Thank you, sir. Makes perfect sense. Your narration in the video says that a heat gun is not necessary, just a lot of air. I read several fellas just blowing on the coals. I suppose a hair dryer is sufficient as well.
I can't take credit for the video----That is from "ScooterMagoo", and it is a Great video!!
I also position the burning end in the back. I just feel that with the hot spot below the top vent and the air coming in from the wood chip loader there's greater airflow in the rear which will keep the AMNPS lit. It's been working for me.
Interesting idea, Greg. If you place it on top of the firebox does that mean you don't keep the water pan inside the smoker? There are guys that do and guys who don't. I keep the water pan inside but empty and foiled over. For my own purposes, the AMNPS works fine on the left side. It would bet in my way if I placed it on top of the heating element/wood chip box just under the rack.
I did a little test last night when I made a small meatloaf. It did look like I was getting better airflow when I put it in with the burning part to the back. Took right off.
I don't use water in my pan (from Todd Johnson's suggestion) but I do use it sometimes as a foiled drippings catch. And yes, I use pellet tray protection of some kind (foil tent or a pan if drippings are desired).
I never use the bottom rack because that's where I place the foiled over water pan. Since I typically cook for only 2-3 people, I remove the top rack and place whatever I'm smoking on the 2nd rack and if necessary the 3rd rack. Only time I use all 3 top racks is when I'm smoking a passel of cheeses, or we've got company and I need to smoke at least 3 racks of ribs.
I'm surprised when setting it right on the cover to the chip burner that the whole load in the AMNPS doesn't go all at once.
The reason I know about jumping rows is with the original AMNS, once you got to about 220° smoking temp, there was a good chance it would jump & burn up.
I saw you post that somewhere else about using The AMNS with dust for cold smokes. Why is that? Do you feel dust burns more efficiently and easily than pellets at low temps? As I wrote, I had problems with the AMNPS going out in cold smokes but it still produced more than enough smoke. Buying the Tube just isn't a priority so I need to use the AMNPS for all my smokes.
An AMNS is not a Tube smoker. That is an AMNTS.
Thanks for clarifying it since I was too lazy to check Todd's website. I guess what confused me was that Susie either has the AMNS or uses it interchangeably to refer to the Tube Smoker, hence my confusion, unless I was confused by which one she has, too.
You would be crushing the more expensive to turn it into the cheaper. That's like the old joke about the farm woman who had two chickens, one healthy and one sick so she killed the healthy one to make chicken soup for the sick one.
