I've had my MES for almost three years; my AMNPS for almost two; and my "mailbox mod" for almost eighteen months. In the dozens of times I've used my AMNPS in my external smoking attachment, I've never once had it go out.
Until today.
It went out twice.
And, I know why.
I was at the end of my bag of Pitmaster Blend and at the bottom of the bag was a huge amount of dust. I've read all the articles about turning pellets into dust, and I've even smoked using dust that I've bought from Todd. Given this, I figured I would just dump the dust into the pellets that were already in the first row of the AMNPS.
Big Mistake.
I was able to light it just fine, and it looked OK when I put it into my smoking attachment, but half an hour later when I looked out the window, no smoke.
I re-started it, but half an hour later, the same thing.
So, I poured some new pellets, with no dust, into the unused end of the AMNPS and lit that. I re-lit the other side to try to make up for the time when no smoke was being put on the food.
The new side stayed lit, just like always.
So, even though I know that the AMNPS can be used with dust, and I've done that myself, if you have pellets mixed with dust, the end result doesn't seem to work too well.
I am not saying that this is the sole reason that many people have problems keeping the AMNPS lit, even after they follow all the advice given so frequently in this forum, but I think this might be a factor that hasn't yet been discussed, and therefore may contribute to some of the failures.
[edit]I just came in from checking on the smoke, and the row that had the "dustless pellets" was still going strong, and the one that had the dust/pellet mix had gone out.
I think this proves my theory.
BTW, the pellets with the dust came from the same huge bag that I bought from Todd earlier this year. I transfer those pellets to a smaller bag that fits easily into our small pantry. So, the pellets are identical in every respect, except for the large amount of dust in the ones I used initially.
Until today.
It went out twice.
And, I know why.
I was at the end of my bag of Pitmaster Blend and at the bottom of the bag was a huge amount of dust. I've read all the articles about turning pellets into dust, and I've even smoked using dust that I've bought from Todd. Given this, I figured I would just dump the dust into the pellets that were already in the first row of the AMNPS.
Big Mistake.
I was able to light it just fine, and it looked OK when I put it into my smoking attachment, but half an hour later when I looked out the window, no smoke.
I re-started it, but half an hour later, the same thing.
So, I poured some new pellets, with no dust, into the unused end of the AMNPS and lit that. I re-lit the other side to try to make up for the time when no smoke was being put on the food.
The new side stayed lit, just like always.
So, even though I know that the AMNPS can be used with dust, and I've done that myself, if you have pellets mixed with dust, the end result doesn't seem to work too well.
I am not saying that this is the sole reason that many people have problems keeping the AMNPS lit, even after they follow all the advice given so frequently in this forum, but I think this might be a factor that hasn't yet been discussed, and therefore may contribute to some of the failures.
[edit]I just came in from checking on the smoke, and the row that had the "dustless pellets" was still going strong, and the one that had the dust/pellet mix had gone out.
I think this proves my theory.
BTW, the pellets with the dust came from the same huge bag that I bought from Todd earlier this year. I transfer those pellets to a smaller bag that fits easily into our small pantry. So, the pellets are identical in every respect, except for the large amount of dust in the ones I used initially.
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