30" MES burned up my fault

[jike]

All

Watch the air flow through the MES 30". I thought I could catch drippings by using aluminum foil on the bottom rack, instead the unit now smells like burnt plastic. After a tear down the foam has cooked pretty good inside. Salvaged some parts and went to lowes and got the 40". I have nothing bad to say about MES worked file for 5 years. I destroyed it.

 

[daveomak]

PICTURES.......   please...

 

[jike]

The 1st pic is of the inside walls. You can see the blacked interior just below the lowest rack which I covered in foil.

20160119_161216.jpg

• jike
• Jan 20, 2016

Side interior wall.

20160119_161213.jpg

• jike
• Jan 20, 2016

After cleaning the smoker it still smelled of burnt plastic so I drilled the rivets out of the back and bottom. The foam showed heavy signs of over heating.

20160119_161230.jpg

• jike
• Jan 20, 2016

Back of unit bottom.

20160119_161329.jpg

• jike
• Jan 20, 2016

Bottom of smoker

20160119_161150.jpg

• jike
• Jan 20, 2016

Back of unit.

I was smoking one of the recipes from the Somking Meat Web site for bacon wraper jalapeños which were also ruined. Made a second batch because the first batch was so good and thought the foil would keep it clean. Smoker was set for 250 degrees for about 3 or 4 hours.

After reading the Dont's from the manual it says that if you foil the rack it can cause severe damage.

I will never foil the rack again or use large solid sheet pans.

Also have already set up my new 40"MES 1200 watt. Did not get a glass door or the remote but used them very little with my 30". I thick this 40" will do just as good as my old 30". Will set up to season this weekend and get ready for use.

 

[SmokinAl]

I was going to say, it says never foil the racks. But I see you found that info.

Good news is I think you will like the added space the 40 has!

Al

 

[daveomak]

You know what caused it.....    but I will tell others....

Do not block the smoker between the heating elements and the temp controller sensors...   overheating will result because the sensors can NOT read the temperature inside the smoke....

Seems simple....  but folks try and solve a drip problem without thinking of the side effects...

The same thing has happened when folks cover the heating element area with a tile to try and get more even heat distribution...  heat builds up below the tile and can't escape... 

Maybe you can clean out all the burnt stuff, pack in fiberglass insulation and make a cold smoker out of it...   or use a PID and rebuild it...