# I need help with my mailbox mod please... will not stay lit.



## haeffnkr (Mar 25, 2017)

I have a Master Built bluetooth 40" smoker from SAMS, the 2.5 generation model.

I have a mailbox with a 3 foot dryer house that is 3" diameter with 3 one is holes in the mailbox lid.

I am using LumberJack pellets.

I have never gotten more than an 90 minutes of smoke out of this setup.

I have put the mailbox facing into the wind.  I have put a fan in front of the mail box.  I have microwaved the pellets. 3 times at 1 minute each time.

I used it yesterday and was smoking sausage. I just had to keep putting pellets on the embers every 30 minutes.  Wind was blowing into the mailbox and straight shot into the smoker with the vent wide open. I usually have a piece of pvc pipe, 4" and 6 inches tall to act as a stack to get even more draft.  I have put the amps on a brick to ensure the draft is at the bottom.

I am out of options. This setup was supposed to be set it and forget it.  I have used this setup 10 times now and it has never been set it and forget it. 

I dont know if the draft is too strong and it blows out the fire or the draft it not enough to keep it going.   But again... when I put a small fan on the front of the mailbox it still fails.

Any ideas?

thanks Kevin


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## johnmeyer (Mar 25, 2017)

Random thoughts.

The brick won't increase the clearance between the bottom of the embers and the flat surface. I think you will get better results with "stilts." Just use four small 1" screws (or longer) that you bolt near each of the four corners of the AMNPS. Then, ditch the brick. With thin enough screws you don't even have to drill out the holes. Just use machine screws and a nut.

A picture of your setup would help.

The inlet air holes in the mailbox should be below, not above, the pellets.

Make sure the mailbox is below, not above, the chip loader hole that you are using for the intake.

This is how I did mine. The four air holes are drilled near the bottom of the can. You can see them in the second picture, if you look closely. My AMNPS actually sits halfway up in the can, higher up than I wanted, but it sure stays lit easily. I had a few problems keeping it lit in the year that I used it inside my MES-30, but have had no problems since I started using it in this mod.

This mod changes everything for me: the smoke tastes much better; I can spend hours doing other things during long smokes; and I can cold-smoke. I can clean the MES long before the AMNPS cools down.

No downsides.













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## mosparky (Mar 25, 2017)

I think johnmeyer has you straight on this, Give it a shot and get back with us, We'll get you going one way or another.


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## mr t 59874 (Mar 26, 2017)

This should help you.








Mr T 59874
11th Commandment, "Thou shalt not say, I've nothing else to smoke"






  
  
  
  

After receiving a tray type, smoke generator it was soon discovered that by placing it on top of a small colander, it burned much better.













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For convenience, I placed small bolts in each corner to replicate the colander. This solved all of the burning problems.













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Knowing DaveOmak was having problems with his unit, I informed him of my solutions. He then modified his which seemed to solve his problems as well.

If you modify yours, let us know how it worked.

Tom


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## haeffnkr (Mar 26, 2017)

Hi,

Thanks for the tips so far.  Adding the legs seems like a great idea.

What do you all do for pellet prep? nothing or microwave for x minutes?

Wind?  -- sometimes I have gusty wind..  you all have no issues with gusty wind blowing out pellets? back drafts cause issues? 

You worry about the wind? set the mail box so the wind blows into it?

Picks of my setup below...













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From a couple of months ago.... I had a heck of a time with these sausages... I wanted to cold smoke these for 6-7 hours... it took 3 days cause the pellets kept going out with a fan blowing on them and whatever I tried... I was very frustrated.













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## mr t 59874 (Mar 26, 2017)

haeffnkr said:


> Hi,
> 
> Thanks for the tips so far.  Adding the legs seems like a great idea.
> 
> ...


Tanks for the pictures, they help tremendously. First what is the purpose of the hole at the top of the MB, we want draft to enter the bottom not the top, consider closing it. Picture you firebox as a wood stove. Have you ever seen a wood stove with the air inlet at the top of the door?

