Masterbuilt Electric Smoker Model MB20070421

[Stokes60]

Have only used a couple of times. No lights, nothing at control panel. Thus no heating up. Opted to order new panel instead of going through Masterbuilt warranty. Well replacing control panel still nothing. No volt meter for testing so hoping someone on here can point me in the right direction from here.

Thanhs

 

[tallbm]

Have only used a couple of times. No lights, nothing at control panel. Thus no heating up. Opted to order new panel instead of going through Masterbuilt warranty. Well replacing control panel still nothing. No volt meter for testing so hoping someone on here can point me in the right direction from here.

Thanhs

Hi there and welcome!

If you get no power to the controller than it sounds like there is an issue at the lower controller circuit board.

There are 2 panels on the bottom side (underneath side) of the smoker. You might have to drill out rivets to get to it and it may be in a black plastic box. The screws on that box can be removed with a very very small flathead screw driver. It's a weird tri slot screwdriver but a small flathead can span it enough to remove them.

If you check that circuit board you may see burnt up components or something going wrong.

Now, I have bad news. If the problem is with that circuit board it is likely you cannot get a replacement board. HOWEVER, for about $150-160 you can a new PID Controller and do a simple rewire in that panel (cut ends off 4 wires and wire nut to make 2 whole wires) and your MES will work 25x better than anything Mastebuilt could build brand new or any electric smoker you could get for $1k or under.

All of us MES guys that have rewired and used a PID controller wonder why we waited so long to do so.

Ask all the questions you have :D

 

[Stokes60]

Hi there and welcome!

If you get no power to the controller than it sounds like there is an issue at the lower controller circuit board.

There are 2 panels on the bottom side (underneath side) of the smoker. You might have to drill out rivets to get to it and it may be in a black plastic box. The screws on that box can be removed with a very very small flathead screw driver. It's a weird tri slot screwdriver but a small flathead can span it enough to remove them.

If you check that circuit board you may see burnt up components or something going wrong.

Now, I have bad news. If the problem is with that circuit board it is likely you cannot get a replacement board. HOWEVER, for about $150-160 you can a new PID Controller and do a simple rewire in that panel (cut ends off 4 wires and wire nut to make 2 whole wires) and your MES will work 25x better than anything Mastebuilt could build brand new or any electric smoker you could get for $1k or under.

All of us MES guys that have rewired and used a PID controller wonder why we waited so long to do so.

Ask all the questions you have :D

Any particular brand of PID you recommend?

 

[tallbm]

Any particular brand of PID you recommend?

Will send you a msg on it.

 

[GatorAGR]

Question for the group. Nearly everything I read on these Masterbuilt electric smokers is terrible. Seems like the electronics (which is basically the whole smoker) are guaranteed to fail soon after buying them. Serious question. How are they not only still in business, but seem to be the market leader? I was thinking of buying one because they're cheap and I just need something upright to hang sausage in. I'll use my Kamado Joe for the usual ribs, brisket, butts, etc.

 

[tpc74]

I'm not so sure about the quality issues. My gen-1 is from my father, who left it outside uncovered quite a bit from what I remember when it was in his yard. It sat outside covered (with the useless MB cover) in my backyard for about 6 months until I determined its location wasn't ideal and I have to deep clean the entire thing lol. Now its in the garage.

Its even traveled to indy for a smoke once, and its never failed me. I don't think my dad ever had any issues, maybe an element? Or maybe he thought it was an element and it was a power issue of his own making. Reminds me to check with him to see if he has some new spare parts lol, he might have ordered an element but never used it.

 

[tallbm]

Question for the group. Nearly everything I read on these Masterbuilt electric smokers is terrible. Seems like the electronics (which is basically the whole smoker) are guaranteed to fail soon after buying them. Serious question. How are they not only still in business, but seem to be the market leader? I was thinking of buying one because they're cheap and I just need something upright to hang sausage in. I'll use my Kamado Joe for the usual ribs, brisket, butts, etc.

The body is the strong feature of an MES and is very good.
The electronics and even worse, the wire connectors, are the weakest areas.

The wire spade connectors can corrode away super fast which is annoying becuase they will often cause your safety limit switch to heat up and melt down. These are by far the most common failure parts of the MES. Easy cheap fixes BUT fixes none the less and the effort to get to the safety switch is a pain if you don't have the tools to cut into it and you are like most of us who didn't have the rarer units that already have an access panel to the switch.

The top controller fails next most often but now there are replacements on amazon for that.

I always say that getting a free or cheap used MES is the best one you can get, then clean (car wash sprayer), rewire, and slap a PID controller on it and you have something better than a $1,000 electric smoker and way better performing than anything Masterbuilt makes brand new. This is like a completely different beast of an electric smoker and for a price often less than a new MES unit.
Also once these changes are put in place, you can keep it running through anything short of being hit by a tornado and repairs are easy, super cheap, and few and far between .

Armed with this little bit of knowledge you can ensure an MES unit always serves you instead of you being completely let down by it :D

 

[JIMSMOKES]

The body is the strong feature of an MES and is very good.
The electronics and even worse, the wire connectors, are the weakest areas.

The wire spade connectors can corrode away super fast which is annoying becuase they will often cause your safety limit switch to heat up and melt down. These are by far the most common failure parts of the MES. Easy cheap fixes BUT fixes none the less and the effort to get to the safety switch is a pain if you don't have the tools to cut into it and you are like most of us who didn't have the rarer units that already have an access panel to the switch.

The top controller fails next most often but now there are replacements on amazon for that.

