Catalitic converters

[sea330]

Looking at ways to reduce smoke when roasting, living in a residential area with houses 50 yards away thinking there must be a inexpensive way to do this. amazon has these 6"  catalytic converters for wood stoves for around $150.00 would this work? had a neighbor run over here thinking my shop was burning down made me think about it. Been thinking about this for some time if I can only figure a way to cool the smoke down should that do the trick. anybody have any ideas.   

[ScareYourPassenger]

I think the professional roasters end up using the afterburner setups. There are some DIY instructions out there for making them since they cost quite a bit but I don't see why a converter might not accomplish something similar. The biggest issue would be making sure to catch all the chaff before it hits the converter otherwise you will clog it up and reduce its effectiveness. The other part would be running the roaster for at least 30 minutes prior to roasting to get it up to temp. That is as long as the roaster will produce enough heat down the pipe to get it to the 500 degrees that it needs.

[sea330]

I agree, afterburner is not a option, to expensive to purchase and operate, just getting the stack temp down would help i think. Converter may get gummed up in a short period of time, maybe build a scrubber of some sort with a water mister, would be cheap to operate but maybe a little messy to clean the misting chamber. no pressured to do something like this just thinking if I could figure a way so I don't alarm the neighborhood would be great, if I have allot to roast, I usually do it at night and if I'm lucky theirs a nice breeze. just roast for family and friends about 100# a month, nothing more then a hobby, never want to go commercial, to much fun staying tiny.

Rich

[peter]

I know a commercial roaster who runs his exhaust into a 55 gal drum of water; takes all the smoke and smell out of it.

[Ascholten]

If you have forced ventilation then run it thru a bucket of water or a carbon filter.

The smoke is 'sticky' for lack of a better word and will gum up stuff pretty quickly so you don't really want a cat converter on it.  A CC would need several hundred degrees to work properly and at those temps, would probably ignite the smoke or residue left by the smoke.

Unless you are roasting 5 or 10 lbs at a time, Id not worry about it really.  Sounds more to me like the neighbor is just being a busy body.  I can't see the thing putting out more and even a small BBQ grill would.  A house 150 feet away?  and they are complaining about the smoke?  really?   

You could always get a squirrel cage type fan and have the suction by the vent of the roaster, suck a ton of regular air up with it and the mass will dilute the smoke.

Aaron

[sea330]

Only a 2 Kilo roaster 4 to 5 times a month, thinking of upgrading to a 5 Kilo unit but just in the thinking mode. Most folks are weekend or vacation homes, there never here only 2 or 3 time a year. I only have 3 neighbors that live here year around and they are customers, they would never complain. Thanks for the input.

Rich

[BaconFat]

Maybe your neighbors actually like the smell of roasting coffee.  Have you ever asked them?  I know when I take my dog for a walk after roasting some coffee, the air outside smells like freshly baked brownies.

[sea330]

Never had a complaint about roasting, they love the aroma in fact they come over to watch. Some times it causes a little distraction for me but it is all good. It pays for my greens and my coffee toys, very happy keeping it small.