You shouldn't have to prep your pellets. If you have an efficient   setup it will not be needed.

On windy days, think what could be done with what you have to block it, example, place it in a large box or something to block the wind.

Hope this helps,

T


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## cmayna (Mar 26, 2017)

Yes for putting legs on the pellet cage as what Mr. T shows.  I also put legs on my mailbox to elevate it off the ground for air circulation.  Put some holes in the bottom of the mailbox as well as the door itself.


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## haeffnkr (Mar 26, 2017)

Hi,

I got the idea for the top hole in the mailbox from one of the locals here - http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/247202/mes-mailbox-mod#post_1569401  

I thought it helped keep a steady draft through the box was the intent.

Makes sense to close it. No I never seen a wood stove with a draft opening in the top of the fire box :) 

What does a vent stack do for the pellet burn and the overall draft of the setup? 

thanks haeffnkr


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## mr t 59874 (Mar 26, 2017)

haeffnkr said:


> Hi,
> 
> I got the idea for the top hole in the mailbox from one of the locals here - http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/247202/mes-mailbox-mod#post_1569401
> 
> ...


Don;t worry, you will have plenty of smoke movement. Too much air movement decreases the efficiency of the MB.

The length of the stack will determine the amount of draft through the MB.

T


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## haeffnkr (Mar 26, 2017)

Live Update.....

Mods made - 

Added 2.5" bolts to rise up the amps

Closed upper hole

Sealed up the 3" pipe a bit with metal foil tape to eliminate any unwanted drafts.

Microwaved pellets - added 2 rows ( I have NEVER been able to get 2 rows to burn end to end ) 

Torched and let burn for about 10 minutes

Set the tray in the middle of the mailbox ( I always had it right next to the door before)  This way the draft should have to go through through middle of the amps and out the back of the mailbox and into the 3" pipe. 

12:19 CDT I took the pics set the MES to 225

I will update in a bit... thanks for the help.













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## mr t 59874 (Mar 26, 2017)

Will look for your post in about 6 hours.  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





T


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## dward51 (Mar 26, 2017)

I would drill a 3rd hole in the bottom row and then use magnetic fridge stickers to partially close them off if needed.  Like you found, that hole up top was venting air away from the pellets into the smoker and you had poor draw across the pellets.  The air flow needs to be at or below the level of the pellet tray for best performance.  Looks like you are on the way to getting this solved.


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## wild west (Mar 26, 2017)

haeffnkr said:


> Hi,
> Thanks for the tips so far.  Adding the legs seems like a great idea.
> 
> What do you all do for pellet prep? nothing or microwave for x minutes?
> ...


I notice you were cold smoking the sausage. If the temp in the smoker isn't a few degrees higher than the ambient temp you won't get any draw and will produce a backdraft causing  the pellets to go out. If you notice smoke coming out of the mailbox itself it's lack of draw. You can turn on the mes for a minute occasionally to get the smoke drawing. I also added the legs and it definitely helps. On days that I want heavier smoke I use the tube instead of the maze. Never had a problem keeping the tube lit.


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## johnmeyer (Mar 26, 2017)

> Originally Posted by *haeffnkr*
> 
> 12:19 CDT I took the pics set the MES to 225
> 
> ...


In looking at the pic that I quoted above, it sure looks like you are not filling the tray all the way to the top. I have found that if I don't fill the tray almost to the top that I don't get enough "mass" ignited for the fire to self-sustain.

As a "thought experiment," imagine filling the tray so only one layer of pellets is in one of the rows (i.e., pellets all the way across the width and length of a row, but only one pellet high). If you then lit those few pellets at one end and got them going, I think you'd find that there would not be enough pellets to generate sufficient heat to cause the adjacent pellets to catch so that the whole row would eventually burn. However, at some point, if you add enough pellets to have a row that is two pellets deep, then three pellets deep, and so on, you'd get to the point that it would self-sustain because you'd have a big hunk of pellets on fire, and that would provide enough heat to cause the adjacent pellets to "catch."

