heating element health

[clifish]

Cracked insulation indicates oxidation to the element wire……….

found an element and controller on Amazon for $35, going to order it. I will report back in the next month when i am back in PA to try it out.

 

[chitchatnj]

Just a few words and thoughts about heating element health. Recently like in the past few weeks I replaced my 800 watt heating element because it was tripping GFCI receptacles. While troubleshooting the old element the only thing I knew to check was the resistance of the element. It was reading in the good zone just above 17 ohm's. I checked the resistance of a new element and it was 17.7 ohm's in a perfect world it should have been 18 ohms
Using Ohm's law which can be confusing since it has so many ways to find the same values this is the formula that I used and is not confusing at all. VxV / watts = resistance 120x120/800 = 18 Ohm's that is for a MES 30 " 20070910 old model.
Just like human health other factors come in to play but checking the resistance is like checking your blood pressure or pulse. A great place to start. I ran the numbers for several other wattage just so you don't have to. With the power off remove the leads to the element and put a lead from the multimeter on each one Turn the meter to the ohm's or omega sign on the meter and read your resistance
1000 watts =14 Ohm's
1200 watts =12 Ohm's
1500 watts = 9.6 Ohms
If yours is a above or under the the exact number it is not a real bad thing but much more than 10 % you should be prepared to replace your element. In my case Masterbuilt had the best price at 25.00 delivered for a 800 watt element.
I still have not figured out why my old element would trip the GFCI but I think it would break down under power. Jted

I just replaced mine on my 40in and my reading is 13.5 but heating element is still not warming up and I also replaced the connectors. Don't know what else to check any suggestions

 

[dsk]

Carefully measure the voltage across the element with the smoker turned on. It may be the controller, or the safety switch. If there is 120V (or whatever your local power company provides) across the element, and it is not hot, the element is bad.

 

[river100]

Just a few words and thoughts about heating element health. Recently like in the past few weeks I replaced my 800 watt heating element because it was tripping GFCI receptacles. While troubleshooting the old element the only thing I knew to check was the resistance of the element. It was reading in the good zone just above 17 ohm's. I checked the resistance of a new element and it was 17.7 ohm's in a perfect world it should have been 18 ohms
Using Ohm's law which can be confusing since it has so many ways to find the same values this is the formula that I used and is not confusing at all. VxV / watts = resistance 120x120/800 = 18 Ohm's that is for a MES 30 " 20070910 old model.
Just like human health other factors come in to play but checking the resistance is like checking your blood pressure or pulse. A great place to start. I ran the numbers for several other wattage just so you don't have to. With the power off remove the leads to the element and put a lead from the multimeter on each one Turn the meter to the ohm's or omega sign on the meter and read your resistance
1000 watts =14 Ohm's
1200 watts =12 Ohm's
1500 watts = 9.6 Ohms
If yours is a above or under the the exact number it is not a real bad thing but much more than 10 % you should be prepared to replace your element. In my case Masterbuilt had the best price at 25.00 delivered for a 800 watt element.
I still have not figured out why my old element would trip the GFCI but I think it would break down under power. Jted

The element can have the correct resistance and still have a short to the casing of the element, ground fault, which would trip a GFCI. You can check for the short but sometimes it only shows when the element is hot. My MES40 ran for years with a ground fault. just had to be careful with it.