MES 30 was running at 300F, now stuck at 200F

[Omnivore]

Hi all,

I currently have a rack of St. Louis ribs cut in half on the top rack, a 6 pound pork butt on the second rack, an empty drip pan on the 3rd rack, and an amnps on the bottom rack. I set the temp for 275 and for the first few hours both Inkbird thermometers were reading around 300F (with meat in the smoker). I was totally good with that. Now nothing has changed except that no matter where I've placed the thermometers, they are reading around 200F. The door hasn't been opened for hours.

This morning I ran the smoker empty at 275F for a while before the meats went in. Both thermometers (which were recently checked in boiling water) read 285F. Any ideas why the MES is running at a solid 200F now? I'm guessing it's time to call Masterbuilt...

 

[smokerjim]

did you try shutting it off and turning it back on and resetting temp. sometimes mine goes a little squirrely and this fixes it, as for what causes it maybe someone with more experience will chime in.

 

[Omnivore]

did you try shutting it off and turning it back on and resetting temp. sometimes mine goes a little squirrely and this fixes it, as for what causes it maybe someone with more experience will chime in.

I forgot to mention that I did turn it off and reset the temp since that worked last time it went wonky. Unfortunately that didn't help this time. Thanks for reminding me to add that.

 

[jcam222]

Have you double checked the Inkbirds to insure they arent malfunctioning? Unlikely but never hurts to rule out all variables.

 

[smokerjim]

do you have a voltage meter you can check your outlet with so you can rule that out.

 

[Omnivore]

I just checked on one the ambient thermometers in boiling water and it got to 208F so it's a little off but not by much. Although I did find it kind of weird that it took 30-45 seconds to hit 208. I also just restarted the smoker for the second time.

Husband has a voltage meter with him at work so we'll test that once he gets home. Maybe it's just a crappy extension cord. Thanks for the idea, Smokerjim.

 

[smokerjim]

if you didn't finish your smoking you can always finish it in the oven, they should have plenty of smoke by now

 

[fivetricks]

The problem is that the MES is now loaded with cool meats. The mes element heats dead air just wonderfully, but the more you put into it, the lower them temp goes. That's always been my experience anyways.

 

[smokerjim]

I agree with fivetricks when you first put the meat in it may have problems getting up to temp, but the meat has been in there for hours, i think it should have no problem getting up to temp now.

 

[tallbm]

I just checked on one the ambient thermometers in boiling water and it got to 208F so it's a little off but not by much. Although I did find it kind of weird that it took 30-45 seconds to hit 208. I also just restarted the smoker for the second time.

Husband has a voltage meter with him at work so we'll test that once he gets home. Maybe it's just a crappy extension cord. Thanks for the idea, Smokerjim.

Your extension cord could be an issue. I've seen this happen before.
A 12/3 AWG cord is only good for 50 feet at supplying the power that your MES would pull (if I remember correctly). If you are using something like a 100ft (or longer) 16/3 or 18/3 AWG cord you may have problems and it would be wise to switch to a shorter more powerful extension cord so the longer weaker one doesn't burn up on you.

Just something to consider if you are really questioning the cord as the issue.

 

[Omnivore]

Still stumped, I unplugged the MES one more time. Ambient temps spiked to 300 and then settled back in to a solid 230. This is all while the temp was supposed to be set to 275. I finally got tired of trying to make sense of everything and pulled the ribs and threw the pulled pork in the oven. Both were just future dinners for the week so no big deal. Going to check the voltage tomorrow morning and see if it's a cord issue. Thanks everyone for the input. Also, here's a pic of the no-wrap ribs - they were stellar despite the hiccups. Someone recommended using turbinado sugar in the rub and I really loved the texture it added.

 

[tallbm]

Glad to see your food came out great!
Another thing that could be happening is that the crappy MES electrical connectors are corroding and coming loose someone in your MES. The 2 common spots are at the heating element and at the safety rollout limit switch in the back.

If you have a newer model MES then there should be access panels to both.
These would be good hi-temp stainless steel replacements for those crappy connectors:

I would first take a look at your extension cord if it is one you haven't been using before. A 12/3 AWG no longer than 50 feet would be the best way to go.
If you look at what is printed on your cord it will tell you what it is and how long it is usually. The higher the 1st number (18 in this case) the weaker it is. The 2nd number (2 in this case) tells you how many wires/prongs this cord uses 2 vs 3 also here is a chart to understand how much power your cord can effectively handle.

The 1200 watt MES40 pulls 10 amps. With electricity it is wise to never assume you can match the max so you want cord that handles 13-15 amps for the extra coverage to ensure you are actually covering the 10 amps the MES40 pulls... which it may actually pull a little more in some cases who knows so always have cushion :)

I hope this info helps :)

 

[smokerjim]

your ribs look great, hope you get your smoker straightened out, let us know what you find it may help someone down the road.