So, don't try to skimp on pellets. They don't cost much compared to the food you are smoking, and Todd will enjoy the extra business you'll give him if you add chips until the AMNPS is filled to the top.

I have seen a few people report that if you fill it all the way to the top so that the pellets are literally falling out the sides, that one lit row can "jump" over to the adjacent unlit row. I actually did have this happen once, but I think I may actually have had a "bridge" (i.e., I was careless and let some chips lie across the divider between rows).

If you do end up with two rows burning at once, that is not even close to being as bad as having the thing go out, especially since the leap to the adjacent row probably won't happen right away, if it ever does. The worst that would happens is that you would get a little too much smoke for awhile, and the thing would burn out sooner than expected. To avoid this happening, just do a quick check after an hour or so. Unlike having the AMNPS inside the MES where you lose a lot of temperature and smoke if you open the MES to check on whether the AMNPS is still burning, there is zero downside to opening the mod to check on whether everything is OK. You'll lose smoke for the ten seconds you have it open, but only the smoke contained in the tiny little mailbox, not all the smoke in the MES. In addition, there will be no impact on the temperature inside the MES.

Try more pellets. I think that will make a big difference.


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## daveomak (Mar 26, 2017)

haeffnkr said:


> Hi,
> 
> I got the idea for the top hole in the mailbox from one of the locals here - http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/247202/mes-mailbox-mod#post_1569401
> 
> ...


haeffnkr, morning....  While watching my MB mod smoke some meat, I noticed when I opened the MB door, there was recirculating smoke behind the blank spot in the door....   Well, recirculating smoke is low on oxygen...   some folks at higher altitudes need all the oxygen they can get...   So, thinking an upper air inlet would help to sweep the "stale smoke and air" from the MB I put in an extra hole...   I think it also provides extra oxygen for some secondary combustion to burn particulates and tars...    You can google "wood stoves and secondary combustion" to see what's out there...













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## smokeymose (Mar 26, 2017)

Pellets not staying lit is an airFLOW problem, which everyone agrees. You can have all the air in the world available on the inlet, but if it can't flow the coals don't get enough air. Is the outlet vent big enough? I don't think there's a problem with the pellets, although I did have a load of Todd's pellets go out once, but  blamed it on humidity (It was raining). Never microwaved or anything. As long as the pellets are kept dry they shouldn't need any of that. I also wonder why everyone uses 3" pipe. Is that some rule I wasn't aware of?
I don't have holes in the front. I drilled holes in the bottom and raise the box off the ground and have 4" pipe. I use a tube instead of a tray, but I doubt if that makes a difference. Anyway, look at the whole flow, not just intake.
Dan
(A long ago HVAC tech.)












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## haeffnkr (Mar 26, 2017)

4:00 pm CDT update.

Going Slow.... but not out.  Drill another hole in the mailbox for more draft?

It should be out past the turn by now right?

The smoke coming out of the MES is super sweet..... Hickory :)

thanks haeffnkr













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## mr t 59874 (Mar 26, 2017)

I agree with johnmeyer that adding more pellets would help. If you feel you are not getting enough draft, increase the difference between the air inlet and the smoke exit from your product chamber. This can be done by adding a length of pipe to your chamber or others have used a fan to draw air from the exit.

If you are one who wants secondary combustion, good. Don’t understand how one would get secondary combustion with smoldering smoke. Doesn’t combustion mean fire? Definitely something I do not want when cold smoking.

 As my temperature target, in the product chamber, when cold smoking is one or two degrees from ambient temperature, I want to cool the smoke, by allowing the firebox and subsequent tubing do both, clean and cool it.

 As long as smoke is moving, there is no need to worry about stale smoke, whatever that is. I live at 2400 ft., if more oxygen is needed to burn fuel, I want it introduced at the bottom of my fire, not from the top, which is one reason for raising my tray smoke generator to the height of or above the air inlet, as air coming in from the top was not working at all,  just my personal preference, I could be wrong.

