Quote Originally Posted by acourtjester View Post
HI DVA
I have a question have you had a problem with the plastic in the ball valve getting to much heat.
I saw another post where the guy put an elbow where your valve was and put a long nipple and the valve up near the top.
One thing that will help is no more bending to make adjustments to the air intake valve.
Anyway neat design I bet you smoke lots of meat in there.

have fun
Tom
I have not had any problems with the Teflon in the ball valves on these type smokers. The fire is in the center of the drum and the edge does not get hot enough to melt the Teflon, it is typically good for ~500°F and the ball valve probably only gets around 140-160°F.

It would be nice to have the handle as you describe but I have typically justed moved the valve with my foot on my dads smoker. My UDS has a valve at about 2' off the ground with a 1" tube to the bottom of the drum. Anyway, once the smoker is up to temperature the valve does not need to be adjusted and it will go 12 hr. plus at 225-250°F.