# AMNPS issuse with mailbox mod



## Jcarter93 (Mar 31, 2022)

Hi all, I'm having some issues. I have an uninsulated analog MES. It has an 1800 watt heating element. I've insulated it with foil/bubble wrap and use an inkbird PID with it.

Before I did the mailbox mod i tried a smoke with the tray in the smoker box. After about 4 hours, i had a flare up and the smoker reached about 550f. This melted my insulation and ruined the outside 1/2" of pork i was cooking. This is what convinced me to do the mailbox mod.

Today, i tried a dry run with the mod. In in Michigan at about 900 ft evelation, windy, and 40d outside temp. The temp will hold in the smoker (130f) but I cant get my tray to stay lit. I tried nuking the pellets for 2 minutes and it went out. I nuked for 2 min then stirred and nuked 2 more min. This let me burn about 1 row of the tray. (This burned exceptionally fast ~1.5 hrs)

For details on the smoker, I drilled 4, 1" holes in the corners of the top of the box for exhaust. The mailbox has 3, 1/2" holes along the sides right where you'd lay the tray and 1, 1" hole near the top at the back.

What am I doing wrong here? Any advice is appreciated.


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## clifish (Mar 31, 2022)

an 18W heating element?


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## Jcarter93 (Mar 31, 2022)

clifish said:


> an 18W heating element?


1800 watt. Sorry about that





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## cmayna (Apr 1, 2022)

Any holes thru the bottom of the mailbox?  Thru it's door?


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## Jcarter93 (Apr 1, 2022)

cmayna said:


> Any holes thru the bottom of the mailbox?  Thru it's door?


The only holes in the bottom are mounting holes. The setup currently doesn't have the box on legs so I didn't add holes there. There are 3 holes at bottom of box level per side right in the middle of the box and 1 hole near the top of the back wall of the box. The duct comes right from the center of the top of the box. I have mocked up a model of it attached here. I fear I may have misplaced my holes/vents.

I have also attached a side view of the smoker. You can see the 1" exhaust holes. There are 2 on each side of the smoker.


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## cmayna (Apr 1, 2022)

For me, not enough holes.  I have at least 12  1/4" holes along the bottom. Yes the mailbox has wooden legs to lift it up off the ground.  I also have 3  holes in the door.  Food for thought.......


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## cmayna (Apr 1, 2022)

Per your pics,  I don't see any holes thru the top of the smoker.  If they're there, maybe the insulation is covering the holes up?


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## Jcarter93 (Apr 1, 2022)

cmayna said:


> For me, not enough holes.  I have at least 12  1/4" holes along the bottom. Yes the mailbox has wooden legs to lift it up off the ground.  I also have 3  holes in the door.  Food for thought.......


What do you think about the number, size. Placement of the exhaust holes?


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## Jcarter93 (Apr 1, 2022)

cmayna said:


> Per your pics,  I don't see any holes thru the top of the smoker.  If they're there, maybe the insulation is covering the holes up?


Comment #5 in this thread shows the exhaust as it is. They are on the sides near the top of the smoker.


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## indaswamp (Apr 1, 2022)

Without doing the calculations.....looks to me like you do not have enough airflow. Not a large enough flew...not enough 1" holes. 

 daveomak
 has the calculations posted here somewhere, maybe he will see this and chime in.


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## Jcarter93 (Apr 1, 2022)

indaswamp said:


> Without doing the calculations.....looks to me like you do not have enough airflow. Not a large enough flew...not enough 1" holes.
> 
> daveomak
> has the calculations posted here somewhere, maybe he will see this and chime in.


I think I have about 12 sq in of inlet and 9.6 sq in of exhaust. You may be right.


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## indaswamp (Apr 1, 2022)

Jcarter93 said:


> I think I have about 12 sq in of inlet and 9.6 sq in of exhaust. You may be right.


Hot air expands. So you need larger exhaust than inlet...


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## Jcarter93 (Apr 1, 2022)

indaswamp said:


> Hot air expands. So you need larger exhaust than inlet...


I think I will add a 3" diameter stack opposite the mailbox. Maybe about a foot tall. That should help improve draft and pull air past the AMNPS tray right?


