AMNPS goes out

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saigonjj

Fire Starter
Original poster
Oct 9, 2012
32
11
Vietnam
I think I must be doing something wrong.  I bought my AMNPS from Todd and he sent me the right one to fit in my MES30.  It fits in the bottom right to the left of the heating element.  It worked well the first couple of times but recently it has not kept burning.  Two times ago it went around the first corned but never made it past the second corner.  This last time I couldn't get it to keep smoking for more than 30-60 minutes without going out.  Mind you, I got it going pretty good with my butane lighter/torch.  I wonder if part of the problem could be that the bolt on the heating element sticks out a bit, so the AMNPS is flush against the side of my MES30 thus reducing air flow.  Also this last time I had water in the pan to keep my ham from drying out and I wonder if this made things worse.  Since I'm in a humid climate I also remembered some advice I got on here which is to microwave the pellets to dry them out, which I did for 2 minutes (maybe not long enough?)

Appreciate any suggestions as I hope to do an all night jerky smoke this weekend and would be hearbroken to wake up the next morning to unsmoked beef. :)
 
No water in the pan when using the AMNPS. Im not sure about the corner thing but my guess is not enough pelets. I also think a butane lighter is not good enough. you need an actual torch with the screw on bottle IMO. I never set my AMNPS down to the side.I always put it here.Remember topull out the chip tray and pull the chip loader out a good 2 inches for good airflow.

 
While I have a Great Outdoor Smokey Mountain, I had several problems right at first with my AMNPS.  First was Air Flow, solved that and still had problems.  Was using Bear Mountain Pellets and they were Alder based and even set out in the open would not keep going.  Went to Treager which were Oak Based and got ok results.  At least they would burn.  Then I changed to 100% Pellets and have had no problems since.  I did get the pellets from Todd.  I live in the Pacific Northwest so humidity here is fairly high and I have never run my pellets through the microwave.

Joe
 
Thanks, Mike.  Good suggestions.  I usually ended up pulling the chip loaded out half way to let more air in but I never touched the chip tray.  Will try that this time.  I also like where you put your AMNPS.  I'll see if I can put mine there without interfering with my second tray of hanging jerky.  By the way, what's that you're smoking in the photo?
 
 
Water in the water pan is causing it to go out

The surface area of the water pan large, and produces a lot of moisture...To Much!

The new 2012 models have a much smaller water pan

If you feel that extra moisture is necessary, use a small disposable loaf pan on a lower shelf

Todd
 
This weekend I used the AMNPS to smoke some bellies.  I put it up over the heating element and completely removed the chip loader on my MES30 and it worked fine after a few attempts at getting it going. 

Then yesterday I tried using it for some jerky and could not keep it going.  Because of the jerky hanging I had to put the AMNPS on the bottom.  I kept re-lighting it throughout the day and it kept going out.  Before going to bed I removed the AMNPS, re-lit it, then blew on it until it definitely had a large amount of red coals and was very hot.  I thought that would do it for sure  I put it back in and went to bed.  This morning I found it had gone back out shortly after, never made it to the end of the first channel.

I think maybe the humidity from the moisture in the jerky is causing the problem?  For this kind of smoke is the AMNPS practical, or should I just use chips in the smoker? 
 
Thanks, Mike.  Good suggestions.  I usually ended up pulling the chip loaded out half way to let more air in but I never touched the chip tray.  Will try that this time.  I also like where you put your AMNPS.  I'll see if I can put mine there without interfering with my second tray of hanging jerky.  By the way, what's that you're smoking in the photo?
 
peperoni sticks I believe.
 
I just got my Amnps this past week and ran a few tests on it and was having trouble keeping it going too. I was using a torch to get the pellets that came with the unit lit. They were glowing pretty good outside the unit. After about 15 minutes inside the unit it would die out to a very faint smoke. So i saw this post and moved mine the same as your picture. I also pulledd that supid chip loader all the way out too. It took about 15 minutes to stablize but for the past 2 hours I've been getting a nice and steady TBS. Checked it about an hour in and the pellets were buring nicely along the first row. At this rate the three rows should give me more than the 8 hours i will need for my pork bellies. Thanks for the great Tip!
 
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