AMNPS issuse with mailbox mod

[Jcarter93]

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.

 

[clifish]

an 18W heating element?

 

[Jcarter93]

an 18W heating element?

1800 watt. Sorry about that

Robot or human?

www.walmart.com

 

[cmayna]

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

 

[Jcarter93]

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.

 

[cmayna]

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.......

 

[cmayna]

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?

 

[Jcarter93]

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?

 

[Jcarter93]

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.

 

[indaswamp]

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.

 

[Jcarter93]

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.

 

[indaswamp]

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...

 

[Jcarter93]

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?

 

[indaswamp]

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

 

[radioguy]

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

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...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

 

[Jcarter93]

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

 

[tallbm]

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 :)

 

[Jcarter93]

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 :)

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

 

[Jcarter93]

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

 

[tallbm]

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 :)