Hi, Those are fairly easy questions to answer. The connectors that burn up or corrode are not rated for high heat First you need to know what size your element is . Right off hand I think it is a 1200 watt element. the formula for wire sizing is watts divided by the voltage equals amps. .1200 watts divided by 120 volts equals 10 amps . When I rewired my MES 30 I used 14 AGW wire mostly because that is what I had. When I went looking for high temp wire for the element to the temp (snap ) swtich. The overheat protection switch all I could find was AGW12 The female 1/4' connectors that slide onto the element must be high temp and sized for your wire size. There is a break in sizing between 16 AGW and 14-12AGW.The connectors for 16AGW won't fit 14 or 12 AGW. You will not find what you need at a big box store. You need to go to a appliance repair shop or in my case a Ace hardware store sell a lot of elements for every thing from dryers to stoves. They had what I needed. The wire was 3.99 per foot for 3 strands of stove wire. The old stove wire had a fiberglass cover on the out side. The new has the fiberglass covering with a silicone sheeth over it . I bought 2 feet of wire and got 3 2 foot pieces. The connectors will be plain s/s .DON'T use any connector with a plastic insulator on it . It is not rated for the smoker temps of 150c.
Yes, The rewire would go well with AGW12 high heat wire.You must use the high heat 1/4 inch connectors.They will run you .50 each at least that's what I paid. The AGW 12 is a little overkill but the nec code 311 at some point says it is OK to use larger wire. You want your splice to be a good one and if you use a but splice or what ever you use it is for high heat. High heat is usually anything over 70c then it goes to another level some wears around 105 we are working with a box temp of near 150c or about 300 degrees. I don't know what the temp is at the element. Here is a link to a re wire tread that Texacajun did. It is good stuff you should look at it..
