Need some help venting MES40

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mojoman58

Newbie
Original poster
Aug 9, 2012
17
10
Dracut, MA
I need some help from all the experts here. I've been smoking using my MES40 and just had a 6' x 6' shed installed so I can use the smoker year round regardless of the weather. I'll eventually put some power out there but for now I'll just run a cord (I needed to do this anyway to use it). What I'm trying to figure out is the best way to vent most of the smoke out of the shed. I was thinking of using 6" vent pipe but I can't think of a way to attach it to the side of the smoker at the vent (I have the newer MES with the vent on the side, not the top). I really don't want to put screws in the side if I don't have to. I also wanted the stock vent plate to be still functional & be able to put the leads for the Maverick 732 through it. Any ideas?? I've searched around & I'm not seeing anything.

Mike

Edit:I've found a couple of threads discussing a vent addition. Only One shows a side vent & it uses earth magnets to hold it on. All the additions are short add-ons. I wanted to go about 18 inches straight out through a wall and then up a few feet outside to vent smoke out of the shed. I never even thought about condensation dripping back into the unit. Is it possible to vent like I want to do?
 
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I am thinking, straight out the side and maybe a little down angle to prevent condensate from going back in the smoker..  Dave
 
I am thinking, straight out the side and maybe a little down angle to prevent condensate from going back in the smoker..  Dave
Yup---Like Dave said, angled downward or maybe even kinda like a "Sink Trap".

Might even be good to put a drain & plug in it.

Bear
 
I am thinking, straight out the side and maybe a little down angle to prevent condensate from going back in the smoker..  Dave
Thanks Dave..That's the idea me and a couple of friends were throwing around. I'll have at least a week to think about it since it hasn't stopped raining since the shed was installed. All the wood inside and out is soaked (Inside wood from delivery & install in the rain). By the end of next week it should be dried out & I'll put some protecting finish on it. I'll post some pics when it's done. Thanks for the help.
 
I have a Pit Boss cabinet style smoker (pellet) with chimney on top. Am wanting to move to interior room and vent outside but unsure if running duct from chimney out back of building will be enough or if I need to install booster fan. I have seen some posts on here of duct standing above smoker chimney but don’t understand draft concept. Any info would be great thanks
 
I have a Pit Boss cabinet style smoker (pellet) with chimney on top. Am wanting to move to interior room and vent outside but unsure if running duct from chimney out back of building will be enough or if I need to install booster fan. I have seen some posts on here of duct standing above smoker chimney but don’t understand draft concept. Any info would be great thanks
If you have a pellet machine, you already have a booster fan blowing air to your pellet crucible. As long as your added ducting is always moving in an upward direction (no goosenecks) you'll have no trouble with draft. And once your pellet cooker has heated up, you won't even need that tight a fit for the duct that fits over the stock cooker's chimney. Flexible 3" aluminum duct sold for clothes dryer vents should work fine and is cheap. (But don't use the super-cheap plastic ducting.)
 
I don't think the ability to adjust the exhaust vent is of much concern on an MES40. I think almost everybody runs them wide open all the time anyway. I took the "butterfly" vent off mine and relocated it on my mailbox door to regulate the airflow into the mailbox.
 
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Whatever he did, Mike hasn't been here in 8 years.
Also that MES he had was a Generation #2, so it probably quit long ago.
Hopefully he got a better generation since, which would more than likely have the top vent coming out of the Top.

Bear
 
I have a Pit Boss cabinet style smoker (pellet) with chimney on top. Am wanting to move to interior room and vent outside but unsure if running duct from chimney out back of building will be enough or if I need to install booster fan. I have seen some posts on here of duct standing above smoker chimney but don’t understand draft concept. Any info would be great thanks

When you say "Interior Room"---Is that of a House, Barn, Garage, or what??

Bear
 
Thanks Bear & Braz. Two strikes against me...he clearly said MES40--not pellet machine--and he said it 8 years ago, so it's a little late to be giving him plumbing advice.

Then again, some of my projects drag on for 8 years :emoji_sunglasses:
 
Oh wait, DDLee resurrected this thread with a question yesterday...and he has a pellet machine. Maybe I'm not striking out....

DDLee, are we helping you? You might want to start a fresh thread on this over in the Pellet Smoker area. This is kind of the "wrong neighborhood".
 
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When you say "Interior Room"---Is that of a House, Barn, Garage, or what??

Bear
We have a room that is attached to garage and house. It’s typically called a mud room and I can vent directly outside but would prefer using a 90 to go out thru wall, roof is flat and am afraid of leaks
 
Regardless of the venting, you'll get smoke smell inside.

I'm a bad one to ask, because I don't even believe in overnight smokes, unless you are either awake all night, or you have your smoker at a place where if it lit up, the only thing that would burn is the meat & the smoker itself.
So you can see what my answer would be to having a smoker inside.

Bear
 
...typically called a mud room and I can vent directly outside but would prefer using a 90 to go out thru wall, roof is flat and am afraid of leaks
I totally get it. My SIL had a mudroom...a transition area from a lower-level garage to an upper level main dwelling. If you can drill a 3" hole in the side wall, up high, and connect an aluminum 3" dryer hose, most smoke will go out nicely. You can stuff it with a foam plug afterwards to keep drafts and bugs from coming directly into your area. No need puncturing a roof.

But Bear is right. No smoker sends 100% of the smoke out the chimney. To say nothing of what happens when you open doors to spritz, flip, or whatever. Getting a larger (powered) kitchen exhaust hood and mount it over the smoker will help a lot. But it will still be like cooking bacon in the kitchen with the vent hood running....the smell goes elsewhere. That would have been acceptible in my SIL's mudroom 10 years ago...but recently a daughter has moved back in and it's become a living quarters.

So every case is a bit unique.
 
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