I always say that getting a free or cheap used MES is the best one you can get, then clean (car wash sprayer), rewire, and slap a PID controller on it and you have something better than a $1,000 electric smoker and way better performing than anything Masterbuilt makes brand new. This is like a completely different beast of an electric smoker and for a price often less than a new MES unit.
Also once these changes are put in place, you can keep it running through anything short of being hit by a tornado and repairs are easy, super cheap, and few and far between .

Armed with this little bit of knowledge you can ensure an MES unit always serves you instead of you being completely let down by it :D

Not meaning to hijack but. I have this and my only use planned is mainly low temp smoke/hold. You can tell me what to changetfix before I put it together?

Yes it's stuck in the messy corner of garage. Kinda out of site! LoL

 

[GatorAGR]

Haha. Looks like your in the same boat as me brother. I feel like I'm basically about to pay $200 for a box to low temp smoke sausage that will likely break soon and then I'll need to spend another couple hundred on a PID thingy majiggy and learn how to wire it up.

 

[tallbm]

Not meaning to hijack but. I have this and my only use planned is mainly low temp smoke/hold. You can tell me what to changetfix before I put it together?
View attachment 687559
Yes it's stuck in the messy corner of garage. Kinda out of site! LoL

Will it hurt to have +/- 20F temp swings with your low smokes and holding? If not then you are good to go as is.
If you will end up melting the fat out of sausage and bacon you may want to consider the rewire and PID controller option. Doing so will keep you dead on with your set temp or within 1-3F degrees of set temp.

So it just kind of depends on what you want to do. Me personally, I want my smoker to not have any or have very few limitations. That's my preference since I do it all from cold smoke, full sausage smokes, bacon smokes, up to 325F chicken/turkey smokes. Your applications and mine may be way different so it may work as is for you :D

 

[tallbm]

Haha. Looks like your in the same boat as me brother. I feel like I'm basically about to pay $200 for a box to low temp smoke sausage that will likely break soon and then I'll need to spend another couple hundred on a PID thingy majiggy and learn how to wire it up.

Any chance at getting a floor model or lightly used one? Drastically helps on the wallet. But you also gotta know that once you rewire and slap a PID controller on it. It's really something completely different and like 50x better than a stock MES. I always say its like turning a golf cart into a Ferrari. Total apples to oranges comparisons :D

 

[JIMSMOKES]

Will it hurt to have +/- 20F temp swings with your low smokes and holding? If not then you are good to go as is.
If you will end up melting the fat out of sausage and bacon you may want to consider the rewire and PID controller option. Doing so will keep you dead on with your set temp or within 1-3F degrees of set temp.

So it just kind of depends on what you want to do. Me personally, I want my smoker to not have any or have very few limitations. That's my preference since I do it all from cold smoke, full sausage smokes, bacon smokes, up to 325F chicken/turkey smokes. Your applications and mine may be way different so it may work as is for you :D

No what you're describing is exactly what I'm interested in. I have any tool I need for mechanical stuff but I'm totally lost when it come to electricity stuff. Besides automotive stuff.

 

[tallbm]

No what you're describing is exactly what I'm interested in. I have any tool I need for mechanical stuff but I'm totally lost when it come to electricity stuff. Besides automotive stuff.

The rewire is pretty simple. You cut the ends off 4 wires and then wire nut to make 2 new whole wires. At this point the MES plug feeds power to the heating element while keeping the safety limit switch in the mix.

Next you can buy a plug and play PID controller (Auber makes good ones) and you have that end covered.

Now you plug PID controller into wall and drop the temp probe down the vent and clip it to the bottom of the lowest smoker rack.
You plug the MES into the PID.
You punch in your smoker set temp into the PID.
The PID will feed power from the wall to the MES plug/heating element until it hits and holds your set temp dead on basically no swings (holds dead on or within 1-3F degrees).
Done!!

If you replace the safety limit switch with a higher one that lets your smoker go to 325F (but never go more than 4 hours at that temp, the insulation is not rated for it) and you replace all the female spade connectors with good high temp ones (about 4 connectors) then your smoker will be bullet proof and easily repairable from that point on :D

Check out the details here with all the pics etc. :D

MES Rewire Simple Guide - No Back Removal Needed!!!

Lately I've seen a number of posts about guys wanting to rewire their MES. I had wanted to post a quick and simple guide for those out there that are curious or those that simply need to rewire but need a little assistance. Well here goes. Disclaimer: When messing with electrical equipment...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

 

[GatorAGR]

Hi there and welcome!

If you get no power to the controller than it sounds like there is an issue at the lower controller circuit board.

There are 2 panels on the bottom side (underneath side) of the smoker. You might have to drill out rivets to get to it and it may be in a black plastic box. The screws on that box can be removed with a very very small flathead screw driver. It's a weird tri slot screwdriver but a small flathead can span it enough to remove them.

If you check that circuit board you may see burnt up components or something going wrong.

Now, I have bad news. If the problem is with that circuit board it is likely you cannot get a replacement board. HOWEVER, for about $150-160 you can a new PID Controller and do a simple rewire in that panel (cut ends off 4 wires and wire nut to make 2 whole wires) and your MES will work 25x better than anything Mastebuilt could build brand new or any electric smoker you could get for $1k or under.

All of us MES guys that have rewired and used a PID controller wonder why we waited so long to do so.

Ask all the questions you have :D

This is great. Pictures are really helpful! Thanks so much.

 

[tallbm]

This is great. Pictures are really helpful! Thanks so much.

I'm glad it helps :D