MES 40 w/ BT mods

[AEBTC]

I have been lurking for a while, thought I would share what I did to my MES40. I had the exact model for 3 months and the internal probe crapped out. Sam's club replaced the unit for me no questions asked.

I removed the chip tray, chip tube, element cover, pretty much everything but the element itself. I also flipped the element so it was centered in the smoker, should make for more even heat distribution. I had to drill new holes for the bracket, but it wasnt too bad. Lastly, I hacked the crap out of the old chip tube and turned it in to a damper of sorts. I think I will remove it all together and just cut a couple pieces of aluminum and attach to existing screws .

More updates to come .

 

[AEBTC]

Forgot to mention, the damper is for my AMNPS, which is probably the best purchase I have made all year.

 

[tallbm]

Hi there and welcome!

Looks like you are mod'ing away. I like :)

 

[Bearcarver]

Somebody else flipped the element awhile back.
Makes perfect sense to me, getting the Heat source over to the center.
Let us know how it works for you.

Thanks,
Bear

 

[vgene]

Nice post AE.
Are you not covering the element for smoking/cooking?
I’m setting a similar unit up soon.

 

[dr k]

Nice post AE.
Are you not covering the element for smoking/cooking?
I’m setting a similar unit up soon.

A pan on the bottom rack with or without a false bottom against the back wall completely covers the element and just slide left or right to even out heat depending the top side your vent is on. On the gen 1 40 the element mounting bracket is different. I cut the bracket in half length wise with a dremel so the bracket on the legs is symmetrical and flipped the element using the same holes and screwed the other half back on so everything fits like normal (may have to enlage pic.)

My element bracket is just flat not angle with the center hole between the element legs for the ground wire. I just used a longer bolt and a nut inside the back element access to secure the element.

 

[AEBTC]

Nice post AE.
Are you not covering the element for smoking/cooking?
I’m setting a similar unit up soon.

I always keep a tray w or w/o water on the bottom rack, right over the element. I put the AMNPS tray on the bottom, to the right of the element. I also dremeled out the existing chip tube handle so that I can adjust the airflow.

 

[tallbm]

Nice post AE.
Are you not covering the element for smoking/cooking?
I’m setting a similar unit up soon.

I have the same mod in my MES40 and I don't bother covering the element or anything.
So this means you can go with AEBTC's pan approach or no pan. It's your preference.

Now I DO use the bottom rack when I smoke most of my food. I have my PID probe attached with an alligator clip in the center of the bottom rack. I do this so my PID can have the quickest and most reliable response time to temp changes. This makes my bottom rack the most precise rack in my smoker and since I'm measuring temp at that level I kill 2 birds with 1 stone by cooking meet on that rack as well. I also run a temp probe in the back left corner of the bottom rack (hot side) and front right corner of the bottom rack (cold side). This gives me left to right, front to back temp measures across the rack so if any funny business with air/heat flow is happening due to meat or pans, I can properly increase/decrease my set temp to get a more realistic/accurate temp for the whole rack :)

 

[vgene]

Perfect. Thanks!