Mailbox Mod.

[patinlouisiana]

Well I kept worrying about damp pellets going out if I use the water pan so I made a run to Home Depot.

Hard to see but it is smoking.

 

[daveomak]

If you have problems with your mod.... This mod works awesome....
Once through air flow front to back... upper hole to stop air recirculating which is low in oxygen...


Legs on the AMNPS to increase air flow through the holes in the bottom of the AMNPS... Those legs stopped my pellets from going out... Light them and they burn fully...

 

[patinlouisiana]

Should one tray of pellets in the AMNPS be sufficient to get any paint odor out of the mailbox or is it even a concern?

 

[daveomak]

It's a good idea to coat the inside of the MB with tars and creosote to break it in... one full load should do OK.....

 

[patinlouisiana]

All my holes are in the bottom with a piece of metal I can slide to adjust number of holes that are open.

 

[daveomak]

You want, IMO, about 3 each 7/8-1" inlet holes so there is enough oxygen to keep the AMNPS burning AND consume a lot of the creosote...
When you get everything working well, your meat should come out looking like these... Nice clean smoke... No creosote...

 

[fivetricks]

Considering I'd never found a situation that called for the exhaust to be anything less than fully open, I removed the damper from the exhaust and put it in my mailbox lid instead :-)

 

[daveomak]

That is a good idea... I've never closed any of the 3 holes on my MB either.... Started with 2 lower... added the 3rd upper to solve an air problem....

 

[patinlouisiana]

Monkey see, monkey do! ;=)

 

[chopsaw]

I like the side attachment to the mail box . That's how I have mine . Flows great . As soon as the mail box door closes a count of 4 and its smokin out the top .
I removed the plastic handle due to signs of heat ,

 

[Sowsage]

Question about this mailbox mod. Does it matter what length of tubing from the mail box to the smoker? Can it be too long or too short?

 

[smokerjim]

Question about this mailbox mod. Does it matter what length of tubing from the mail box to the smoker? Can it be too long or too short?

I like mine longer for cold smoking,i think it gives the smoke more time to cool off, but I think it's more of a personal preference. other then that I don't think it matters

 

[Sowsage]

I like mine longer for cold smoking,i think it gives the smoke more time to cool off, but I think it's more of a personal preference. other then that I don't think it matters

That's really what I was wondering about for cold smoking. I figure the longer it is the "cleaner" the smoke would be. But I also was not sure if it was too long if it would ever even make it to the smoker. When cold smoking there would be no heat rising to create a draw to pull the smoke into it. Maybe I'm over thinking it.

 

[chopsaw]

That's really what I was wondering about for cold smoking. I figure the longer it is the "cleaner" the smoke would be. But I also was not sure if it was too long if it would ever even make it to the smoker. When cold smoking there would be no heat rising to create a draw to pull the smoke into it. Maybe I'm over thinking it.

I think the length does affect the draw . You can always warm the smoker to get it moving , then turn the heat off .
No , you're not over thinking . Good points .

 

[Winterrider]

I did like Dave ( per his recommendation) 2 holes bottom, 1 hole top. I have taped up 1 bottom hole when very windy out so doesn't burn up the dust so fast. I like a little bit longer hose, cleaner smoke.

 

[Winterrider]

Should have used a different picture, that white crap will be here soon enough. Lol...

 

[cmayna]

I see what seems to be painted mailboxes in this post except for daveomak's. Isn't there an issue with the mailbox's interior paint, melting, etc when used in this fashion?

 

[fivetricks]

Negative. The tray does not burn nearly that hot. You will line the interior with creosote long before anything like that.

I actually set my tray on small pieces of wood (approved smoking woods, not 2x4 scraps or anything like that) just to get air underneath the tray, but it also removes it from the painted floor of the mailbox.

 

[patinlouisiana]

It appears to get a bit brown on the inside from the smoke however I do not think the heat is sufficient to off gas the powder coating. There are no signs of excess heat on the exteriors that I have seen?

 

[sigmo]

I do suspect most of these are powder coated these days, which doesn't scare me as much as paint would. I haven't gotten my mailbox set up yet.

Do they even get warm to the touch when running?

I had considered getting a bare metal mailbox for this reason, though. Burning paint fumes sounds nasty! :-)