MES 40 not heating.

[sdkid]

Fired this up for a smoke the other night. Started to heat then quit and 30-40 minutes I guess. The heating light is on but no heat. I turned it off then started over but no help. Where do I start?

 

[chopsaw]

I don't have a 40 , but the 30 has an access panel on the back . It covers the wires that go to the heating element . UNPLUG the smoker , remove the cover and see if the wires are burnt in two at the connector . You might have the peel back the insulation .

 

[smokerjim]

could be anything coil, wires. i'm sure some of the pro's will be around to help.

 

[smokinq13]

Sounds like a element burn out... i had mine do the same exact thing, heat light on but no heat... i ended up getting a new pellet smoker but i still wanna fix my mes30, just havent got around to it

 

[daveomak]

Wiggle the wires that are connected to the heating element... I'm sure you will find the connectors are burned off... Clean the wires, stripe some off of the end... clean the ends of the element with sandpaper... tin the element ends, tin the wire ends.. Solder the wires to the element ends... NOTE... you can slip some shrink tube over the wires before soldering... then shrink....
The ends of the element do NOT get hot.. Heating starts several inches along the element as the resistance increases... Your connection will be fine.....

 

[sdkid]

Thanks for the help. Burned off at the element. Cleaned up, reconnected and working great now.

 

[smokerjim]

glad it was an easy fix, now get back to smoking!!

 

[sdkid]

I have been for a few days

 

[tallbm]

Nice find and fix. The connectors that Masterbuilt uses are crap. The next likely connector spot to fail would be at the safety rollout limit switch. So if it does the same thing then check your existing connections at the heating element and then move on to checking safety rollout limit switch.
After that the next likely piece failing is the controller unit up top. Should that go or the circuit board in the bottom of the MES go out then let us know and we can talk to you about a rewire and using PID controller... which would actually make a superior unit to what you have now :)

Again great job and keep on smokin!