Temperature disagreement

[CurtW]

I’m doing the pre-season on my new MES40 and I’m getting the temperature disagreement shown below. Is this normal?

 

[R Blum]

Mes's are known for their inaccurate temperature probes. If your other probe was calibrated using boiling water I would trust that not the MES probe.

 

[normanaj]

Totally normal for the MES.

 

[tallbm]

I’m doing the pre-season on my new MES40 and I’m getting the temperature disagreement shown below. Is this normal?

View attachment 411377

If you boiling water tested your wireless thermometer probes for accurracy and you are getting a 320F temp then I congratulate you! lol

Many many many times the MES seems to fail to hit 275F much less go over it.
Also where is your probe in conjunction to where the MES smoker probe is? If yours is like on the bottom rack and the MES smoker probe is between the bottom and 3rd from bottom rack then you are definitely reading the hotter temp before it can work it's way up to the MES smoker probe.
Now even if you put the probes right next to each other chances are that you still wouldn't get an identical reading but it may show you are closer in the ball park.

Along the bottom rack of my heavily modded MES the hot side (back left) is usually like 15F degrees (or more) hotter than the cool side (front right) of the same rack and the middle of the same rack is between those two temps. It is wise to take a bunch of measurements until you learn how your smoker is heating and behaving and where the hot vs cold spots/sides are :)

 

[jcam222]

Most smokers built in thermometers are notoriously inaccurate. Make sure your remote one is calibrated and trust it

 

[SmokinAl]

All of the above!!
Al

 

[Murray]

Watch that high temperature, I have read on this forum that MES ‘s aren’t built to handle temperatures over 300F for any length of time.

 

[smokerjim]

yeah pretty normal,

Watch that high temperature, I have read on this forum that MES ‘s aren’t built to handle temperatures over 300F for any length of time.

yeah I think but could be wrong that they have a automatic shutoff if they reach a certain high temp so they don't get damaged. again i could be wrong about this.

 

[uncle eddie]

FWIW - I have had really good luck with the meat probes that were supplied by MES. At my office we have a soil/rock testing laboratory and EVERYTHING is calibrated. So I check all of the MES temperature sensors against one of our calibrated thermometers. The meat probes have usually been within a degree or two in most cases....but I think I must be the exception because I see a lot of complaints about this.

HOWEVER - the temperature sensor in the cook-chamber of my old MES40 was all over the place. Unreliable at any temperature above 235F.

HOWEVER #2 - My new MES40 has been great though, within about 5 degrees of my calibrated thermometers. (There is some temperature drift, when the heating element turns off, it is still hot as heck and will warm the box up a few more degrees above the set temp. It turns back on a few degrees below the set temp.)

LASTLY - MES Customer support is pretty darned good. Call them up. Tell them the issue. They will send you some easy to change parts in most cases.

 

[Bearcarver]

Some of that is just the initial coasting after start-up.
If it stays that high, 320° is about as high as you want to allow it to go. Any higher than that can burn out your insulation & could also be dangerous.
I would try to keep it below 300°, even if you have to set it at 255° to get that.

Bear

 

[normanaj]

The highest temp my MES has achieved was 311.

 

[Steve H]

Where is your thermometer in relation to the thermocouple in the smoker?

 

[Bearcarver]

The highest temp my MES has achieved was 311.

311° shouldn't be a problem.
I had one got too hot, at 345°---I heard it making a crackling/crinkling noise.
I cut the heat & listened close, inside the walls.
I stopped hearing it at 300°--310°. Never spiked higher than 320° again & never heard it again.

Bear

 

[CurtW]

Where is your thermometer in relation to the thermocouple in the smoker?

I had one on the center grate on the same level as the thermocouple and one on the grate below that.