Newbie....Confused w/ MES 140S

[Backlash75]

Good afternoon, I recently bought a MES 140S from Academy for $199. I set it up and seasoned it just as the manual says. Everything operated correctly. The next day I was going to smoke two 8-9lb boston butts. The only thing different than the test/seasoning day is that I covered the bottom drip pan w/ aluminum foil and poked a hole in foil over the drip hole, added my maverick temp probes through the vent hole, added one alum pan on rack 1 from bottom to catch drippings, another alum pan on rack 2 from the bottom to catch drippings, 2 boston butts on rack 3 above corresponding drips pans and left rack 4 out. Set the temp for 260 and time for 12 hours (assuming I only needed about 9-10 hours). The temp climbed to 260 and kept climbing and maxed out at 300. After a few min it started beeping and had a EAA1 code. I reset everything 3 additional times and same results, max out at 300 with beeping and EAA1 code. I turned off my Maverick temp probe thinking the wireless signal might be interfering with the wireless signal on the smoker itself. Reset everything and same result, 300 max temp with beeping and EAA1 code. So I pulled the alum foil off the drip pan, since it was not on the drip pan during original test/seasoning just trying to get back to something that worked. And wallah, everything started working like it's supposed to. Thermostat turned on/off either side of 260 like it was supposed to with no more 300 temp max, beeping or error codes. Why did it do this? It appears that the alum foil on the drip pan caused this but it doesn't make sense to me as to why. It acted like the alum foil on the drip pan at the bottom of the cabinet interfered with the thermostat settings somehow. Thanks for the help.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

The only thing I can see is the aluminum foil was some how touching a sensor..but that doesn't explain it climbing to 300f.

I'd run it with out the aluminum foil and see what happens. I just contacted masterbuilt today because my smoker developed issues and they were very quick to help. So at least if some thing is wrong wrong, they'll help you in no time.

 

[Backlash75]

I did remove the foil from the drip pan and it worked fine. For 10 hours it cycled w/ the t-stat as it smoked the meat. I looked under the burner and on the bottom of the cabinet and I didn't see anything. A guy at work said it might be pulling air in through the drain tube and my foil may have limited that air induction. Which still doesn't make sense that the t-stat did not cut off the element at 260.

 

[tallbm]

Hi there and welcome!

That is weird. Any chance the foil somehow bounced heat right at the sensors?
I saw a TV show once where guy used a mylar blanket as a back stop of where they were sitting/laying and the fire was away from them and the heat/radiation that went into their area was then reflected back on to them and keeping them very very warm.

Now I don't know if that is a real thing or just TV bullS, but if somehow that caused the heat to flow at the sensors then that may be the case. I DO KNOW that when you load a smoker the heat and air flow can be drastically changed to where a temp probe doesn't get hot air circulated well at it and reads way low. I would think the same can hold true for the opposite.

Finally I thought there may have been reports of people using the BlueTooth function on their smokers and experienceing behavior of overheating and such. The MES bluetooth stuff is reported to be always and very very problematic. The Bluetooth guys just avoid using that feature and use the regular controls and all works fine. It's sad Masterbuilt has let that feature be broken and problematic for so long.

Just keep an eye on things and try things out. I hope this info helps!

 

[chopsaw]

Did you have to install the control box on the smoker ? If so UNPLUG the smoker , remove the controler , and make sure everything is plugged in correctly . Remove the connectors and make sure a pin did not get bent .
If you do this Unplug the smoker from the power source first .

 

[dr k]

I foil everything from drips and capped the back rear drain on my Gen 1 40 and don't poke a hole in the bottom pan foil. That way all air comes in the mailbox mod past the pellets.

 

[Backlash75]

Did you have to install the control box on the smoker ? If so UNPLUG the smoker , remove the controler , and make sure everything is plugged in correctly . Remove the connectors and make sure a pin did not get bent .
If you do this Unplug the smoker from the power source first .

Yes, sorry, I left that part out. I did unplug and remove and re-install the control box. Everything looked fine, it was securely connected with no bent pins. Same 300 max/beeping/EAA1 code after re-installing. I did this after I googled EAA1 and saw where that code is related to a sub 40deg t-stat upon startup and the element not coming on, not a max temp non shut off but i tried it anyway. I could not find a list anywhere that detailed out what exactly a EAA1 error code was.

 

[chopsaw]

Yeah , don't be confused by that . People are listing the wrong error code . I wanted you to make sure that a connector didn't fall out / or a pin got bent . I think that would take the thermostat out of the circuit .

 

[Backlash75]

Gotcha. After I removed the foil on the drip pan, it worked like a champ. Like it's supposed to. I'm gonna troubleshoot more this weekend and see if I can figure it out.
I wonder if the temp sensor can heat up too quickly for the t-stat to operate? Like if the t-stat needs a XX time from when it comes on to when it shuts off. If the temp sensor heats up to 300 faster than what the t-stat can operate after coming on then the safety program kicks in to cut element off.
But, now that I think about it, I may have had one of my alum pans touching the temp sensor. It may have been that instead of the foil on the drip pan. Or a combination.

 

[chopsaw]

I just looked at the manual . Says if error code is displayed it's related to temp senor malfunction . I would call them . Don't take a chance on a fire .

 

[fivetricks]

Yeah, sounds like a thermostat error. I wonder if it's the snap disc that's shutting the unit down and not the controller or the thermostat.

Either way. Call MB and go through the process w them