Anyone Ever Bought a Used MES? What about Repair?

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rabbithutch

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
I've been watching craigslist in my area and occasionally see an MES turn up.  Of course I'd inspect it and verify that it heats, but what else should I look for?  Or should I forget about it and save my shekels 'til I can get one new?

I've also seen a couple where the lister says the unit powers up but doesn't heat.  Anyone ever tinkered with these things successfully?

TIA
 
MES can have wire and terminal break down do to heat. I sent about $20 for terminals and wire and repaired my MES after it died. Do a search on the forum for a step by step fix it thread. The heating element may be fine, but the connections are burned up.
 
Terminal repair . Maybe . A few months after I bought mine ( just out of warranty ) mine quit heating and I called customer service and she advised me to look at the wiring because she had never heard of an element going bad . Sure enough one of the female spade terminals (on the wire ) just was not there any more and the other was just about gone . I went to the hardware and in the area where they have all sorts of oddballs in drawers that you slide out and lift the lid of a box they had high heat appliance terminals . I just put those on the original wires , crimped them then soldered them and that was 4 years ago or so . I use mine maybe twice a week . A lot of people seem to replace the wire with the high temp appliance wire also , I didn't do that though . I did mine when people first started having trouble I think . I guess to check it out by just looking at one when they say it won't heat would just be turn it on set it to any temp. above the air temp , also set the timer because it won't turn on the heat until you set the timer , then in about 5 seconds or so you should hear a small click and the red light lights which means it should be sending power to the element . If it works up until that point I would guess it's got the terminal problem , unless the element is broken in half ( visibly damaged ) . One thing about a non working one that's for sale they shouldn't want much money for it or when you get there try to talk their price down a little " heck the thing doesn't even work " . Actually , I wouldn't even think somebody would try to sell one that doesn't work , they would just say free to the first person that wants it . Good luck .
 
If you find one for free that doesn't work & don't want to fix it they still make a great box for cold smoking.
 
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