MES 30 wont heat

[dog1234]

I have a MES 30. It probably about 5 years old. I have changed the element about a year ago. Tried smoking a chicken and it heated up and then next i me I went to check on it the temp was dropping.

The control panel has green and red lighting light and seem to be funciting normal. I checked the elegant and all connections look good. I checked for electricity with volt meter and no electricity at terminals.

Does anyone know what wrong with it?

 

[jp61]

You need to be more specific and post some pics if you can.

Checked for electricity where, when?

 

[tallbm]

I have a MES 30. It probably about 5 years old. I have changed the element about a year ago. Tried smoking a chicken and it heated up and then next i me I went to check on it the temp was dropping.

The control panel has green and red lighting light and seem to be funciting normal. I checked the elegant and all connections look good. I checked for electricity with volt meter and no electricity at terminals.

Does anyone know what wrong with it?

My guess is that another area of the electrical system is failing. The next most common failure point is with the connectors at the safety roll out limit switch. The connectors will corrode or the switch itself can/will burn up.

The next areas would be with the circuit board at the bottom of the smoker.

Check the rollout limit switch and then the lower circuit board. You seem to have a multimeter so you can use the continuity setting to see where in the wiring/circuitry that things are breaking.

Let me know if this makes sense :)

 

[smokeindaville]

I went to smoke some ribs today and my MES30 isn't heating. Controls all look like it is working but element doesn't heat up. Fortunately I have a portable smoker too. Not as good at maintaining the temp in it and won't hold all of the ribs but at least I have something. I'll check what is recommended here and see if I can find what has gone wrong.

I'm doing a 3-2-1 version for the ribs. Need to look around and see what temp I should look for to know they are done.

 

[tallbm]

I went to smoke some ribs today and my MES30 isn't heating. Controls all look like it is working but element doesn't heat up. Fortunately I have a portable smoker too. Not as good at maintaining the temp in it and won't hold all of the ribs but at least I have something. I'll check what is recommended here and see if I can find what has gone wrong.

I'm doing a 3-2-1 version for the ribs. Need to look around and see what temp I should look for to know they are done.

Hi there and welcome!

My guess is that one of the electrical connections is corroded at either the heating element or rollout limit switch.
You may want to start a new thread and start getting the back off the MES if it doesn't have a panel for the rollout limit switch in addition to the heating element and taking pics :)

 

[smokeindaville]

Hi there and welcome!

My guess is that one of the electrical connections is corroded at either the heating element or rollout limit switch.
You may want to start a new thread and start getting the back off the MES if it doesn't have a panel for the rollout limit switch in addition to the heating element and taking pics :)

Yeah just got around to opening the back 2 panels. One of the contacts going to the heating coil is corroded. Not a very good system since I've only had it a little over a year and store it inside my garage. Can't imagine how quickly it would have gone bad outside.

I'll crimp on a new terminal and see if that fixes it.

 

[tallbm]

Yeah just got around to opening the back 2 panels. One of the contacts going to the heating coil is corroded. Not a very good system since I've only had it a little over a year and store it inside my garage. Can't imagine how quickly it would have gone bad outside.

I'll crimp on a new terminal and see if that fixes it.

If you use hi temp connectors you may likely never have to worry about this problem again.

The supco T1113

or
supco t1111

should work well.

You may as well do this to both connectors :)

 

[smokeindaville]

If you use hi temp connectors you may likely never have to worry about this problem again.

The supco T1113

or
supco t1111

should work well.

You may as well do this to both connectors :)

Good to know, thanks. Just ordered the T1111 since I wasn't sure my crimper could do the other style. I'll replace them when they come in but for now I can at least use it again.

 

[tallbm]

Good to know, thanks. Just ordered the T1111 since I wasn't sure my crimper could do the other style. I'll replace them when they come in but for now I can at least use it again.

Sounds good.
Other than the controller simply misbehaving or dying you are running into the other major area where MES breaks down. The controller and the wire connectors (do some searching and you will see what I mean).

You will now be able to keep your MES up and running for a while unless the controller dies on you. In that case there are some options as well and you will continue to rock and roll with it for a looooong time :)