# Outdoor Cooking



## lazydaisy67 (Nov 24, 2011)

So this has been something I've been pondering for quite some time. Sure, I can cook with cast iron on our fire pit, I've practiced. Where am I going to cook when the winds are blowing in January and it's 15 below zero? Or in May when the wind blows just to piss me off? I kept thinking I needed some sort of outdoor shed/building/summer kitchen kind of thing. Hubby gives me the stink eye every time I mention the word BUILD. So I came up with plan B and I wanted to run it past you guys to get any down sides. We have a somewhat creepy root cellar/storm shelter. It's about 7x10 concrete and block. The interior is in pretty good shape although the stairs are a little scary. It has two vent pipes about 5 or 6 inches wide in the ceiling. Up until yesterday it was full of junk and hibernating toads. Hubby cleaned it out (he left the toads?) and it's actually kind of decent in there now. Would there be any reason we couldn't cook down in there? Would those vent pipes be sufficient to keep me from dying from smoke and/or fumes? We thought maybe we'd set up our Weber down there and see what happens, but I'm thinking more along the lines of constructing a fire box cooking area with a grill grate, etc. Ideas, suggestions?


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## Genevieve (Sep 21, 2009)

hmmm I dunno. if you could maybe somehow contain the smoke to go out one of the pipes that would seem to me to be safer


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

By all means, don't risk the carbon monoxide from the Webber grill!

Look into a decent little wood-fired cook stove. There shouldn't be a problem hooking to a vent pipe if it's 5"-6"

Are the vent pipes both clear? 
What is on top of each pipe? 
You may need to make one taller than the other one outside.

Before you move anything in, I'd power wash the inside really good and spray with bleach water. You will want to kill the organisms living in all the pores.


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## lazydaisy67 (Nov 24, 2011)

Ok, vent pipes appear to be 6" and made out of terracotta or some sort of 'clay-type' material. Smoke does go out of both the vent pipes, but not nearly enough to clear the room. Have to come up with some sort of other option. Don't think we could get a cook stove down there because the stairwell is pretty narrow. We'll keep trying, though.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

lazydaisy67 said:


> Ok, vent pipes appear to be 6" and made out of terracotta or some sort of 'clay-type' material. .


Probably the same stuff our sauna chimney is made of. 
It's been working for 70 years now.



lazydaisy67 said:


> Don't think we could get a cook stove down there because the stairwell is pretty narrow. We'll keep trying, though.


You won't be able to handle a very large stove in that small area anyway! 
The place can double as sauna


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## lazydaisy67 (Nov 24, 2011)

Boy you aint kidding! Just the small little fire we built with twigs warmed it up in there like nuts. Well.......just have to come up with something because when the wind blows here, it REALLY blows and there's no fire gonna be started in that. Probably why Iowa has so many wind turbines now. The winters are pretty bitter so I could probably get away with a pot or a skillet on top of my indoor heat stove, but I sure don't want to have to light that up in the house in summer, with no air conditioning and no electric fans blowing. GAWSH, I don't know how those pioneer women did it. With a long skirt, long sleeves, bloomers, petticoats...I'd have died.


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## Genevieve (Sep 21, 2009)

maybe you will have to construct something. hubby made me an outdoor kitchen for canning but I do use it for other things so I don't heat the house up in the summer. He made solid walls so high to help block any wind that may be blowing but it doesn't stop any real hard winds. Its usually "breezy" here almost every day too.
He had most of everything we needed but he did have to buy a couple sheets of metal for the roof and the storm door on the front was marked down $99 cuz it was dented ( big whoop lol)



















if its very windy you may have to go higher on the solid walls.

You know way back when they did have a separate kitchen for in the summer so it didn't heat the house.

QUESTION: WHY would you be outside your house in -15 weather cooking?


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## SwordsandSaddles (Mar 14, 2015)

Down here, due to the heat, kitchens are traditionally in a separate building from the main house. I don't know enough to add much to your situatoin, but a cooking shack is certainly on my to do list if things go South.


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## lazydaisy67 (Nov 24, 2011)

Dang, Genevieve! That is sweeet. Unfortunately, 30 miles an hour the entire month of May is pretty common. The winds die down during the hottest part of the summer, then pick up again in September and blow all winter long, go figure....


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## SwordsandSaddles (Mar 14, 2015)

Could you build a "dog run"? Basically build an outdoor kitchen connected to the house by a roof or overhang?


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

lazydaisy67 said:


> So this has been something I've been pondering for quite some time. Sure, I can cook with cast iron on our fire pit, I've practiced. Where am I going to cook when the winds are blowing in January and it's 15 below zero? Or in May when the wind blows just to piss me off? I kept thinking I needed some sort of outdoor shed/building/summer kitchen kind of thing. Hubby gives me the stink eye every time I mention the word BUILD. So I came up with plan B and I wanted to run it past you guys to get any down sides. *We have a somewhat creepy root cellar/storm shelter. It's about 7x10 concrete and block. The interior is in pretty good shape although the stairs are a little scary. It has two vent pipes about 5 or 6 inches wide in the ceiling.* Up until yesterday it was full of junk and hibernating toads. Hubby cleaned it out (he left the toads?) and it's actually kind of decent in there now. Would there be any reason we couldn't cook down in there? Would those vent pipes be sufficient to keep me from dying from smoke and/or fumes? We thought maybe we'd set up our Weber down there and see what happens, but I'm thinking more along the lines of constructing a fire box cooking area with a grill grate, etc. Ideas, suggestions?


Can you install some kind of exhaust-fan in those two vent-pipes that could pull the smoke out quickly and easily? At one of our local HVAC-shops they have something called a duct-booster. Essentially, an electric fan that sits inside a housing to push or pull air through. Could it be rigged up to the passive venting and turn it into active venting?

http://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/10-in-duct-booster-fan/A-p0772897e


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## Tirediron (Jul 12, 2010)

here are a few ideas 
http://www.sheepherderstove.com/
http://www.kni-co.com/packer.shtml
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Sheepherders-Alaskan-and-Packer-Stoves/744761.uts

As stated by others, you want the exhaust pipe quite a bit higher than the intake.

the cool air entering the cellar to support combustion should help to moderate the temperature somewhat


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