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## indaswamp (Apr 1, 2022)

Yes. Just be sure you have a way to damper the air flow...


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## radioguy (Apr 1, 2022)

Take a look at my mailbox mod.  you need combustion air.  I put 2 1 inch holes in the mailbox door.  I  elevate the pellet tray in the box so the air enters at or below tray level.  There  also must be a way to exhaust at the cabinet top.   I also put my loaded pellet tray in the bottom of the smoker for 45-60 minutes before lighting. 
you'll  get it going soon.
RG





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						One more mailbox MOD....Works GREAT!!
					

I got a Smoke Hollow 30166E at a close out deal a few months back.  I bought this one for the convenience of an electric, small cooks, jerky.  There is really no air flow in this cabinet, there is no air intake aside from holes in the base and leakage around the door.  The top has  a very small...




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## Jcarter93 (Apr 1, 2022)

I think we may have solved it team! I added legs to my tray and a smoke stack to the smoker. You cant see it in pics but if I look against my dark garage as a backdrop I can see the smoke! Now I'm just letting it run to see if its successful for a whole smoke


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## tallbm (Apr 1, 2022)

Jcarter93 said:


> I think we may have solved it team! I added legs to my tray and a smoke stack to the smoker. You cant see it in pics but if I look against my dark garage as a backdrop I can see the smoke! Now I'm just letting it run to see if its successful for a whole smoke


Hi there and welcome!

Yeah I was going to suggest elevating it. Having the holes below and elevating is a huge win. Don't stop the practice microwaving the pellets either that is a critical step for them to behave well... except cherry pellets. 100% Cherry pellets never want to stay lit and burn but I hear the dust has no problems.

If you ever need to make dust, just wet some pellets in a container and they puff up and fall apart at the touch. Dry that out and boom you big grain sawdust.

I hope this info helps :)


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## Jcarter93 (Apr 1, 2022)

tallbm said:


> Hi there and welcome!
> 
> Yeah I was going to suggest elevating it. Having the holes below and elevating is a huge win. Don't stop the practice microwaving the pellets either that is a critical step for them to behave well... except cherry pellets. 100% Cherry pellets never want to stay lit and burn but I hear the dust has no problems.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the tip! I'll keep that in mind.


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## Jcarter93 (Apr 1, 2022)

Maybe I celebrated a little early. I ran the smoker for 5 hours. 1:45 in I saw there was no smoke. The issue was a flare up. I blew it out and put the tray back in. 1:30 after that, the tray was out. It stalled at the beginning of the turn. I relit and let it go the remaining 1:45. When I came to put everything away, the tray was out again. Still some tuning to do but much better than before


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## tallbm (Apr 1, 2022)

Jcarter93 said:


> Maybe I celebrated a little early. I ran the smoker for 5 hours. 1:45 in I saw there was no smoke. The issue was a flare up. I blew it out and put the tray back in. 1:30 after that, the tray was out. It stalled at the beginning of the turn. I relit and let it go the remaining 1:45. When I came to put everything away, the tray was out again. Still some tuning to do but much better than before


Keep tweaking, I think you'll get it sorted out.  Sometimes it just takes some fiddling with :)


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## GaryHibbert (Apr 1, 2022)

Looks like you're getting there.  Adding that exhaust out the top of your smoker will make a big difference--always leave it* wide open*  And, I agree that you need more air coming in to the front of the AMNPS.  Here's a picture of my home made "mailbox".  Been using it successfully for years.  The AMNPS sits against the back wall.  The big hole st the front is 1 1/4 inch and moves the smoke out of the box into the tube leading to the MES.  These are the only holes in the box.








As for your problem getting the burn to go around the corners...Looks to me like you've kept the pellet height roughly the same throughout.  When I load mine, I get real generous at the corners.  I heap the pellets up as high as they'll go just before, into, and out of the corner.  All that extra heat and glowing coals helps make it around the corner.