T


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## johnmeyer (Mar 26, 2017)

> It should be out past the turn by now right?


If I am reading the times on your posts correctly, the answer is "yes." With Todd's pellets, they should take about three hours to burn one row. I've sometimes had a row burn in 2-1/2 hours, but never much less, and never more than about 3-1/4 hours.


> If you are one who wants secondary combustion, good. Don’t understand how one would get secondary combustion with smoldering smoke. Doesn’t combustion mean fire?


I don't know enough about the chemistry of burning to give a definitive answer, but the little knowledge I have of internal combustion engine pollution controls did make me think of this:

Air Injection

From that article: "T_his system was used to inject air into the engine's exhaust ports to provide oxygen so unburned and partially burned hydrocarbons in the exhaust would finish burning._"

Obviously the temperatures in an engine are far higher and the amount of air and fuel moving through the exhaust is many orders of magnitude larger, but despite these things, perhaps the same idea still applies.


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## mr t 59874 (Mar 26, 2017)

johnmeyer said:


> If I am reading the times on your posts correctly, the answer is "yes." With Todd's pellets, they should take about three hours to burn one row. I've sometimes had a row burn in 2-1/2 hours, but never much less, and never more than about 3-1/4 hours.
> 
> I don't know enough about the chemistry of burning to give a definitive answer, but the little knowledge I have of internal combustion engine pollution controls did make me think of this:
> 
> ...


Burn time depends on the type of fuel being burned, along with the amount of heat and air supplied. There should be no problem achieving a 15 or more hour burn using a powder not dust for fuel using a 5x8 tray.

No need to overthink a simple process.

T


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## haeffnkr (Mar 26, 2017)

Last Update.... apparently shortly after I pulled the 4 pm pic the pellets went out completely.  

Below is the 5 pm pic and I tried to get them smoking again but they were done.

I can run another test tomorrow if it does not rain. 

Thoughts on the next mods?

thanks haeffnkr













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## johnmeyer (Mar 26, 2017)

Mr T 59874 said:


> Burn time depends on the type of fuel being burned, along with the amount of heat and air supplied. There should be no problem achieving a 15 or more hour burn using a powder not dust for fuel using a 5x8 tray.


I know you like to do cold smokes with very small amounts of smoke. However, I have not seen any posts in this forum indicating that people normally get five hours per row with an AMNPS. As I indicated above, I've never seen much more than three hours when using pellets, and it is less when using sawdust. Most of what I've read about smoke, and all the videos I've watched showing competition BBQ shows setups show a fair amount of air reaching the fuel. My point is that I would not recommend choking off the air in order to get a longer burn time, and that for most hot smokes, where there is going to be a stronger draft through the mod, three hours is probably more typical of what most people get. Also, he is smoking with pellets, not dust.I don't know what a "powder" is. I don't think I've ever seen "powder" for sale.


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## daveomak (Mar 27, 2017)

haeffnkr said:


> Last Update.... apparently shortly after I pulled the 4 pm pic the pellets went out completely.
> 
> Below is the 5 pm pic and I tried to get them smoking again but they were done.
> 
> ...


OK...  I may have missed it but....

Where do you live.....

What is the elevation.....

What are the temperatures...   It would make answering your questions more accurate if we knew a few things....

My thoughts....   Your smoker is cold...  ambient temperature or colder...  that is creating an "air dam" and stopping or blocking air flow...   You need your smoker to be 5-10 degrees warmer than ambient so it acts as a chimney and sucks air through the MB mod and keeps the pellets lit....   

I have had the same situation I think you have going...     Start the AMNPS... it burns for awhile then quits as the afternoon temps warm up, while the smoker stays cool....   the cooler air in the smoker gets heavier and will flow backwards, out the MB door holes... putting out the AMNPS....   

I had to turn on the smoker heat for a minute to warm it up...  then turn it off...    

I had the smoker operating great with the AMNPS one day....  put a cold slab of pig belly in it....   the smoke started coming out the MB mod as the air in the smoke cooled from the pig belly...


