MES 35b wood chips do not turn to ash

[kevinator86]

Hi everyone, I have a MES 35b that I got last black friday from Lowes. I've smoked quite a few items and love it, smoked chuck roast being my favorite so far. I noticed after a couple uses that the wood chips no longer turn to ash, they turn black and stop smoking after about 30-40 minutes. I add new chips on top of those and if doesn't get much better. Any ideas on why and how to fix? I don't have the model I've read about with a metal tray in-between the box and hearing element. And the tray is very close to the element. Thanks!

 

[nmhuntr]

I have a Pit Boss. My chips never turn to ash. I figure some types will and some won’t. After mine turn black and stop smoking I empty the tray and add fresh chips. I never have worried about it. It took me by surprise at first but I just roll with it.

 

[tag0401]

Same issue with my MES. Just toss them when the turn black and keep rollin

 

[Winterrider]

Are you using high enough temps to burn them ? Use a digital thermometer to know that your chamber temp is actually what your control temp is set at. My MES 40 would not burn the chips below 225°.

 

[pa42phigh]

I’m not sure if this is your model but some of them have a bracket installed wrong update sorry I didn’t read the whole post.. I would suspect that the element has started to go bad since it burned the chips before, test with a separate thermometer and make sure it’s coming up to the correct temperature

 

[Aj33]

I had a similar issue when I was using chips.

my initial solution was to bend the chip tray so it was closer to the element, even touching it. That worked ok.

I then did a dry run where I removed the bracket the chip tray sits in and had the tray resting on the heating element. I had the tray resting in such a way that the far side of the tray (opposite side to the handle/lip) was tilted up against the loader tube. So only a small proportion of the tray was in contact with the element. Worked very well.

I have recently moved on to a pellet maze (AMNPS). Small learning curve but works perfectly for me inside the MES.