New masterbuilt. Slow warmup and fluctuating temps

[Sholo]

Hi everyone! Happy 4th of July!
I just picked up a 30inch masterbuilt electric smoker today and after putting it together I tried to season it per manufacturers instructions.

Set temp to 275 (max)
Set time to 3 hours.
After 2hours and 15 minutes add wood.

Here is what happened:
Smoker inched upwards in temp but even as 3 hours expired smoker never reached 275. Wood didn't smoke much either. After 3 hours I set temp again for 275 and time for 3 hours and tried again. Temp began at 230 and after about 15 minutes the unit was at about 290. Now it's smoking. From here I'm checking every 10-15 minutes and Temps are fluctuating from 290 to 255 and everything in between. Probe temp also shows difference between 10-20 degrees from unit temp even though the probe isn't inserted into anything.

So my question is, is this normal?

 

[Braz]

What you are experiencing is fairly normal for MES smokers. The internal thermometers are often off by many degrees, and because of the heat cycle method used they will tend to overshoot the heat setting and then drop well below the setting before heating up again. There are many mods, some simple, some a little more complicated, that will turn it into a fine smoker.
Check out "Electric Smokers" section of the Forum for gobs of info on MES smokers.
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forums/electric-smokers.110/