That's one error I never made. THE worst error I made was when I used to fill the water pan with clean playground sand and then foil over the pan. After a smoke I got lazy and left the water pan inside my MES 30 when I wheeled it back into the garage on a hand truck. I thought the foil would keep the sand from spilling out; I was wrong. The next time I took the smoker out to wipe down the inside before using it I saw how very wrong I had been. There was a pile of sand, much of it damp and greasy, all along the bottom of the rear wall. Think how large the water pan is and that's how much sand had gathered back there. It was not a very pleasant cleanup job because I had to deal with getting a brush and many paper towels under and behind the wood chip tray and the heating element and the rack they sit on to get to the back of the smoker. Seemed like no matter how much I sand I brushed and wiped out of the smoker there was still all that much left to deal with.
Finally got it all done and cleaned up, and I never used playground sand again. I keep the water pan empty and foiled over for smoking.
Finally got it all done and cleaned up, and I never used playground sand again. I keep the water pan empty and foiled over for smoking.