HELP! AMNPS and GOSM don't gee-haw

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franko

Fire Starter
Original poster
Mar 27, 2012
64
10
Jacksonville, Texas
I cannot keep my amnps smoking when my propane fire is going on my GOSM. I can turn off the propane and the amnps starts pouring smoke immediately. It seems like the propane fueled flame is literally sucking all the oxygen out of the unit.  I have the amnps situated on a grate about 10 or 12 inches above the fire and have an aluminum foil shield placed just above the fire to deflect the heat from the amnps. There is an open air vent on each side just above the flame and one on top about 1/2 open.

Anyone with a gosm had these kind of problems?

I am about to give up and just use the amnps for cold smoking. It works perfectly for that.
 
Thanks for the response. I checked the links you provided but none of them seem to address my specific problem. I have my amnps around 12 inches from the propane flame, there is no problem with humidity here in east texas with dry conditions, and  air vents are situated immediately right and left of the amnps. I nuked the oak pellets prior to lighting them, and let them burn about 10 to 12 minutes before placing the amnps in the gosm. I am truly at wits end.
 
Oh, I thought they discussed it in one of the additional thread links, but if the AMNPS is above the water pan, the humidity from the pan will kill it. Also, if installed above the burner, there may not enough oxygen to keep the pellets smoldering, as the propane burner will use much of the O2 for combustion, and side vents being open may not allow enough fresh air in to keep the pellets burning in the AMNPS.

You must have a wide-body such as the 3405BGW being you mentioned side vents...this is what has been done to get it to work: you can install beside the burner (on the grease catch tray) placed on a cast iron tray, and shield slightly from heat with foil. Don't get the foil in the direct path of the flame or it may melt or burn-up.

Ah, I just looked again, post #10 in the thread I linked shows the pic...the rest of the links NWDave posted in that thread go into various other mods and issues. Main key here seems to be that it can't be above the fire, or it can't get enough air on it's own to continue burning...there are additional mods which can be used, including an aquarium pump, metal tubing, etc, to inject air to the AMNPS, if needed.

Eric
 
When using the AMNPS with the GOSM, I placed it right next to one of the air vents in the bottom side, on a shielded platform.  This only works with the wide body GOSMs.  The Master Forge discussed in the linked threads is just too small a footprint to allow proper separation of the burner and the AMNPS.  My GOSM is 24 inches wide.

Photos of the placement in the base of the GOSM.

5f199447_DSC00476.jpg


f372cdde_DSC00471.jpg


One of the very early tests of using the AMNPS in the GOSM.  You'll notice the burner is functioning during the "hot" test.

The glass in the door is one of many modifications I made to the GOSM.  I guess I'm just a tinkerer at heart.

It works.  The key is getting the pellets started correctly, placement next to an air intake and the heat shield.  The bottom photo demonstrated the need for a heat shield, because as the pellet burn got to the near end to the burner, they flamed up and I got a very short smoke out of it.

Taking the AMNPS trials to it's final conclusion, for me,  resulted in me hanging a CharBroiler Side Fire Box on the GOSM (I was experimenting with adding lump or briquets as a heat source to the GOSM capability).  You can see the addition in these next photos.

d54a5a65_DSC00228.jpg


and

06aa4448_DSC00468.jpg


As you can see, it is possible.  Todd, the owner of amazenproducts, uses many volunteers to help develop ways to make his products work in all of the variations of smokers.  Any other questions?  Please ask, that's what we're here for.  I'm in no way an expert at this stuff but I do love to tinker with very basic skills.

~Dave
 
not sure what gasser i have but it is not a wide body GOSM and i have not been able to use the a-maze-n smokers with flame. i am currently working on a low cost and easy fab sollution which involves moving the a-maze-n smoker to outside the smoker where there is plenty of air.
 
Post # 10 in the thread you sent is basically the way I am set up, except that my gosm is not a wide body so the shield is directly under the amnps. I guess I will have to improvise some method of hooking up with an air pump hose. That might be tricky due to the heat as most air hoses are plastic.

Might just have to junk the gosm and get something that works better.  -  Thanks
 
Chefrob - I would love to know if you come up with a solution for mounting the amnps outside the smoker somehow. I assume the amnps work much better with electric smokers since there is an absence of flame, but unfortunately mine is one of the sausage-maker 20 pound smokehouses and the mfg. says not to use it above 190 degrees. SHUCKS.
 
franko, i have 2 side vents and i was thinking that 2 L-brackets could support it just below the vent and then fab some sheet metal or rumage through the isle @ home depot to find what i need. i have a good pic of it in my mind but it don't do any of us any good in there...........i'll post pics when i get it going. the idea is the a-maze-n smoker will get all it's air from the outside and the smoke will be vented in the gaser unit.
 
Chefrob - It seems like somewhere in the cobwebs of my feeble mind, I remember seeing someone attaching a mailbox to their smoker for this purpose. I think they drilled holes in the door. Not too  sure how they attached it to the smoker. Hmm!   Might be worth seaching for in our sprare time.
 
I will be following this post closely. I will also post up any and all attempts I do using the AMNSP for hot smoking. Between all us that use a Gasser well find a solution. 
 
Post # 10 in the thread you sent is basically the way I am set up, except that my gosm is not a wide body so the shield is directly under the amnps. I guess I will have to improvise some method of hooking up with an air pump hose. That might be tricky due to the heat as most air hoses are plastic.

Might just have to junk the gosm and get something that works better.  -  Thanks
NWDave said he just used a piece of metal tubing to pass into the smoke chamber, with about 3 or 4 inches outside to keep the poly tube away from the heat. Slip the poly over or into the metal tubing (depending on size match-up) and add an in-line valve to control air flow...he said it doesn't take much air at all to keep the AMNPS smoking. Key points to making it work being: a bit of fresh air, low humidity (not above water pan if filled with water) and low heat (shielded from heat or positioned away from direct heat).

Good luck!

Eric
 
Chefrob - Sorry, but I cannot access the link you provided. When I try, I am directed to a message that says I have "insufficient permission to access this site".
 
not sure how to deal with that one.......i plan on working on mine sometime this fri on my day off.
 
Chefrob - It seems like somewhere in the cobwebs of my feeble mind, I remember seeing someone attaching a mailbox to their smoker for this purpose. I think they drilled holes in the door. Not too  sure how they attached it to the smoker. Hmm!   Might be worth seaching for in our sprare time.
The mailbox idea got me to thinking and I found a metal toolbox for $14 that I think will work for a SFB, I posted another thread asking if it would be big enough. $14 is a lot better than $60 for a Chargriller SFB.
 
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