getting a new 30" MES

[jsdspif]

I'm replacing my old 30" MES with a new one that I believe is pretty much like my old one . Digital control on top at the back of the smoker . This is the unit that the terminals disintegrated after using it for a month or so so I put the appliance terminals on the wires and all's been well for 7 years or so ?? (can't really remember when I got it ??) Anyway , when I fired it up the other night I noticed it wasn't heating so I turned it off and back on reset temp and time and still no heat , then the 3rd time it started to heat and ran fine , but i ordered a new one anyway . Mine has been used quite a bit and the new one was $150 . My question is for the folks that have purchased one say in the last year or so . Do they still have the problems with the wiring to the heating element , as far as the terminals disintegrating ? I'm just wondering if after checking to make sure it works I should just go ahead and do the terminal repair ? I thought this time I would just solder the wires to the terminals of the heating element , if they still have that problem , but if recent buyers haven't experienced the problem for the last year or so I'll just use it as is . Thanks .

 

[daricksta]

 
I'm replacing my old 30" MES with a new one that I believe is pretty much like my old one . Digital control on top at the back of the smoker . This is the unit that the terminals disintegrated after using it for a month or so so I put the appliance terminals on the wires and all's been well for 7 years or so ?? (can't really remember when I got it ??) Anyway , when I fired it up the other night I noticed it wasn't heating so I turned it off and back on reset temp and time and still no heat , then the 3rd time it started to heat and ran fine , but i ordered a new one anyway . Mine has been used quite a bit and the new one was $150 . My question is for the folks that have purchased one say in the last year or so . Do they still have the problems with the wiring to the heating element , as far as the terminals disintegrating ? I'm just wondering if after checking to make sure it works I should just go ahead and do the terminal repair ? I thought this time I would just solder the wires to the terminals of the heating element , if they still have that problem , but if recent buyers haven't experienced the problem for the last year or so I'll just use it as is . Thanks .

Do you think $150 was less than the cost of buying a replacement controller and/or a heating element from Masterbuilt? I don't know what they cost.

I've had my MES 30 Gen 1 for 3 years now but haven't yet used it this year. I'm hoping when I bring it out from my garage and fire it up it'll be working fine like always. I don't know much about the heating element wiring problems or if my particular unit was affected. From what I understand these things could be assembled in different Chinese factories from components made in different Chinese factories. So I don't know if electrical problems stemmed from a particular production run during a specific period of time or not.

I have many appliances in my house which work great but had been reviewed poorly by some owners. Some lemons will always come off production lines and it can just be the luck of the draw if that's the one you bought. I would hope Masterbuilt would track the model and serial numbers and dates/places of manufacture of those smokers which all share a common problem so that they're more flexible with their warranties on those particular units.

 

[jsdspif]

my old one is just getting so "grungy" looking . I usually use it about once a week and sometimes more than that . I don't even remember when I got it but I was thinking 7 years ago . I don't use the chip pan but when I pulled that out the other night to check the heating element it pretty much fell apart . I've cleaned it out a couple times just sraping the insides with a flat spatula and wire brush , mainly to just get the crusty stuff out of it that tends to fall on the food if you bump the inside on top or the sides . 2 of the racks have the chrome worn off them . I've pretty much used and abused it and I don't really want to sink any money into it . Other than the terminals disintegrating when I first got it it's worked great . I've used it when it's been 5 below zero and I've used it when it's been just about 100 degrees and it's never gave me any trouble so I feel like I more than got my moneys worth out of it . I'm probably just going to put it in my barn and save it as a backup . I bought some high temperature terminals yesterday for my oven so I got extras so if they do fail on the new MES I'll have replacements if needed . I'm just going to run the new one until I have problems , but I'm hoping they've probably gone to a better quality terminal by now , because that was a problem on so many of the units when I got mine .

 

[jsdspif]

I just checked my old posts . On 11/17/07 I posted about making the repair on my unit ( which I repaired a short time before that post ) . So I'm going with 8 years for the length of time I have owned the unit and it could be the issue of failing to heat the other night was just a "fluke" . After it did start it ran fine for maybe 4 hours or so , so I'm not really planning on just trashing it , but just saving as a backup.