Exhaust umbrella for the barbecue: features, how to do it yourself

A barbecue on the site is an indispensable and very important attribute of a summer vacation. Our site of advice decided to figure out why and when we need exhaust umbrellas for barbecues, what they can be. We will give you video instructions and tips on how to make an exhaust hood for a barbecue with your own hands.

As you remember from the portal’s article dedicated to making a brazier with your own hands, this attribute of outdoor picnics can be portable and stationary. Portable barbecues, very simple designs, do not need hoods. The owners can easily place them anywhere, so that the smoke does not go towards the recreation area, and does not interfere with the guests. But stationary barbecues need a smoke hood, especially if they are located inside the gazebo or in the summer kitchen.

There are two main types of brazier hoods: metal and brick. The first are the most widespread. They are easy to make with your own hands, you can hang or install on supports above a brick oven, the choice of shapes and sizes is very large. Brick hoods, in fact, are an integral part of the barbecue oven, on which you can cook not only kebabs and grilled vegetables, but literally anything. To lay out a brick hood, which will become the beginning of the chimney – this is already a matter for the master, stove-maker.

Therefore, we will focus on metal hoods, which can be in the form of a hemisphere, parallelepiped or cut pyramid. Such domes for barbecues are made most often from stainless steel sheet with a thickness of 2 millimeters. Factory products are covered with a protective polymer layer, at home, the metal can be simply painted to make the hood more attractive and extend the service life.

The design of the simplest metal hood is not complicated:

• Smooth rectangular base;
• The dome is on it;
• Chimney pipe.

The size of the dome will depend on how large your grill is. In order for the umbrella to remove all combustion products, soot and sparks, it must be 30 percent larger than the size of the barbecue. And the pipe should be located exactly in the center, above the hearth!

We give you the standard parameters of an exhaust hood:

• The width of the smoke box, dome – from 65 to 95 centimeters;
• The length of the smoke box is from 85 to 155 centimeters;
• The height of the pipe is at least 300 centimeters, which will ensure normal traction in any weather;
• Pipe section – at least 25 centimeters, also for good traction.

You can increase or decrease these standard sizes of the smoke collector-umbrella depending on the features of your barbecue. But we do not recommend reducing the height and diameter of the chimney!

The manufacture of a metal barbecue is associated with welding and flexible steel, but in general it does not represent anything complicated, a home craftsman can do it. You can supplement the exhaust hood with a fan so that the draft appears immediately after the firewood or coal is ignited, without waiting for the smoke to heat up and begin to go into the chimney in a natural way.

A spark arrester, which is installed on top of the pipe under the chimney hood, will also not interfere. Some people put a removable grease trap inside the hood, which will have to be cleaned regularly. However, this process is familiar to all owners of conventional kitchen hoods. All of these additions will increase the cost of the hood, but make the cooking process safer and more convenient..

Video on how to make an exhaust hood for a barbecue with your own hands: