AMNPS, struggling with it

[inkjunkie]

IJ I don't have any problem with mine, but that did not keep me from playing with it. I picked up a pack of spring binder clip, from Staples attach to the bottom of the AMNPS it picks the tray up about 1 1/2"s. I place it over the hole in the drain pan on my MES40 the drip tray is removed from mine. I made a box that mine sits on with a large disposable tray to catch any drippings.

I have some of those clips. Pretty much given up. Will be emailing Todd later today. I have one of the 18" tunes and have had 0 problems with it. Fill it, light it and forget it. Really getting aggravated by this thing...

 

[inkjunkie]

Patience has expired, back into the box it goes and will be buried in the garage tomorrow....I quit

 

[JckDanls 07]

just PM Todd and send him a link to this thread...

 

[inkjunkie]

just PM Todd and send him a link to this thread...

Emailed Todd this morning but did not send him a link to this, yet to hear back from him...

 

[inkjunkie]

Traded emails with Todd earlier, he is stumped. Final attempt...hear MES40 to 200*. Had just enough Pitmasters Choice to fill it. Put pellets in micro for 4 minutes. Pellets hot enough to deform the plastic container they were in. Put into AMNPS and hold butane torch on them for 50 seconds. After 10 minutes of burning blew them out and into the smoker they go...time will tell...

28 minutes have gone by since I put it in the smoker, barely smoking. Be surprised if it makes it to an hour.

 

[wade]

I find that it works better if I don't pack the pellets in ... stir them up and leave em lose...

I find the opposite. It stays alight better if you compact the pellets slightly. Maybe it is a difference in altitude. We are at sea level.

 

[inkjunkie]

1 hour and it is out.

 

[tropics]

IJ if you left them in a plastic container the moisture can not escape Try a paper plate with a paper towel.

 

[cmayna]

I would love to see a few pics of your AMNPS in the BGE,  otherwise send both of them to me and I'll figure it out.

Seriously, I am correct that you have also attempted to get your AMNPS up and smoking while being out of the BGE, just sitting on a table or something?

 

[inkjunkie]

I would love to see a few pics of your AMNPS in the BGE,  otherwise send both of them to me and I'll figure it out. :banana_smiley:

Seriously, I am correct that you have also attempted to get your AMNPS up and smoking while being out of the BGE, just sitting on a table or something?

No pictures....sorry....You are correct about it not staying lit while sitting on a table...nor will it stay lit past an hour while on a grate inside the warmed up smoker. Todd has offered to exchange it for an 18" tube. Pretty sure it will be going back.....with how finicky it appears to be it is way to much of a pita for me...

Went into the garage and filled my 18" tube with the same pellets the grate will not burn. Hit it with the butane torch for 45 seconds. After 4-5 minutes of burning blow it out and stuff it in the mailbox....chugging along with no struggles....

May keep it...to try and figure out at a later date....

 

[JckDanls 07]

Hmmmm.. the only other thing I can think of is a bad batch of pellets maybe.. IDK

 

[inkjunkie]

Hmmmm.. the only other thing I can think of is a bad batch of pellets maybe.. IDK

But they are burning in the tube I got from Todd....

 

[daveomak]

But they are burning in the tube I got from Todd....

It doesn't matter what they do in the tube..... get them dry in the oven, on an aluminum pie tin, for several hours above 250..... they will burn in the AMNPS....

 

[inkjunkie]

It doesn't matter what they do in the tube..... get them dry in the oven, on an aluminum pie tin, for several hours above 250..... they will burn in the AMNPS....

Might have taken that a bit out of context....someone mentioned that perhaps I got a bag of bum pellets....my thinking is if the pellets were no good they would not be burning in the tube....either way if using this thing requires me to spend a couple of hours heating/drying the pellets and the tube does not it is sort of a no brainer as to which I will be using....

But....I am often a glutten for punishment. In Todds last email he made mention of how fill the AMNPS was. Got me wondering if perhaps it was not fill enough as the pellets were about 3/8 of an inch from the top. I pulled it back out of the garage and filled it, just sort of one channel flowing into the next. Did not dry the pellets in any way....and am using Bear Mountain Smokehouse Maple pellets. But it has been burning for about an hour and forty five minutes or so...speaking of burning....the tube has been sitting in a tray on the table, puffing happily along since about 1:45.....

Either way, I would like to Thank you folks for all the help....and patience.....with me. Will post an update later.....

 

[daveomak]

Oh yeah, I overfill the AMNPS to the top and then some.... I can't get a partially full AMNPS to burn either.....

 

[inkjunkie]

Oh yeah, I overfill the AMNPS to the top and then some.... I can't get a partially full AMNPS to burn either.....

it has burnt the first row which is further than it has ever made it.

20150111_212009.jpg

• inkjunkie
• Jan 11, 2015

 

[daveomak]

Thumbs Up

 

[wade]

Oh yeah, I overfill the AMNPS to the top and then some.... I can't get a partially full AMNPS to burn either.....

I over fill too but just make sure that you don't have any rogue pellets that bridge the rows or they will cause the burn to jump into the next row.

 

[cmayna]

Rogue pellets.  I like that description 

     So the AMNPS wasn't filled enough?   I've never fill mine up to the top, worrying about them Rogue pellets.  Always stop about 1/4" + from the top.   But if filling to the top has resolved your issue, then all is good.

 

[inkjunkie]

Resolved......for now...where did the picture go? Hmmmmmm