Fairly new to smoking and excited to find the forum, it's unfortunate this is my first post though!
I bought the "Masterbuilt Pro MDS 230S Dual Fuel Smoker" from Home Depot when I saw a deal online making it $150. Being new to smoking I thought to myself dual fuel, awesome! But right out of the box I noticed the same issues everyone else saw with temperature control issues and the chips catching fire. Immediately I started regretting propane smoking as it had to be watched nearly as much as charcoal in my mind with chips burning out in minutes, even when soaked and chips catching fire. Being new, I thought this was what you get for using propane and chips vs charcoal and wood.
Cue a few months later I'm smoking two pork shoulders, babysitting it like usual and about 8h into the smoke. I fill the water tray, spray down my pork shoulders, and refill the wood chips. I go into the garage for 30 minutes and come back to check on the smoker temperature. Over 500! Shit! I open the door to cool it and I'm welcomed to 2-4 flames with the smoker paint and unit on fire! Not wanting to burn the house down, I grabbed the fire extinguisher and that was that.
I am a firefighter and respond to plenty of grill fires each year. I make sure to clean my unit, not overfill the wood, check the unit for leaks, and take general care. I contacted Masterbuilt who has already had one unit recalled, and submitted a CPSC complaint after being ignored by support. After a few weeks they send me a one sentence reply of "We've forwarded this to management." Another week or so and I get a phone call of them being apathetic and offer me a replacement of the same unit. No, I don't want another poorly designed unit! I chop it up to them not wanting to include a $2 extra chip tray that does not have vents on the bottom for charcoal. It seems most chip trays are 6-8" off the burner where this one had direct flame contact.
Luckily Home Depot was cool. They took the unit back, gave me $100 off a new smoker, and replaced the fire extinguisher.
I've only used the Dyna-Glo smoker a few times, but it seems to be doing alright. I'm not a big fan of my Dyna-Glo grill, but so far so good. When I move onto some property I'm hoping to move to an offset smoker, but until then propane will have to do.
I bought the "Masterbuilt Pro MDS 230S Dual Fuel Smoker" from Home Depot when I saw a deal online making it $150. Being new to smoking I thought to myself dual fuel, awesome! But right out of the box I noticed the same issues everyone else saw with temperature control issues and the chips catching fire. Immediately I started regretting propane smoking as it had to be watched nearly as much as charcoal in my mind with chips burning out in minutes, even when soaked and chips catching fire. Being new, I thought this was what you get for using propane and chips vs charcoal and wood.
Cue a few months later I'm smoking two pork shoulders, babysitting it like usual and about 8h into the smoke. I fill the water tray, spray down my pork shoulders, and refill the wood chips. I go into the garage for 30 minutes and come back to check on the smoker temperature. Over 500! Shit! I open the door to cool it and I'm welcomed to 2-4 flames with the smoker paint and unit on fire! Not wanting to burn the house down, I grabbed the fire extinguisher and that was that.
I am a firefighter and respond to plenty of grill fires each year. I make sure to clean my unit, not overfill the wood, check the unit for leaks, and take general care. I contacted Masterbuilt who has already had one unit recalled, and submitted a CPSC complaint after being ignored by support. After a few weeks they send me a one sentence reply of "We've forwarded this to management." Another week or so and I get a phone call of them being apathetic and offer me a replacement of the same unit. No, I don't want another poorly designed unit! I chop it up to them not wanting to include a $2 extra chip tray that does not have vents on the bottom for charcoal. It seems most chip trays are 6-8" off the burner where this one had direct flame contact.
Luckily Home Depot was cool. They took the unit back, gave me $100 off a new smoker, and replaced the fire extinguisher.
I've only used the Dyna-Glo smoker a few times, but it seems to be doing alright. I'm not a big fan of my Dyna-Glo grill, but so far so good. When I move onto some property I'm hoping to move to an offset smoker, but until then propane will have to do.
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