MES Rewire Simple Guide - No Back Removal Needed!!!

[pi guy]

I think this is a closer picture .
View attachment 718180
I came off the mailbox with 4" . You want the pressure inside the mailbox to be higher than the pressure of the flow / path . That's the reason for the 4" , and it's used to help start the flow of the smoke . The flow will naturally migrate from high pressure to low pressure .
Also , I used a start collar / standing collar coming off the mailbox . It has a shoulder on it , and the fingers bend on the inside and are not visible . I personally like to keep it " clean " . No fingers or tape on the outside . After the run ( horizontal ) , I necked down to 3" for the rise ( vertical ) . This causes a " choke point " of sorts and keeps the solids / condensate out of the smoker .
I have mine dialed in . No trouble with smoke flow .
View attachment 718181

WOW! Yeah that's definitely dialed in. I'll be working on this soon, thank you for the details and pics!

 

[pi guy]

Testing the Auber. This thing is amazing, you guys were right. The wifi got a little hit or miss for a bit, but it's back on track now. 2 slabs of ribs tomorrow for the *first smoke.

 

[pi guy]

One last question. If I understand correctly, it looks like I can create custom programs right? For example:
Set the smoker to 275, then when the food probe reads 160 drop the smoker temp to 180 for 4 hours. Or whatever you want?

 

[normanaj]

One last question. If I understand correctly, it looks like I can create custom programs right? For example:
Set the smoker to 275, then when the food probe reads 160 drop the smoker temp to 180 for 4 hours. Or whatever you want?

Absolutely.

 

[moussaka]

Well, it took about a year due to a million more important things going on, but I finally finished...

 

[tallbm]

Well, it took about a year due to a million more important things going on, but I finally finished... View attachment 718830

It's lookin good, how's it workin?

 

[chopsaw]

I like it . Nice job .

 

[moussaka]

It's lookin good, how's it workin?

I haven't had a chance to fire it up yet... right after I finished we had some people over and I grilled a bunch of burgers/brats. Have to eat that up before I make anything else.
The parts I needed weren't supposed to be here until the 27th so it wasn't in any of my weekend plans haha.

I did drill through a wire on the top when installing the exhaust, but it was super small. I'm guessing it was either to the controls or an internal light. Both of which I don't care about.

 

[tallbm]

I haven't had a chance to fire it up yet... right after I finished we had some people over and I grilled a bunch of burgers/brats. Have to eat that up before I make anything else.
The parts I needed weren't supposed to be here until the 27th so it wasn't in any of my weekend plans haha.

I did drill through a wire on the top when installing the exhaust, but it was super small. I'm guessing it was either to the controls or an internal light. Both of which I don't care about.

Yeah it's no issue since you've completed the rewire for it to work with a PID. You are correct the wire would be a tiny one going to the controller or slightly bigger one going to the bulb. None of that is wired up after the rewire was performed. Power is now going from the MES cord to the heating element with the high temp safety limit switch in the wiring and that is all :D

 

[moussaka]

I also don't know if there is a prescribed way to add a top exhaust, but I 'sealed' the foam insulation with a layer of high heat silicone and put foil duct tape over that. I wasn't sure if I had to do any of it, but figured it couldn't hurt.

 

[tallbm]

I also don't know if there is a prescribed way to add a top exhaust, but I 'sealed' the foam insulation with a layer of high heat silicone and put foil duct tape over that. I wasn't sure if I had to do any of it, but figured it couldn't hurt.

That's exactly what I would have done. High temp food safe RTV silicon to seal and foil flue tape!

When I have to replace any foam insulation I have removed, I replaced with high temp fiberglass fire place insulation that I just lay and push into place. It will not burn up or melt down in any way in the smoker. It is not rigid but it does the job for insulating when I've had to remove any significant amount of insulation in the past.

 

[moussaka]

One more random question... what's the highest temp these things can run at? I did replace the thermal safety switch with a ~350° one, but I'm not sure if these were actually made to run up to that temp or anything close.

 

[normanaj]

One more random question... what's the highest temp these things can run at? I did replace the thermal safety switch with a ~350° one, but I'm not sure if these were actually made to run up to that temp or anything close.

Generally speaking the design of the MES doesn't really allow for temps above 275 but with the higher limit switch you can run at say 325 for an hour or two but I wouldn't push it to much past that.