 

[dr k]

Maybe the drip pan on the third rack depending on size is an issue. I've put a drip pan on the bottom rack but if its a large pan and not the stock water pan on the third rack maybe that's an issue since the pan maybe above the controller sensor on the back wall. Top rack is my hottest rack, then third rack, then second with drip pan on bottom rack. How did the stock mes set up heat with water pan below the bottom rack?

 

[Omnivore]

Hey guys thanks for all the great info to work with. We used a voltage meter and no red flags. Husband is not convinced and is going to snag another one from work to double check.

In the mean time while I wait on another voltage meter I tested ALL the inkbird probes in boiling water to make sure that's not the issue. I'm in the process of cleaning the sensor inside the smoker since that looks pretty dirty. I'm also going to do a dry run with the full drip pan on the 3rd rack again to see if that's blocking the sensor. Then it's onto checking the MES electrical connectors. I really hope it's something I'm doing wrong because I've only done a handful of cooks on this thing and take great care of it, so it should not be on the fritz already.

I REALLY appreciate you guys taking the time to troubleshoot this with me. I'll keep you all posted when I figure out what's going on.

 

[tallbm]

Hey guys thanks for all the great info to work with. We used a voltage meter and no red flags. Husband is not convinced and is going to snag another one from work to double check.

In the mean time while I wait on another voltage meter I tested ALL the inkbird probes in boiling water to make sure that's not the issue. I'm in the process of cleaning the sensor inside the smoker since that looks pretty dirty. I'm also going to do a dry run with the full drip pan on the 3rd rack again to see if that's blocking the sensor. Then it's onto checking the MES electrical connectors. I really hope it's something I'm doing wrong because I've only done a handful of cooks on this thing and take great care of it, so it should not be on the fritz already.

I REALLY appreciate you guys taking the time to troubleshoot this with me. I'll keep you all posted when I figure out what's going on.

So far it sounds like you are doing all the right things. People have reported the electrical connectors crapping out in short periods of time like your case but there is no telling until a check is done.

I KNOW that having a bunch of meat or a pan or meat in a pan or any combo of that, can greatly restrict airflow AWAY from the smoker probes or other probes you setup so that is a real issue scenario.
Just because of this scenario I run probes on left back, center/center (underneath), and front right on the main rack I am smoking on. This gives me temp across the rack so that if a pan or a large hunk of meat is blocking airflow to one probe I know what is happening on the other areas of the rack.
This lets me know that it's a 1 probe issue and I follow what the other probes are telling me since they are no having the heat/airflow blocked.

I hope this info helps as well :)
In that case though the MES

 

[Bearcarver]

I see you've had a lot of suggestions & help already, so I'll just give you my 2 cents.
Yes, it could be an extension cord problem.
And yes it could be that you have a pan on a rack, or foil that is too big, and isn't allowing heat to get by any up through the smoker.

One other thing---If setting at 275° gives you 300°, that's OK for a short time, but I wouldn't let it there long. If you're getting an actual 300° Smoker temp when you're set at 275°, I would turn the setting back to 250° to get the actual Temp to 275°.

Bear

 

[Omnivore]

I see you've had a lot of suggestions & help already, so I'll just give you my 2 cents.
Yes, it could be an extension cord problem.
And yes it could be that you have a pan on a rack, or foil that is too big, and isn't allowing heat to get by any up through the smoker.

One other thing---If setting at 275° gives you 300°, that's OK for a short time, but I wouldn't let it there long. If you're getting an actual 300° Smoker temp when you're set at 275°, I would turn the setting back to 250° to get the actual Temp to 275°.

Bear

Thanks for the heads up on not letting it sit at 300F for too long. I'm guessing it's probably not great for the element.

So it turns out that the extension cord was not the issue. When I used the drip pan during the tests, I could see the temps take a plunge. It looks like I'm going to skip a drip pan and go back to tenting a little foil over the amnps until I do the mailbox mod

 

[Bearcarver]

Thanks for the heads up on not letting it sit at 300F for too long. I'm guessing it's probably not great for the element.

So it turns out that the extension cord was not the issue. When I used the drip pan during the tests, I could see the temps take a plunge. It looks like I'm going to skip a drip pan and go back to tenting a little foil over the amnps until I do the mailbox mod

All you need is something the same size as the AMNPS:
The pic below is of my old Gen #1 MES, which is why it has the heat deflector plate on the right.
The thing on the left is all I use to protect the AMNPS. It is a 9" X 12" foil pan cut in half (That gives me 2), and I turn it upside down & put it above the AMNPS, not too close to the AMNPS. I use it for a long time, until it gets too ugly.

 

[Bearcarver]

BTW: I did that one time.
I had Two 9" X 12" pans on the same rack, with Thighs in them.
There wasn't enough free space around the pans, so the heat below the pans was 250°, which is what my setting was. But the heat above was under 200°, because the heat couldn't get through, and the sensor was below the blockage, causing the element to shut off at the 250° that was below the blockage.

I moved one of the Pans to another level, and all was fine.

Bear