Another MES Fixed

[smokininthewind]

HI all. Thanks to the numerous other threads on this topic, I didn't panic when, mid-smoke yesterday, my MES 30 quit. I was able to finish my ribs on my trusty ol' gas Weber (they had some of the better smoke rings of my many efforts - hmmm...).

I drilled out the rivets on the back panel, unscrewed the left and right screws holding the electric burner to the back, interior wall, while leaving the middle screw alone (it's a ground wire, attached from behind with a nut).

When viewed from the back, I found that the left connection had corroded. See first photo. I wound up cleaning it up, then soldering the connection in place. See second photo.

I reattached everything, and used stainless steel #8 x 1/2" screws to reattach the back panel. All seems to work.

I'm currently smoking a 7.5 lb pork butt. Let's hope it keeps a'smokin'!

Alan

 

[beer-b-q]

Congratulations on the repair job...

 

[dale5351]

Did you manage to get to those screws without taking the chip box out?  I could not when I did mine.

I swear that if (when?) it happens to me again, I'm going to install some sort of access panel from the back similar to what the new models have.

 

[smokininthewind]

Yes, I was able to access the screws holding the heating element to the back panel. The left one is no problem to reach with a long screwdriver. I accessed the right one by first drilling a hole larger than my screwdriver shaft through the back of the "shroud" that is in front of the rightmost screw, per another post. Easy to line up where to drill that hole, just by eyeballing it.