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## mr t 59874 (Mar 27, 2017)

johnmeyer said:


> I know you like to do cold smokes with very small amounts of smoke. However, I have not seen any posts in this forum indicating that people normally get five hours per row with an AMNPS. As I indicated above, I've never seen much more than three hours when using pellets, and it is less when using sawdust. Most of what I've read about smoke, and all the videos I've watched showing competition BBQ shows setups show a fair amount of air reaching the fuel. My point is that I would not recommend choking off the air in order to get a longer burn time, and that for most hot smokes, where there is going to be a stronger draft through the mod, three hours is probably more typical of what most people get. Also, he is smoking with pellets, not dust.I don't know what a "powder" is. I don't think I've ever seen "powder" for sale.


johnmeyer,

Here is one post that you have not seen. It was taken from post #1 from the following thread.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/243936/cleaning-up-your-act-clean-smoke-is-delicious-smoke

For the fourth and fifth tests I used powdered pellets and two ziplock baggies.  Both baggies go in at the beginning of the test, but one gets removed at 9 hours and 58 minutes, the same amount of time that the pellets burned for in the third test.  This shows us the difference in smoke produced by powder vs pellets.  The other baggie goes the distance.  The tray smoke generator is fully loaded with powder and loaded into the mailbox.  The powder burned for 15 hours 36 minutes.  That's 56% longer than the pellets, but at a lower smoke density. 

I know nothing about comp. BBQ therefore cannot comment on what they do. When I hot smoke, a tray type smoke generator is not used.

Like you, I figure an average of a three-hour burn rate per row when using pellets.

As for choking airflow, What do you have against changing the amount of draft in order to get the desired color and density of smoke for the product being smoked? I adjust mine by changing the height of the outlet, but that is rarely required.

As for your not knowing what powder is, if you go to our PM communication on Feb 14 2017 at 9:49 am, you will see it mentioned. Powder for sale? I’ll sell you a pound of cob powder, $25 free shipping.

T


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## johnmeyer (Mar 27, 2017)

OK, I forgot about crushing the pellets to create powder. I haven't tried that one yet.


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## mr t 59874 (Mar 27, 2017)

DaveOmak said:


> My thoughts....   Your smoker is cold...  ambient temperature or colder...  that is creating an "air dam" and stopping or blocking air flow...   You need your smoker to be 5-10 degrees warmer than ambient so it acts as a chimney and sucks air through the MB mod and keeps the pellets lit....
> 
> I have had the same situation I think you have going...     Start the AMNPS... it burns for awhile then quits as the afternoon temps warm up, while the smoker stays cool....   the cooler air in the smoker gets heavier and will flow backwards, out the MB door holes... putting out the AMNPS....
> 
> ...


The above poster makes a very good point on the cause of backdraft. It has been my experience that as long as the product chamber temperature is warmer than the ambient temperature, even as little as 1° or 2°, smoke will flow without assistance. The amount of flow depends on the height differences between the inlet and outlet. With my setup that height has an adjusting range of 8 ft. out of the product chamber, which sets well above the firebox.

 I often cold smoke below ambient temperature with the assistance of a small fan placed near the air inlet, of course if more convenient, a fan could be placed near the outlet as well. As my cold smoking equipment is in the shade, this is done when the outside air is warming up and the smoking equipment is still cool.

T


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## mr t 59874 (Mar 27, 2017)

johnmeyer said:


> OK, I forgot about crushing the pellets to create powder. I haven't tried that one yet.


More than crushing johnmeyer, I am talking pulverizing them with the aid of a blender to a talc like consistency. Oh, your wife will be proud of you. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






T


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## johnmeyer (Mar 27, 2017)

We've already had this conversation in that PM you referred to. Let me repeat here for the general public what I wrote privately in that message.

I am not a fan of pulverizing pellets and would recommend that other people_ *do NOT try it.*_ I ruined our 40-year old wedding gift Cuisinart doing this. Wood is really hard on blenders or food processors. Neither appliance is designed to handle this job. I used very tiny wood chips. They cracked my food processor blade. They then overheated and melted the plastic bowl of my Cuisinart. It took less than thirty seconds to do all of this damage. It ruined the processor and rendered it unusable.