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## Jcarter93 (Apr 2, 2022)

GaryHibbert said:


> Looks like you're getting there.  Adding that exhaust out the top of your smoker will make a big difference--always leave it* wide open*  And, I agree that you need more air coming in to the front of the AMNPS.  Here's a picture of my home made "mailbox".  Been using it successfully for years.  The AMNPS sits against the back wall.  The big hole st the front is 1 1/4 inch and moves the smoke out of the box into the tube leading to the MES.  These are the only holes in the box.
> View attachment 627855
> 
> 
> ...



I have 3, 1" holes and 6, .5" holes. I think that is enough if I can just round the corner. I'm doing a pastrami smoke this morning from a 4 pound corn beef I bought on sale. I piled the pellets high like you suggested. I'm an hour in and so far so good! I'll keep everyone updated on how it does today with the hight pellet level.

Thanks for your advice


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## daveomak (Apr 2, 2022)

The upper hole stops the smoke from recirculating in the MB Mod...  Recirculating smoke is very low on oxygen...
First, cut the insulation to clear the holes in the top...  Leave 1-2" clearance from the holes you drilled in the smoker...


3 ---  1" holes...






1-- 3" hole












My pellets used to go out during a smoke..  Since elevating the maze, no more burn outs..  They generally need air from all sides to smolder properly....


3-- legs to allow air to feed the pellets from all sides...


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## Jcarter93 (Apr 2, 2022)

daveomak said:


> The upper hole stops the smoke from recirculating in the MB Mod...  Recirculating smoke is very low on oxygen...
> First, cut the insulation to clear the holes in the top...  Leave 1-2" clearance from the holes you drilled in the smoker...
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you! I did end up adding legs and I have the 3 holes you've shown. I added a smokestack too and things are going well this morning. The tray has burned for 3 hours, with a flare up into flame around 1.5 hours and is turning the corner now.


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## smokerjim (Apr 2, 2022)

What type pellets you running, sometimes the fruit ones dont burn so well.


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## Jcarter93 (Apr 2, 2022)

smokerjim said:


> What type pellets you running, sometimes the fruit ones dont burn so well.


Traeger signature maple cherry artisanal hardwood blend


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## cmayna (Apr 2, 2022)

Try increasing the amount of pellets at each turn.


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## Jcarter93 (Apr 4, 2022)

I had issues with the pastrami smoke. The tray wouldn't tun the corner. I ended up burning one side and then rotating the tray and burning the other about 4 hours later. With 8 hours of smoke the pastrami came out fantastic (sorry, I forgot to take pics) but I was still disappointed in the tray and mailbox.

I ended up drilling 4 more holes in the sides of the mailbox and switched pellets to Bear Mountain Hickory from Traeger signature blend. I also added a small wind break that just covers the mailbox, not the smoker. I don't know what did the trick or if it was a combination but I had success yesterday. I did a dry run and got 12 hours of uninterrupted smoke while only needing to mess with the smoker once. 1.5 hours in I had to blow out a flame flare up in the tray, after that it was smooth sailing.

I'm looking forward to my 12+ hour pork butt smoke this coming Friday.


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## smokerjim (Apr 4, 2022)

Sounds like your fixing your issues, hopefully you'll have a good run. If you keep getting flare ups I would just start blocking one hole at a time until the flare ups dont happen.


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## tallbm (Apr 4, 2022)

Jcarter93 said:


> I had issues with the pastrami smoke. The tray wouldn't tun the corner. I ended up burning one side and then rotating the tray and burning the other about 4 hours later. With 8 hours of smoke the pastrami came out fantastic (sorry, I forgot to take pics) but I was still disappointed in the tray and mailbox.
> 
> I ended up drilling 4 more holes in the sides of the mailbox and switched pellets to Bear Mountain Hickory from Traeger signature blend. I also added a small wind break that just covers the mailbox, not the smoker. I don't know what did the trick or if it was a combination but I had success yesterday. I did a dry run and got 12 hours of uninterrupted smoke while only needing to mess with the smoker once. 1.5 hours in I had to blow out a flame flare up in the tray, after that it was smooth sailing.
> 
> I'm looking forward to my 12+ hour pork butt smoke this coming Friday.


Sounds like you are getting it sorted out.

Like all systems you tinker with it a bit and learn it, then you rock and roll :)


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