Masterbuilt 20070311 40in and Masterbuilt 20075315 40in - issues

[badgerx]

Newbie here, been lurking for a bit, not sure if this is a rant or a question but here we go
I bought the Masterbuilt 20070311 40in the first of the year i had issues with it from the git go, in order for it to get to 225 it had to be set at 255-260 verified by a maverick 733 thermometer, AND it was just not producing good smoke or completely burning the chips up till about 250. masterbuilt has been great as far as customer service has been. I called and they sent me a complete body kit, I replaced everything and tried agin with the exact same results. so i called again and they agree to just send me the upgraded Masterbuilt 20075315 40in, i got it yesterday and did the pre season, set at 275 for 3 hrs the smoker got to 310 and stayed withing 10 degrees the entire time verified by the Maverick 733 duel probe again.
i'm not sure what to do, should I call masterbuilt once again? or just deal with the temp issues? i haven't actually smoked on it yet, any tips tricks or mods to fix this myself?  

 

[daveomak]

Learn to live with the readings on the cabled therm...  the OEM stuff hardly ever is correct..

 

[Bearcarver]

 
Newbie here, been lurking for a bit, not sure if this is a rant or a question but here we go
I bought the Masterbuilt 20070311 40in the first of the year i had issues with it from the git go, in order for it to get to 225 it had to be set at 255-260 verified by a maverick 733 thermometer, AND it was just not producing good smoke or completely burning the chips up till about 250. masterbuilt has been great as far as customer service has been. I called and they sent me a complete body kit, I replaced everything and tried agin with the exact same results. so i called again and they agree to just send me the upgraded Masterbuilt 20075315 40in, i got it yesterday and did the pre season, set at 275 for 3 hrs the smoker got to 310 and stayed withing 10 degrees the entire time verified by the Maverick 733 duel probe again.
i'm not sure what to do, should I call masterbuilt once again? or just deal with the temp issues? i haven't actually smoked on it yet, any tips tricks or mods to fix this myself?  

You got a bonus!!!

Set your MES control to whatever you have to set it to so that you get your tested Maverick to read whatever temp you want your meat to be in.

If setting your MES at 275° causes your Maverick to read 310°, then you should be able to set it at 240° to get your Maverick to read 275°.

If it was the other way around, and if when setting your MES to 275° your Maverick would only read 250° or less, I'd say "Take it Back---You paid for a Smoker that goes to 275° ".

Hope that helps,

Bear

 

[chef jimmyj]

310? Bonus...You can get a good onestep result on Chicken with better if not crispy skin...

...JJ

 

[Bearcarver]

 
310? Bonus...You can get a good onestep result on Chicken with better if not crispy skin...

...JJ

Exactly---A 275° finish works fine with mine, but 310° would be even better.

I wouldn't want it to go much higher---I had a controller that went to over 330°, and I could hear noise inside the walls---Insulation crinkling??? Could be.

Bear

 

[daricksta]

I just wanted to comment that I've had an ET-733 for over 4 years. When I first got it I calibrated it so that I was sure it was accurate. A few months ago I bought my 2nd one from Todd (who I got the 1st one from) and I calibrated that too. I decided to check the calibration again on the old ET-733 so I stuck the probes in the boiling water with the newer ET-733 probes. Overall all 4 probes were close enough; the speed of getting up to temp varied with the probes. But once I got the 2 sets of probes inside my MES 30 Gen 1--two on racks 1 & 2 on the left side and 2 on r I got 4 different temps. With the older ET-733, #2 probe showed the highest temp of the 4 probes,

 
Newbie here, been lurking for a bit, not sure if this is a rant or a question but here we go
I bought the Masterbuilt 20070311 40in the first of the year i had issues with it from the git go, in order for it to get to 225 it had to be set at 255-260 verified by a maverick 733 thermometer, AND it was just not producing good smoke or completely burning the chips up till about 250. masterbuilt has been great as far as customer service has been. I called and they sent me a complete body kit, I replaced everything and tried agin with the exact same results. so i called again and they agree to just send me the upgraded Masterbuilt 20075315 40in, i got it yesterday and did the pre season, set at 275 for 3 hrs the smoker got to 310 and stayed withing 10 degrees the entire time verified by the Maverick 733 duel probe again.
i'm not sure what to do, should I call masterbuilt once again? or just deal with the temp issues? i haven't actually smoked on it yet, any tips tricks or mods to fix this myself?  