Fortunately I used a spare blade that was already chipped, so I just threw that out. I was able to find a new old stock bowl (for a price, on eBay) to replace the one that melted. As a result, my wife didn't shoot me and the old, reliable workhorse is still working as well as the day we received it back in 1978. I was lucky that the story has a good ending.

So while most of your tutorials have been very helpful and good, this is one piece of advice that I would caution others not to follow.

If you want to use dust, buy some of Todd's excellent sawdust. I've used it; it works; it provides less smoke than chips for cold smoking (if you think that helps); it is a good price; you don't have to waste time trying to grind pellets; and you don't have to put your equipment at risk. I saw your exchange with Bear on this subject and I understand that you don't think the sawdust will work as well as pulverized pellets. I'm unsure as to why that would be because, having seen Setesh's picture of his pulverized pellets, the result looks pretty close the my sawdust.


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## mr t 59874 (Mar 27, 2017)

johnmeyer said:


> We've already had this conversation in that PM you referred to. Let me repeat here for the general public what I wrote privately in that message.
> 
> I am not a fan of pulverizing pellets and would recommend that other people_ *do NOT try it.*_ I ruined our 40-year old wedding gift Cuisinart doing this. Wood is really hard on blenders or food processors. Neither appliance is designed to handle this job. I used very tiny wood chips. They cracked my food processor blade. They then overheated and melted the plastic bowl of my Cuisinart. It took less than thirty seconds to do all of this damage. It ruined the processor and rendered it unusable.
> 
> ...


I don't recall ever mentioning using a food processor for any purpose other than making smoked butter from scratch. I certainly did not consider using our Cuisinart for this purpose.  If I recall it was recommended that you use a garage sale blender, my $2.00 blender has done a good job many, many times. If I wanted to use dust, I simply wouldn't blend the pellets as long.

My advice to others, use common sense.

T


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## tallbm (Mar 27, 2017)

haeffnkr said:


> Last Update.... apparently shortly after I pulled the 4 pm pic the pellets went out completely.
> 
> Below is the 5 pm pic and I tried to get them smoking again but they were done.
> 
> ...


+1 for filling the pellets to the top of the walls but not letting them spill over.  There are plenty of posts on the forum where guys have trouble keeping pellets lit around the "bend" of the row and some other posts where pellets go out and all were solved with making sure the rows were filled well but not overflowing.  I had this issue 1 time early on and filled my rows and have never had a failure with my hot smokes and my one cold smoke for salmon lox.

Also a hot smoke might let you know if things work fine with hot temps thereby helping you narrow down your efforts to cold smoke tuning. 

I live in TX and don't really have to worry about the smoker temp being cooler than the ambient temp so I can't comment with any experience concerning the posts made about that point.  I would think they are on to something though as my cold smoke attempt seemed to show flow through my MES than the when I hot smoke.  Again living in TX the ambient temps rise higher than the inside of the smoker and I also put a full aluminum tray of ice in my MES for the cold smoke to help keep the temps down so I was ok on that front.

Anyhow, report back with what you try and I'm sure it can get sorted out :)


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## haeffnkr (Mar 27, 2017)

DaveOmak said:


> OK...  I may have missed it but....
> 
> Where do you live.....
> 
> ...


I live in St Peters MO - 63376 - elevation 570

I smoke between 30 and 95 F - yesterday it was about 60 and overcast all day. 

I was NOT cold smoking yesterday with all the pics... I had the MES set at 225 and it was at the temp,

I only cold smoked once with the sausage and it flat did not work.... well it did... but it took 3 days and the end product was still lacking a bit of smoke.


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## haeffnkr (Mar 27, 2017)

TallBM said:


> +1 for filling the pellets to the top of the walls but not letting them spill over.  There are plenty of posts on the forum where guys have trouble keeping pellets lit around the "bend" of the row and some other posts where pellets go out and all were solved with making sure the rows were filled well but not overflowing.  I had this issue 1 time early on and filled my rows and have never had a failure with my hot smokes and my one cold smoke for salmon lox.


