Has Anyone experienced this?

[boxcardriver]

During my very first use of my MES 30" I was using cherry wood chips on a couple of chickens at 275 degrees and half way through cooking I had what I can only describe as puff of air coming out of both the vent and the chip loading port.  It did  it a couple of times and I checked the chickens expecting to see that grease had fallen on the element, but everything was normal.  It was very strange. 

Bill

 

[foamheart]

You had a backflash, your chips were exploding into flame. You had too much air in the chamber, too dry a chip, too high a heat.

Mine did that one day, I had to do two more times so I could show the neighbor LOL It shouldn;t hurt anything, but it can be a bit dangerous. Just cut you air flow back a little or if chips are extremely dry wet 'em a little before using.

 

[boxcardriver]

Thanks for the info.  Glad to know it is not dangerous, but it did make me sit up and take notice.  

Bill

 

[foamheart]

 
Thanks for the info.  Glad to know it is not dangerous, but it did make me sit up and take notice.  

Bill

You had either just opened it or just closed it when it happened?

I guess it could be dangerous if it flashed and ignited the dripped fat on something or if you had something flammable in the smoker.