How new is the ET-733? I've got one that's over 4 years old and even though I calibrated it in boiling water recently, the two probes show temps markedly different from two probes from my new and calibrated ET-733. The #2 probe on the old Mav showed a much higher temp than the other 3 probes and it was about 20-30 degrees hotter than the #1 probe on the same unit. I know that placement has a lot to do with it but still I'm wondering if probes or the electronics wear out over the years? I've got a replacement probe set I haven't used or calibrated yet. Next time I smoke I'll compare that set with the other two and see if I can get any of the sets of probes to match.

 

[brickguy221]

Once set up, the ET-733 is OK, but getting it set-up is another story and a "B" to do, a least for me it is. If a person hasn't got the steps memorized well and  is not "quick on the trigger" to make the next move on it, he has to start over from the beginning. At times it is such a "PITA" that I long for my old Weber that I gave to one of my Sons. It only had one probe, but it was easy and simple to set up and extremely accurate.

 

[Bearcarver]

 
Once set up, the ET-733 is OK, but getting it set-up is another story and a "B" to do, a least for me it is. If a person hasn't got the steps memorized well and  is not "quick on the trigger" to make the next move on it, he has to start over from the beginning. At times it is such a "PITA" that I long for my old Weber that I gave to one of my Sons. It only had one probe, but it was easy and simple to set up and extremely accurate.

That's my problem---"Not quick on the trigger"---That's why I like my ET-732s.

I have the same trouble with my LaCrosse Weather Station---Take a couple seconds too long, and you gotta start over.

Bear

 

[daricksta]

ThermoWorks just released their new Smoke therm @$99. Sometime when one or both of my Mavs break down AND the Smoke's on sale I might buy it. Looks better made than the Mavs.

http://www.thermoworks.com/Smoke

 

[brickguy221]

 
ThermoWorks just released their new Smoke therm @$99. Sometime when one or both of my Mavs break down AND the Smoke's on sale I might buy it. Looks better made than the Mavs.

http://www.thermoworks.com/Smoke

Thanks for the link Rick. I may just look in to that unit since I dread it every time I have to set up my ET 733

 

[daricksta]

 
Thanks for the link Rick. I may just look in to that unit since I dread it every time I have to set up my ET 733

You're welcome, Jim. The only ThermoWorks product we own is the ThermoPop I bought for my wife about 2 years ago. She loves it. And now they've even made it faster, darn them. I have a CDN knockoff of their Thermapen which was much cheaper but works really well. I think all their products are made in England so they're pricier than others. But ThermoWorks has a reputation for making the best, most reliable therms. If you can afford one, I recommend you buy it. They often have open box or close-out deals, too. I subscribe to their newsletter which also provides great tips for using their therms for roasting, grilling, and smoking meats.

Over time it's gotten much easier to change the settings on my ET-733. I will still not press some buttons in time, which is frustrating. But remember it works just fine if you don't change the settings. I only change them to get the alarm warnings but more and more I've turn the receiver alarm off so it doesn't bug my wife if it goes off when I'm not in the room.

 

[dr k]

 
ThermoWorks just released their new Smoke therm @$99. Sometime when one or both of my Mavs break down AND the Smoke's on sale I might buy it. Looks better made than the Mavs.

http://www.thermoworks.com/Smoke

In your link above it states the Smoke Gateway (WiFi) and smartphone app will be out in 2017.

-Kurt

 

[daricksta]

 
In your link above it states the Smoke Gateway (WiFi) and smartphone app will be out in 2017.

-Kurt

I am currently dumbphone-ed. My needs are simple anyway, and they only go up to $99 for the standard Smoke, even after I get my smart phone sometime in the next couple of months.

Rick