UPDATE:
I was given an old broken pellet stove. I salvaged the auger feed system, consisting of the bearing, motor, and auger. I'm going to make a Venturi pellet cold smoker, kind of like a Smoke Daddy...but SELF-EMPTYING and REFILLING.
I bought a metal pipe the right diameter for the auger, 18" long. (Auger is only half that.) The concept is that the auger fills the pipe with pellets, a standard igniter rods lights them up, and a venturi pipe/air pump setup like you see on Youtube will keep it smoking and pump coldish smoke into my fridge.
The pipe will be horizontal. I haven't seen any horizontal ones. I've seen them that flow in at the top and smoke out at the bottom: and I've seen some that vent in at the bottom and smoke out at the top. So I assume horizontal will also work. This is a bit of an innovation. I'll let ya all know if it works. It will fit better in my fridge, and work better with the auger that way.
So the fire is in the pipe with the auger, but at the opposite end. The auger does not run slowly and constantly: it will run all at once. After half the pellets have burned, (from the left end to about the tip of the auger in the picture), a trapdoor will open, and the auger will spin until all the ashes fall out. Door closes, igniter re-lights the new pellets. This will (hopefully) give perpetual cold smoke, with no refilling, or manual re-lighting, or anything at all really.
Here's a Solidworks file I put together; this is a cutaway view. (and it's really just a mockup.) The opening on the top right is where the pellet hopper comes down into. The rod on the left, with the wire, is the igniter rod. I haven't added in the venturi yet.
This is all in theory at this point. I hope to be able to start working on the metal soon...we don't have any metal working equipment at our house, and this is new territory for me.
Thoughts? Has anyone tried anything like this?