AMNPS burning too quickly?

[medicine man]

Second smoke with AMNPS in a Masterbuilt 130. I’m 3 hours in and 2 of 3 rows of pellets are nearly burned through (pellets that came with it when I ordered). The smoke was light for 2 hours but the last hour or so has gotten pretty heavy. Pellets are not on fire and temp has stayed at 250*. I had the chip loader pulled out about 3”, pushed it in to see if that would lessen air flow and the amount of smoke produced, as well as slow the rate of burn. The pic is about 3x as much smoke as it was producing at startup.
Any thoughts?

 

[dr k]

Was it over filled and jumped rows? Fill and leave 1/4" of the perferated steel visible at the top. Where was it placed?

 

[medicine man]

No, I left a space at the top to prevent jumping rows.

 

[normanaj]

To much airflow might make it burn fast but not as fast as you stated...even with overly dry pellets.

Some folks overfill the tray and the lit pellets can jump rows and before you know it you have most of the tray burning at once producing an over abundance of smoke.

The dr beat me to it.

If not overfilled to much airflow would be my guess,that or REALLY dry pellets?

 

[drdon]

If not overfilled to much airflow would be my guess,that or REALLY dry pellets?

Very likely. and perhaps too close to the element? (Hot Spot)
Don

 

[normanaj]

and perhaps too close to the element? (Hot Spot)
Don

And yet another possibility.

 

[johnmeyer]

Why do I see a bag of regular wood chips and a foil pan full of partially-burned regular chips? Are you using both chips and pellets? You only need one, or the other, but not both.

Burning too fast is almost always caused by too much air. Is your door gasket tight? There is an adjustment on the door latch. Mine came adjusted so that it was quite loose.

Did you drill out or enlarge the chip loader holes?

 

[sigmo]

A lot of us at high elevations would love to have that problem! ;)

The pellets may have been more moist to begin with, and have dried out a bit as the cooking progressed. Also, as the smoker heats up, it will draw faster, giving more airflow.

So sometimes you do have to adjust the airflow throughout the course of a smoke to get it dialed in for the long haul.

Oddly, drying the pellets beforehand, and pre-heating the smoker before starting may help to make things more consistent because your initial air flow adjustment will be more representative of the conditions that will develop later into the session.

If the pellets are moist and the smoker is cool when you start, you'll have to open up the airflow a lot to get things started. Then, as the smoker gets well heated, and the pellets dry out, and the draft increases, the rate of burning increases.

If you don't want to make airflow adjustments during the run, you need to make sure conditions don't change throughout the run.

 

[medicine man]

Why do I see a bag of regular wood chips and a foil pan full of partially-burned regular chips? Are you using both chips and pellets? You only need one, or the other, but not both.

Burning too fast is almost always caused by too much air. Is your door gasket tight? There is an adjustment on the door latch. Mine came adjusted so that it was quite loose.

Did you drill out or enlarge the chip loader holes?

Lol I bought the chips before I had the AMNPS. I do not use them together. The partially burned chips were left from last time.

Gasket seems tight and I have not drilled or modified anything on this smoker.