Any hope for my MES40 or should it be trashed?

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hillbilly69

Fire Starter
Original poster
Apr 27, 2014
32
10
Mexico
Sometimes there are just no words. I am almost embarrassed to post these pictures of my neglected MES40 but I was hoping for input on how my smoker can be saved, if possible, or whether it should be thrown in the trash heap. Yesterday I spent several hours scrubbing away residue from inside of the smoker and the pictures you are seeing were taken after. I should point out that aside from the appearance and minus a few pin holes in the water pan everything is functioning normally. Obviously, my main concern is making certain the smoker is sanitary before putting anything in it but I'm just not sure that is possible considering the condition it is in. Any thoughts, opinions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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Serious question here, do you need to clean them? I clean the racks but that's all. Mine would be like the one above if I cleaned it.
 
If I cleaned mine it might look like yours. Now that you cleaned off all the seasoning
(smoke residu) You Might want to burn a few pounds of pellets or chips in it to re season it. Since you scrubbed your grates? You should be good to go. Burn some pellets and get it dark again. These are just my personal opinions. Jted
 
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Wow. Hiw long has thst MES been sitting??
If it still works good I don't think I'd be trashing it. It'll take "some" work but there's no reason it can't be rejuvinated IMO.
Your meat never touches anything but the grates so as long as there's nothing falling off the top and sides onto the meat you should be fine.
Scrape off everything you can, wash it down with a bleach mixture, do a hi temp burn, reseason the interior and you should be good to go.
Check the door seals.
As for the wster pan, a MES doesn't need one. I just filled mine with sand for a heat sink and foiled it over. Some hi temp JB Weld will take care of the pin holes.
Gary
 
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Thank you for all the replies and encouragement. I really appreciate it. I'm happy to know the old girl has some life left in her and my negligence wasn't too painful a lesson.

Gary, to answer your question I think the last time I used the smoker was probably 4 months ago. Here in Mexico we just had our annual rainy season and perhaps that aided in the condition of the smoker, although I do have it covered when not in use.
 
I wouldn't worry about the rust, oxidation, and corrosion of the metal causing any issues. Check out how rusty and worn out gas/propane discadas get. A good scrubbing and then some oil and it is ready to go again. As long as your racks aren't rusted all to hell you should be ok. And if you have issues with heating you may have corroding electrical connectors on the wires and the heating element or the safety rollout limit switch. Those can be fixed easily.

Best of luck!
 
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I see absolutely nothing in those pics that would worry me. I'd do only two things. First, use some rubbing alcohol to remove the residual grease from the door. Lay the smoker down so the door is horizontal and pour a little alcohol on the door so it just sits there for a few minutes. The grease should come off, although it still may take a little rubbing.

The rest just looks like various forms of corrosion, coupled with etching from whatever solvents and abrasives you used. For that, I'd just crank the smoker up to maximum temp (275 for the MES) and run it for 3-4 hours, or until you see very little smoke coming out the vent (there will always be a little, even on a brand new smoker). For the last hour you could add a few chips in order to help coat the surfaces with a little smoke residue.

You should be good to go after that.
 
Sometimes there are just no words. I am almost embarrassed to post these pictures of my neglected MES40 but I was hoping for input on how my smoker can be saved, if possible, or whether it should be thrown in the trash heap. Yesterday I spent several hours scrubbing away residue from inside of the smoker and the pictures you are seeing were taken after. I should point out that aside from the appearance and minus a few pin holes in the water pan everything is functioning normally. Obviously, my main concern is making certain the smoker is sanitary before putting anything in it but I'm just not sure that is possible considering the condition it is in. Any thoughts, opinions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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Because of all the rust and mold, I think you should trash your MES. Maybe you have the time and are in sufficient physical shape to put even more time into scraping and scrubbing off all the rust and what appears to be white mold, including scrubbing all the rack guides and the wood chip holder. It seems like Old Sarge and I are the only ones in this thread who feels this way. If it were me, I wouldn't want to touch the inside of that smoker with my bare hands, let alone feed my family with what I smoked inside of it.

It looks like you left it outside a lot for a few years. In that case, if the interior and its components look this bad, I can imagine what the electrical components, wiring, and even the door seals look like. But you might have a problem sourcing another MES 40 Gen 1, which remains one of the best electric digital smokers Masterbuilt ever made. But they do pop up from time to time online or on places like craigslist or even in garage or yard sales.
 
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