# A-Maze-N Maze on fire



## muddydogs (Dec 16, 2016)

I finished my mailbox mod and decided to smoke a block of cheese I had. Lit both ends of the A-Maze-N filled with pellets that came with the tray which I had burning in the barbecue for an hour before I decided to do cheese. Put the A-Maze_n tray in the mailbox and cheese in the smoker. Watched the smoke come out of the stack for a few then went inside for an hour, luckily I set up my wireless thermometer. I was typing on a post in this forum when I looked over to see my stack temp at 99 degrees, ran out to the smoker and could see flames in the mailbox. The whole A-Maze-N was on fire.

So why did my pellets flame up?

Thanks for any help.


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## cmayna (Dec 16, 2016)

How long did you let the pellets burn before you blew out the flame?.  Lot of people get anxious and blow out the flame too soon resulting in the pellets catching back on fire.


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## muddydogs (Dec 16, 2016)

cmayna said:


> How long did you let the pellets burn before you blew out the flame?.  Lot of people get anxious and blow out the flame too soon resulting in the pellets catching back on fire.


I started one side and let it burn for a few minutes then blew out the flame and messed around with it in my new mailbox mod. I lit the other end and blew out the flame after 5 or so minutes then set the tray in my barbecue just to see how it burned, after about an hour I decided to do cheese so I put the tray back in the mailbox. The tray was in the mailbox for about an hour before the temp spiked and I found it on fire. Pellets had been producing smoke for probably 3 hours before the fire.


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## muddydogs (Dec 16, 2016)

I dumped out the batch that started on fire and restarted some alder pellets which smoked along fine for 2 + hours until I glanced at my temp gauge and saw 140 degrees. Ran out to the smoker and sure enough the pellets were on fire once again. Wonder if I'm getting to much draft when the rows get to burning towards the back of the mailbox and the draft is causing the pellets to start on fire?

I didn't drill any extra holes in the front of my mailbox but looking at the mailbox there is a 1/2" gap at the bottom of the door, 2 holes in the door and 2 hole on top where the latch hooks in as well as a couple holes on the side for the flag and 4 holes in the bottom to mount the box not to mention the door is nowhere near air tight. I also noticed that the smoke is coming out of the pipe in the smoker with enough draft that its flowing more to the front of the smoker. My cheese closest to the door took on more smoke quicker then the back blocks and I actually rotated the cheese around. Maybe putting an elbow inside the smoker and directing the smoke down will slow down the draft and spread the smoke out more?


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## emsemt (Dec 16, 2016)

Sounds like too much air is getting in and igniting the pellets.  I had a similar experience with my UDS and the A-Maze-N tube.  Closed all my valves to 1/4" and smoked for 3 hrs with no problems.


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## wade (Dec 16, 2016)

That problem is usually caused by there being too much air flow over the pellets. I fan assist my cold smoker and if I have the fan speed up too high the air flow over the smouldering pellets is enough to cause them to glow brightly and then ignite into flame. This is reproducable and I now have a big red line on my fan variable speed controller above which I now never go. There just has to be sufficient air flow to fan the first flame. After that the increased air flow caused by the additional heat can quickly set off the whole tray of pellets.

How much space do you have around the AMNPS inside the mailbox? If there is too little then it would not be difficult to get sufficient air flow over the embers to get them to ignite. You may want to try restricting the flow by closing down the air input or by dampening down the flue a little. It is a balance though as if you do it too much the pellets are likely to go out.


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## wade (Dec 17, 2016)

Another thought about why the flames may not have occurred soon after the pellets were lit. Is your smoker in a position that could be susceptible to drafts? If the AMNPS is in a confined space with limited option for the heat it generates to dissipate, the pellets may have been naturally smoldering quite hot. It would then not take much of a draft to ignite it into a flame. Once the initial flame had formed then it will continue to burn even without the draft continuing.


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