One Last MES Question

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lowcountrygamecock

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Feb 4, 2009
238
42
How long does it take a normal 40" MES to heat to 275? I'm trying to do everything I can before I send this thing back. Today I tested it, in my garage, out of the wind on a 65 degree day. It took an hour and 10 minutes to get up to 275 with the vent closed and no meat inside or water in the pan. Does that sound normal? I have yet to get it anywhere close to 275 with meat inside and when I crack the door to spritz the food the temp drops drastically and takes a while to recover. I really do think the element has a problem heating but I want to check all angles so I won't look like a moron when they get the unit and test it.
 
Actually, that's not a very fair test of the unit. I would have at least tested it with water in the pan. That's almost how you would normally be using it along with the meat inside. The manual says that preheating is not necessary, but I'm sure that's debateable.

An hour and a half to get to 275 degrees doesn't sound normal to me. It's too bad that Masterbuilt has lost their grip in regards to quality control of these units. Taking into account where they're manufactured (China) and the company headquarters (Columbus, GA.) it's not surprising, just a disappointment for customers who have to deal with the lack of quality control & testing. One has to look at the bright side; at least the Customer Service is good.
 
I have a 30" model without the glass window. With hot water in the pan it could take no less than 40 min to get up to full temp of 275*f. So maybe that doesn't sound so bad that your 40" with some heat loss due to the glass takes 90min. Once it's up to temp the internal temp will flucuate as expected from 250-290 as the heater cycles off and on. I really don't preheat much. I figure I will get smoke pretty early as it's heating. I do have to add an hour or more to my estimated time of completion without preheating but I would have to wait to preheat so what's the difference.
 
Sounds about right for the 40.
The 30 is much faster!
I only smoke things in the 40 that I do not need to open the door on.

The calrod heater in the 30 will turn red while the heater in the 40 will not. I think they were trying to add a safety factor for internal fires.

The wattage is about the same on the two units and the stainless cabinet dissipates heat much quicker than the black cabinet.

The 40 needs more wattage in my opinion

If you monitor the internals with a thermometer other than the one that runs the controller you will find that its hotter in there than you think
 
From what the MB CS told me... that sounds about right for the 40". I won't open the door on mine either and I'm of the same opinion. Why didn't they put more element in the unit? This smoker is a great smoker but you have to learn to work with it. I still don't think yours is working properly. The temps displayed vary pretty drastically from the remote internal I run. Sometimes it's within a couple of degrees, and other times it is much hotter than the MES display shows.
 
It will show hotter when the element is on since it is measuring the heat inside of the air, wheras the MES element is mounted in the wall on the back and is somewhat absorbed by the wall and is measuring the smoker itself.
Make sense? Just an idea.

I'll bet CS wishes I never posted about the MES here. The average user wouldn't be as concerned about temps as we are.
rolleyes.gif
Not a bad thing though. It's all about the food that comes out of it.
 
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