How can you get MES Temp to Hold Steady

[jlhog]

Mine will flucate + / - 20-25 degrees.Also the digital readout is not close to the orobes from the Mavrick ET7. I have tested the probes in boiling water an they where good. I have had some spikes in temp to + 35 the setpoint. Things you see when sttting on a couch and remote thernoneter at uour side. When I add wood chips, they are dry and just a pinch at a time. Any better way to get control of the heat? Also I keep the vent open.

 

[deltadude]

How windy is it where the MES is smoking? If it is windy since the MES exhaust vent is a flush opening on the cabinet with no wind cap, there will be some drafting, that will change the temps in the MES.

You can easily test this, cut a card board box so it can sit over the opening, with one side open, top is covered. Make it so the clearance between the exhaust vent and top of box is at least 6". Face either the MES or the box opening opposite direction wind is blowing, be sure to put some kind of weight on top of box.

You can go to Lowes or Home Depot and buy a 3" or 4" vent cap to mount over the MES exhaust, if you have to deal with wind very much.

 

[jlhog]

There was 0 wind. It was inside my garage with the door closed. The temp swing was showing from the temp probes from a Mavrick ET-7. I wonder if they must be in meat to work correctly. I just had them hanging in the MES.

 

[supervman]

use the potato method.

 

[illini]

Not a short answer but the answer is there is not a better way. I have observed the same with both my 30 and 40. Seems that is just the way it is in the land of MES.

I drilled holes and installed dial therms in both doors of my 30 and 40. They are 1 inch from the inside ceiling and they extend 4 inches inside the box. They both record higher temps than the digi box does. The digi box temp setting is the way to go if you want to get a smoke done on time. Just use the other temp sensors of internal temps as an amusement and quick reference as to what is happening on the inside.

The dial therms or what ever you use to check the internal temp of the box will show that the temps are higher by sometimes 80* than what the digi system shows. the fellows complaining that they can not get theirs past 150* etc when starting a smoke really should know that the inside is 70 to 80* hotter but not being displayed by the digi box yet. The temp sensor that is in the upper rear left corner is not well placed in my opinion and has a high histeresis factor to it.

These are my observations on the question

 

[ronp]

I don't have a problem. Try useing the potaoe in the therm probe. Mine is right on, The digital on the MES is measuring the box temp, not the air temp. You won't get good readings just hanging.

Good luck.
'
Ron

 

[jlhog]

Well it sounds like my MES is normal. I wanted to be sure something was not wrong with it. What is the potatoe test? I am guessing stick the probe in a tater and see how it reads.

"Just use the other temp sensors of internal temps as an amusement and quick reference as to what is happening on the inside"

That sounds like advice to use. I will worry less if I aint watchin the temp go up and down.

 

[smoked]

yup, that is the tator test...btw, my MES has never had this issue ever, temp is dead on.......

 

[davenh]

Here's some thought I have, based solely on how my MES performs. YMMV

. Other units could be different.

I don't believe there is any way the temp could be perfect at all positions on all the shelves. There could be a 25+ degree difference from the lowest to the highest shelf. Hot air rises, bottom shelf is right over a water filled heatsink

.

Higher temps on the vent side of the chamber, the heater and vent are on the same side. There would be more convection heating on that side of the unit.

The cycling of the controller can be +/- 10, which is a swing of 20 depending how much of a food load there is in there. Mine is usually within +/- 5 or less, I think adding charcoal in the wood box adds some BTUs which helps the heater cycle less. I also added an extra 600w heater to help the temp recovery when really loaded and in colder weather.

I usually flip and rotate the meat during the cook. If loading all the shelves with something like ribs, I'll swap the top and bottom shelves and the two middle shelves half way through the cook, then rotate the food on the shelf. I think this helps everything cook evenly.

Using meat probes and rotating/flipping meat should counteract most temp inconsistencies

.

 

[forluvofsmoke]

I agree with shelf & food rotations. I do the same with my GOSM. What I noticed yesterday was a steady 185 degree 1st stage cook on my ribs with 4 shelves, and then 220 on low burner with taters on top and a chicken on each mid-shelf. Go figure.

 

[pantherfan83]

Mine cooks hotter on the bottom-right than anywhere. The right side of all the shelves cooks faster than the left. I also rotate the shelves top to bottom and spin them 180 degrees to help everything cook evenly.