Masterbuilt Model #MB20070421 Electric smoker not heating up

[kbesch]

I recently purchased electric smoker. Used once and it once and it worked great. Tried to use again, won't heat up at all. Any suggestions?

 

[Murray]

I have two MES, one will start at any temperature no matter how cold it is outside, the other which is newer won’t start if it’s 32F or colder, need to heat the chamber up with a hairdryer. I do get an error message though, you don’t mention any error code so perhaps you have other issues at play?

 

[kbesch]

Thank you for response. Brand new and worked great first time. I live in Florida, though it has been cold, temp was never below 45 degrees F when I tried second time. Coil never heats up at all. Good news is that I bought from Lowes less than 30 days ago and can get refund. I was hoping to find an easy fix.

 

[Murray]

You didn’t post where you live so I assumed since it’s February that might have been your issue and also the simplest and cheapest place to start. In the picture below pull the black and red wires(at the top of the picture) off the relay(small black box) and join them together, plug in the smoker and see if you get heat. If you get heat then your issue is not the heating element or the safety limit switch but in the controller circuit. If you don’t get heat then your issue is with the element or safety limit switch. Don’t leave the smoker plugged in too long since you have bypassed the controller part and you have no way to control the smoker temperature. All of these parts are on the bottom of the smoker, remove the inspection plate. If you don’t get heat, remove the inspection plate on the back and check the wires to the element, making sure they are on tight. The other option is to return it as is and start with a new one

 

[Murray]

Bypass Surgery for the MES 30

OK, so today's goal turned to making my MES 30 be optional to be cord controlled, or standard controlled. Retired from 42 + years in the Electrical field, I've seen a couple of things, and done a couple of things. And no matter what it is, there is probably a couple of million ways to do it...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

MES Rewire Simple Guide - No Back Removal Needed!!!

Lately I've seen a number of posts about guys wanting to rewire their MES. I had wanted to post a quick and simple guide for those out there that are curious or those that simply need to rewire but need a little assistance. Well here goes. Disclaimer: When messing with electrical equipment...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Some reading material

 

[kbesch]

Thanks again! I will definitely do what you suggested. I won't leave plugged in to long as you advised. I will let you know what happens.

 

[Braz]

Start simple. Power at the outlet? Tripped breaker or GFI?

 

[dtheim]

I have a 30" Masterbuilt Sportsmans Elite that trips a GFI breaker when coming back on. It starts fine on the initial start but after coming up to temp then when the element kicks in to maintain temp, it snaps the GFI. I have pulled the element and gone thru all the ohm tests and comes back OK.
Used over Thanksgiving and turkey was done way away of normal time to cook. I tried a different outlet that was not directly attached to a GFI and was able to keep the smoker running. I inserted a meat probe thru the top vent holes, (it was the only thermometer I had that would take the temp). I set the smoker for 250* and watched both readings. I could hear the control click and heating indicator comes on and smoker heated to 250* and clicked off, temp in the smoker continue to rise to 262* by the digital display while the meat thermometer read 310*. A 50* difference, that is why I am not sure I can be using a meat thermometer as comparison. The smoker never kicked out a breaker in the basement while using this outlet but the temp difference is alarming; could explain why the turkey was done earlier than expected.
What else could be causing this issue? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bill1]

Moderators might want to spin this off to its own thread...

I'm going to assume your unit is >2 yrs old. Heating elements will still work fine but they develop little cracks in the potting that separates the filament from the grounded metal shell they're housed within. After time there's enough resistive path through the cracks that 5milliamps of current can find its way to ground that way. GFCI is designed to assume that current is going through your heart instead so it shuts the party down. As long as things are dry (no rain, etc) and you have a good reliable 3rd wire green wire plug connection to ground you're pretty safe using this unit still without GFCI protection.

If you hear it clicking on and off the controller is basically working. Why the temp continued to rise to 262F after you heard it click off is a little hard to explain for an electric filament but if you had a pellet tube or smoking chips etc in addiiton to just electric heat that would explain it. But the 12F range around your setpoint is not uncommon (even for electric-only systems) for simple controllers...I wouldn't worry about it. People who smoke over all wood pits can't come close to that level of control and the food is good! Lots of folks here upgrade controllers and get better control numbers...that's up to you.

Now the fact two different probes read 50F off is disturbing but it can happen. I'd recommend getting one more temp sensor and "take a vote". Maybe the 310 reading is too high? But probably the factory probe is reading low. The end should be clean and shiny. When it builds up with grime and creosote you can develop quite a temp drop just through all the gunk so what you're reading is correct for the probe but is low compared to what's outside the gunk. Or maybe you just want to live with a low-reading controller and set it in the future to compensate. That would be the min-cost approach.

 

[dtheim]

Thanks for the feedback. Unit is approx. 5 years old, so order a new element for it, which is a cheap investment.