Leaking Masterbuilt

On my old MES40, greasy moisture would collect and run down the inside of the door.  If the gasket seal around the bottom of the door isn't water tight, it's gonna leak.  This was the case with mine...it always leaked just a little, although it didn't have much effect on the performance of the smoker.  Only 2 solutions that come to my mind:  either improve/replace the gasket for a better seal, or place something under your door to catch the leak so it doesn't stain your floor.  I always placed an old shop towel under the front feet of the smoker  Gravity might also help a little, by putting a slight backward tilt on the smoker so that most of the condensation runs toward the drain hole in the back, instead of out the bottom of the door.

Hope that helps...

Red

pudge said:

 
I got a MES 30 " Sportsman Elite for Christmas and I love it except it leaks out the bottom of the door and stains the floor underneath it. Can anyone give me some advice on how to correct this? 

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Are you putting water in the water pan? When I first started smoking with my MES 40 I did and had the same problem as you are having. When I stopped using water in the pan and filled it with play sand and covered the sand with foil the problem stopped, with no adverse effect on the product coming out of the smoker. Also always keep your top vent 100% open.

Keep Smokin!!!!

Wolf

pudge said:

 
I got a MES 30 " Sportsman Elite for Christmas and I love it except it leaks out the bottom of the door and stains the floor underneath it. Can anyone give me some advice on how to correct this? 

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Which Generation MES do you have?

I never had that trouble with my Gen #1 (5 years), but with my Gen 2.5 the inside of the door glass builds up moisture like crazy. Then it runs down & eventually out the bottom. I'm still experimenting, but Rain-X seems to stop the moisture from forming on the inside of the glass.

Bear

I second the recommendation of putting a drip tray under the unit to catch the moisture leaking out of the front door. Also, I too have started leaving the water tray empty for most smoking. The MES smoker is very tight, and the moisture exuded from the meat will increase the internal humidity to the point where the water from the tray can't increase the humidity any further (100% is as far she can go), and the excess has to go somewhere, so it condenses on the coldest point, which is the front door, and runs down the inside of that door to the bottom, where it leaks out. The only time you might want to add water is for something that contains no moisture of its own (like nuts). According to some things I have read, moisture is important to get the smoke to adhere to the food, so you do need moisture: you just don't need more than the hot air in the smoker can hold.

I've cleaned the gaskets and the frame to make sure the seal is as tight as possible, but that gasket material really isn't the right stuff to stop water; it is really only there to keep the smoke from escaping.

Here is a video on using the Masterbuilt (probably the same model you have) and I've queued it up to the point where the woman demonstrates putting aluminum foil under the front of the unit. On mine, the water actually finds its way down to one of the feet and then to the floor, so I would recommend putting the foil completely under both feet (she only puts it under the door), and fold up the edges to contain the drips. Putting it under the feet also keeps it from blowing away.

Click on this link to hear someone talking about the problem:

Putting Foil Under the MES To Catch Drips

If you like "Alaska Granny" (the woman in this video -- I don't know her at all), here is a link to all of her MES smoker videos:

Alaska Granny's Smoker Videos

BTW, I just played a little of that video and she recommends soaking the chips. I think most people in this forum (including me) would recommend that you do NOT soak your wood chips.