What did I do wrong?

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waverz

Newbie
Original poster
Dec 7, 2015
14
10
NE Iowa
Seasoned new Gen 1 MES 40 according to instructions. Instead of adding chips to the tube I used my new AMNPS.

Once seasoning was complete I lowered the temp to desired cooking temp and added food. Everything was going great for the first hour or so of cooking.

After nearly 4 hours since lighting the AMNPS I decided to check on the smoker and noticed my first row of pellet waS nearly completely burned.

Shortly afterwards my high temp alarm went off on my bluetooth thermometer. The smoker was 350 degrees and the AMNPS was completely engulfed in flames.

I'm trying to figure out what I could have possibly done wrong for this to happen. I assumed from all the posts here most people that had issues with the AMNPS had problems with it not burning or producing smoke. I had the complete opposite problem.

The AMNPS was placed in the smoker with the burning end to the left and was located below the dry water pan to the left on the 2 horizontal bars.

The chip tray and tube were both pulled out about an inch.




Really hoping to prevent that from happening ever again. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

What did I do wrong?
 
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I don't have that smoker, but I've had my amnps flame up before. I believe, in my case anyway, the heat source was to close to the amnps and it eventually got to hot and ignited. The second time it happened, I was cold smoking bacon. It was very windy, and I think that faned the smoldering pellets enough to ignite them.

I did the mailbox mod, and haven't had that happen again.
 
Been considering the mailbox mod but was really hoping to avoid it due to it taking up extra space out on my deck. Being I want to build a stand for the smoker I may build it so the "mailbox" can sit directly under the smoker.
 
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I agree with Richie, my first thought was a grease flame-up. I always cover my amnps with a foil tent and have never had it flare up. Of course, the mailbox mod would take care of that too. I'm in the same boat as you, I don't want the mailbox taking up deck space. In my case, it would sit right in front of my handwash sink. Good luck, David.
 
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From the look of the pic,you did not cover the AMNPS some grease drippings,may have gotten on it.
Richie

I'll try a tin foil cover on the next smoke. I don't really want to do a mailbox mod until I have too.

Thanks for the reply.
 
Tinfoil hat was the solution. Smoked 3 other times and haven't had any problems. I freakin' love this thing.
 
How high of temp was your smoker set to? Second Time I used my amnps I turned the heat up around 275 is at the end and my whole tray lit up as well.
 
I set my MES Generation 1 up like Bearcarver and have had many smokes from 220 up to 275 depending of what I smoking and have had no fires,
 
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