Big D,
Welcome to the forum. Short answer to your questions are, yes it should advance every time you press the advance button. After you turn it on and it advances the one puck, wait for it to complete the advance cycle and press the advance button very firmly. It should advance the next puck. You need 3 advanced in order to get the first one to the heat plate to start the smoke. Second, yes it should auto advance a puck every 20 minutes. That said, I have the BDS and periodically mine forgets to advance the next puck in 20 minutes so I no longer trust it. I set a timer every 20 minutes to make sure the next puck advances. If it doesn't hit the advance button again.
KyNola