the metal will heat up to. This will give you an idea of the absolute minimum temperature that the paint must be able to tolerate.

I wouldn't be tempted to paint the inside of the smoker - after all, you never see the inside of an oven painted.

See Also:-

Barbecue Tips
About Meat Smokers
Outdoor Kitchen Barbecue Islands
Tabletop Gas Grill

Return to Water Smoker Recipes from Metal Box Smoker