MES 30 Coming up to Temperature

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BandCollector

Master of the Pit
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Smoked some ATB's yesterday and it took "forever" for my MES 30 Digital (1st generation) Smoker to come up to the 225 degree temperature that I had set. 

The outside temperature was 32 degrees and I was not using an extension cord.

The temperature just crept up one degree at a time taking  almost two hours for the set temperature (of 225) to reach 220.

Is this normal under these conditions and have others experienced the same thing with this smoker?

Thanks,  John
 
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Depending on the model some of the masterbuilts can take quite a bit of time to get up to temp if windy and cold. And the un-insulated ones sometimes are almost impossible to cook with in winter with a heavy meat load. Its one of the reasons masterbuilt increased the wattage for the elements in the gen 2 models. Try to protect it from the wind if you can. That goes a long way.
 
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Depending on the model some of the masterbuilts can take quite a bit of time to get up to temp if windy and cold. And the un-insulated ones sometimes are almost impossible to cook with in winter with a heavy meat load. Its one of the reasons masterbuilt increased the wattage for the elements in the gen 2 models. Try to protect it from the wind if you can. That goes a long way.
What confused me was that there was little to no wind that day so I expected the unit to come up to temp with no issues...Now I am beginning to worry!

Thanks,  John
 
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 Did you preheat with the vent closed? I always preheat to 275 first, then I open the vent and put in the meat, and adjust the temp to cooking temp. That way you get some extra heat in the begining also.

But I would guess noting the OTBS, that you know how it normally operates or should operate anyway.
 
 
What confused me was that there was little to no wind that day so I expected the unit to come up to temp with no issues...Now I am beginning to worry!

Thanks,  John
I always worry when firing up my mes.

I do what foam says.  Close the vent until up to temp but I never use my mes past 150.
 
Three guesses..... heating element itself is about to go south, connection between element and wires close to doing the same or the controller is malfunctioning? OK, two more....door seal or latch?
 
 
 Did you preheat with the vent closed? I always preheat to 275 first, then I open the vent and put in the meat, and adjust the temp to cooking temp. That way you get some extra heat in the begining also.

But I would guess noting the OTBS, that you know how it normally operates or should operate anyway.
Thanks Foamheart,

This MES is new and I am still learning about its finer stubborn points...I will try closing the vent and firing it up before setting the target temp and see what happens.  I have never run into this before so I thought I would throw it out to the general membership.   Thanks again guys.

Thanks again Foam,  John
 
 
 Did you preheat with the vent closed? I always preheat to 275 first, then I open the vent and put in the meat, and adjust the temp to cooking temp. That way you get some extra heat in the begining also.

But I would guess noting the OTBS, that you know how it normally operates or should operate anyway.
Just an update...I smoked some ATBs today and used Foamheart's suggestions which solved my original problem.

I was using a smokestack on my MES and discovered that it was creating the issue with the interior temperature taking "forever" to come up to the target temp.

1.  Preheated smoker at 275 degrees with vent completely closed.

2.  Removed the smokestack.

3.  Used my Mailbox Mod. and pellet smoker to create the smoke for the ATBs.

4.  Adjusted the vent to 1/4 open which created enough draft for the pellets to burn properly.

5.  Set temp. to 225 and it came up right away after I closed the door with the ATBs  nestled in.

All is well...Thanks again Foamheart...You are the greatest!

Merry Christmas everyone!
 
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Glad Foamheart could help you. I didn't have an answer because I never use my MES 30 Gen 1 in cold weather since I don't like futzing around outside in cold weather. I also don't use any mods since I my smoker with the AMNPS performs well without them. I always smoke with the top vent wide open.
 
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