I had the AMPS full one time and yes it jumped over, so I had it backed down cause I did not want to do that again.

Thanks for the help.

I will try filling it to the top and adding another hole in the mailbox and let you all know how it goes.

Not sure if I will run another test this week or it will wait to the weekend.

Do all of you have a 2.5 gen smoker?  I read where they dont flow as good as the first gen ones?

thanks haeffnkr


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## tallbm (Mar 27, 2017)

haeffnkr said:


> I had the AMPS full one time and yes it jumped over, so I had it backed down cause I did not want to do that again.
> 
> Thanks for the help.
> 
> ...


I've only used it on a Gen 1 and Gen 2.  No issues but my mailbox mod is a little different than most.  I use a wall hanging mailbox, not the traditional mailbox.  The wall hanging one has lots of airflow from under built in so I've never had an issue.  I think if you keep tinkering with your airflow you will get it.  Best of luck :)


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## johnmeyer (Mar 27, 2017)

The only issue I know about with the various MES gens is when you put the AMNPS inside. Once you put it in an external "mod box," the MES generation should not matter.


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## haeffnkr (Apr 1, 2017)

Hi All,

I put an extra hole in the mailbox, and taped up the connections out of the mailbox into the MES.

I put a bunch of foil tape around the fitting that goes into the MES to make it tight with no leaks.

There are no smoke leaks that I can see now and the smoke was rolling.

I put as many pellets into the amps as I could.

I have captions of the progress below with the pics.

Bottom line after 7 hours it was still smoking but probably 2-3 hours behind but not out.

So I am getting progress for sure.

Next Steps? 

More mailbox holes? Shorter run of hose between mailbox and MES?  

Fire started













20170401_144948.jpg



__ haeffnkr
__ Apr 1, 2017






Extra hole in the mail box













20170401_145717.jpg



__ haeffnkr
__ Apr 1, 2017






Taped up and tight













20170401_145950.jpg



__ haeffnkr
__ Apr 1, 2017






After 5 hours I am past the turn













20170401_193630.jpg



__ haeffnkr
__ Apr 1, 2017






Whole system now with tape and tight 













20170401_193559.jpg



__ haeffnkr
__ Apr 1, 2017






After almost 7 hours  it started to kick in and get close.completing the burn, a bit late but on the way.  Not sure why it is taking so long. I guess it is about 2-3 hours behind.

I pulled out the amps and I am done for the night. 

Thoughts?













20170401_214349.jpg



__ haeffnkr
__ Apr 1, 2017


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## dr k (Apr 2, 2017)

haeffnkr said:


> Hi All,
> I put an extra hole in the mailbox, and taped up the connections out of the mailbox into the MES.
> I put a bunch of foil tape around the fitting that goes into the MES to make it tight with no leaks.
> There are no smoke leaks that I can see now and the smoke was rolling.
> ...


I get about four hours per channel. Maybe taking the Amnps out of the mailbox and turning it around every four hours so it burns with the draft will help. 
-Kurt


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## mr t 59874 (Apr 2, 2017)

haeffnkr said:


> Hi All,
> 
> After almost 7 hours  it started to kick in and get close.completing the burn, a bit late but on the way.  Not sure why it is taking so long. I guess it is about 2-3 hours behind.
> 
> ...


The burn rate, with your setup, will depend on the type of fuel, Apple, Hickory Cherry, together with the height difference between the inlet and outlet. 

T


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## tallbm (Apr 2, 2017)

It looks to me like you are set!

As long as you are getting good smoke and the AMNPS is not going out then you hare right where you need to be.  Some pellets burn faster, some burn slower.  My 100% hickory or 100% cherry burn very long.  My alder blended pellets and mesquite blended pellets burn much more quickly.

Congrats on your success, now go smoke something and post the pics :D


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