Thanks!
I was wrong in my post above about what version of Pit Boss I saw at the store. Looking at the photos I shot of it and its instruction manual, it is a Copperhead Wood Pellet Vertical Smoker (5-Series). Model PBV5PW1.
It must be one like you described, designed to achieve the heating by burning the pellets. And that's why it had such a huge pellet hopper: "60Lb, Rear-access hopper allows for 18-24 hours of uninterrupted smoking time". That makes a lot more sense now, because 60 Lbs of pellets, in my MES40 using the trusty
AMNPS, would last me a year!
The 200 Watt element would just be used to ignite the pellets, and the feeder would operate much as the feeder in a pellet stove operates, maintaining the desired temperature by feeding the pellets at a rate required to achieve the desired temperatures.
I've got a heavily modified MES40, and love it. But the size of this Pit Boss unit was impressive, and I really like the fact that you can adjust the positions of the racks, so it really caught my eye.
However, I do not want one that's heated by the pellets. So I'd be looking for one of a similar size, but with the high-wattage electric heating element. Probably one like yours.
Also, according to the manual for this unit that I saw at Wally, it doesn't go to a high enough temperature. I think it said 215 degrees. I normally smoke pork butts and ribs, etc., at about 225, and I'd like to be able to go higher, plus, it gets very cold and windy here, so I want something that can easily heat to whatever temperature I want. So again, this unit that I saw at the store would not be suitable.
I have done precision temperature control, logging, and monitoring for 40 years with my own company as well as for a chain of environmental laboratories. They have various incubators, coolers, and precision ovens, and what you've said is true.
You see wide variations from point to point within the same oven, and even fan-stirred ovens are not as uniform as you'd like. And as you say, if the oven, incubator, refrigerator, etc., cycles on and off, the temporal variations can be huge, as well.
For the purposes of cooking, cycling isn't a problem as long as your monitoring method lets you see the average. Still, I always try to use a PID type control with a fairly short cycle time along with fan stirring if the application is critical and I don't want to see any thermal cycling.
What I'd like to find is a reasonably priced, electrically heated smoker that is good up to a fairly high temperature, with plenty of room, adjustable racks, and ideally, a circulating fan already installed. Then I'd control the unit with a remote I/O "brick" connected to the PAC system I have at my house. Not that any of that is really necessary, but it's fun, and gives me something more to play with along with the smoking. Why not combine a few hobbies!
So I was hoping that the unit I stumbled across might be a good "carcass" to start with, but I didn't see any of the all-electric units on display there. The one you got sounds a lot more like what I'm after.
Like jnorth above, I, too may replace my MES40 with a Pit Boss, mostly for the larger capacity and heavier-duty build.
Thanks again for your good review and explanation of the model you got!