New Smoker with an Issue

[efs463]

Hello everyone,

    I am new to smokers and new to smokingmeatforums. I was hoping someone here could shed some light on an issue I am having with my newly purchased smoker. Today I bought a Masterbuilt 30'' Electric smoker from my local Bass Pro shops. I have wanted a smoker for some time, and I decided to get this electric model for the "set it and forget it" way of smoking my jerkys, sausage, and other meats. Well I get the thing all put together and do the "seasoning" recommended in the owners manual. I ran the thing for 2.25 hours at 275, then added 1/2 cup of wood (I'm using Smokehouse products brand pellets) and let it go for another 45 minutes. Finishing up dinner inside, I hear a big boom from outside on the deck. I walk out to see flames pouring from the unit and the door blown wide open. I quickly shut the door to kill the oxygen to the fire and unplugged the unit. I did some research of my own and I see that there was a recall on units similar to these, but that was 2 years ago so I assume they fixed the issue by now. I read through the manual, and the only thing I can see that I did wrong was use pellets. In the manual it says use only chips. I do not see how that would change anything, would it? The sales rep at Bass Pro claimed using pellets in this unit was best due to the size of the small wood chip tray. The only thing I noticed before I walked back inside and let it go was that it was producing a LOT of smoke inside the unit. Enough that it was hard to see. I thought that was a little much. Honestly, I am a little worried about using this thing. I was hoping that once I get used to using it and see how my meats turn out that I would be able to put meat in it, set it, and go about my day. Possibly running errands and leaving it unattended. I feel like this thing would end up burning down my deck, and take my house with it. Does anyone have any experince with something like this? Or know what went wrong or what I did wrong to make this happen, and how I can avoid it in the future. Considering taking it back to the store and going back to the oven and dehydrator now, lol. 

Here is the link for the product I purchased: http://www.basspro.com/Masterbuilt-...tal-Electric-Smoker-Combo/product/1505111211/

I hope someone can shed some light on this!

 

[chef jimmyj]

Welcome to SMF...That model is the latest and greatest so no worries there. The store rep don't know SQUAT about smokers, other than the amount of his commission. Ok the BOOM! Been there did that on my first run. If you add lots of Wood Chips, more than 1/4C and Especially Pellets, they generate an explosive gas while that big pile is heating up. The burning wood/pellets on the bottom of the pile ignites the gas and BANG...Your door blew open, mine shot the Chip Loader 3' into the yard and continues to fart 12" flames every 30 seconds until I got the chips out. Your unit is fine and if you only use a small amout of Chips will not see this again...

Ok regarding the Pellets. You will quickly find that adding wood chips every 30 minutes or so get REAL OLD on a 16 hour, overnight, Pork Butt cook. Not to mention how set and forget is a smoker than needs smoke fuel every 30 minutes. Well Todd Johnson of A-MAZE-N Products, a long time member, came up with a great smoke generator a few years ago. You will see tons of guys here talking about Todd's AMNPS Pellet smoke generator. It is a stainless steel maze that let's pellets burn slowly creating 10+ hours of perfect Thin Blue Smoke for a long cook. You load it, light it, get it smoking and it makes the MES perfect for Hot or Cold smoking. I will suggest you read up on the AMNPS and the Mailbox Mod so you can overcome the problems with an otherwise great smoker... http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...0-new-pictures-for-attaching-elbow-to-mailbox

Since you are a Newbie, please stop by Roll Call and introduce yourself. Jeff, the site owner, has a great Free 5-Day Ecourse that is an intro to smoking meat. You will find the Search function helpful. Type in the meat, technique or type of smoker you want info on and you will see tons of threads that relate. Here is another old but fun thread on the MES and the Mods guys have done. Not all apply to your generation MES but it's useful...JJ

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/87723/mes-hot-mods-related-mods-or-creations

 

[mosparky]

Samething was just mentioned in another post http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/237257/amnps .

 Of course the BP guy suggested something other than the cheaper chips or chunks. While they don't get commissions as such, they do get incentives. Points toward discounts ect. That combined with they aren't always the best informed or trained.

 I assume you had the vents open.

Hopefully others more experianced will chime in soon.

 Dang Chef JJ got there ahead of me. Listen to what he's say's. He definately knows what he's talking about and won't steer you wrong.

 

[daricksta]

 
Hello everyone,

    I am new to smokers and new to smokingmeatforums. I was hoping someone here could shed some light on an issue I am having with my newly purchased smoker. Today I bought a Masterbuilt 30'' Electric smoker from my local Bass Pro shops. I have wanted a smoker for some time, and I decided to get this electric model for the "set it and forget it" way of smoking my jerkys, sausage, and other meats. Well I get the thing all put together and do the "seasoning" recommended in the owners manual. I ran the thing for 2.25 hours at 275, then added 1/2 cup of wood (I'm using Smokehouse products brand pellets) and let it go for another 45 minutes. Finishing up dinner inside, I hear a big boom from outside on the deck. I walk out to see flames pouring from the unit and the door blown wide open. I quickly shut the door to kill the oxygen to the fire and unplugged the unit. I did some research of my own and I see that there was a recall on units similar to these, but that was 2 years ago so I assume they fixed the issue by now. I read through the manual, and the only thing I can see that I did wrong was use pellets. In the manual it says use only chips. I do not see how that would change anything, would it? The sales rep at Bass Pro claimed using pellets in this unit was best due to the size of the small wood chip tray. The only thing I noticed before I walked back inside and let it go was that it was producing a LOT of smoke inside the unit. Enough that it was hard to see. I thought that was a little much. Honestly, I am a little worried about using this thing. I was hoping that once I get used to using it and see how my meats turn out that I would be able to put meat in it, set it, and go about my day. Possibly running errands and leaving it unattended. I feel like this thing would end up burning down my deck, and take my house with it. Does anyone have any experince with something like this? Or know what went wrong or what I did wrong to make this happen, and how I can avoid it in the future. Considering taking it back to the store and going back to the oven and dehydrator now, lol. 

Here is the link for the product I purchased: http://www.basspro.com/Masterbuilt-...tal-Electric-Smoker-Combo/product/1505111211/

I hope someone can shed some light on this!

Chef JimmyJ is more knowledgeable about this than I am. I own a MES 30 Gen 1 unit. One time when I was smoking a pork shoulder I used a tray of pecan pellets. Now, because I've read it's good to mix nutwoods like pecan or hickory with fruitwoods like apple for pork, I used apple wood chips since I didn't have apple wood pellets at the time. So I had both going but never got too much smoke, and there were no fires or explosions. I started off with about 2-3 batches of apple wood chips in the chip loader and added a couple more batches every 30 minutes or so (which reminded me why I don't use wood chips). Over the 11 hours or so I smoked the pork shoulder I had no problems. But your smoker is a different design from mine.

You can also bring the unit back to BP for an even exchange or hold onto it. If there's an ongoing problem you could than talk to someone at MB customer service and they'll make it right for you.