I'm abandoning ship in favor of another!

[jayskibum]

Evening.... I have the 800 watt element in my MES.... I wired a dimmer in line with the element.... control the wattage so it never turns off and the temps are consistent... There is a thread about that somewhere on here.... with a controller in the heating loop that would be good.... I have done several mods to the MES and it is a very good smoker now.....

Dave

I actually have found and read that post several times Dave.  It's some very handy work. 

 

[ostrichsak]

 

 

At this point I'm debating on getting the PID and wiring to the 800 watt element and if I don't get the results I'm looking for then I will upgrade the burner. Time will tell I'm still in the research phase

This is exactly what I was thinking.

Evening.... I have the 800 watt element in my MES.... I wired a dimmer in line with the element.... control the wattage so it never turns off and the temps are consistent... There is a thread about that somewhere on here.... with a controller in the heating loop that would be good.... I have done several mods to the MES and it is a very good smoker now.....

Dave

Is that a good idea to wire a dimmer made to handle a couple hundred watts to an 800 watt heating element?

 

[daveomak]

I used a dimmer capable of 1500 watts..... incandescent type light bulb...

good idea ????? been working for a couple 3 years.....

 

[ostrichsak]

I used a dimmer capable of 1500 watts..... incandescent type light bulb...

good idea ????? been working for a couple 3 years.....

As long as it's rated for that high then sure, I see zero problems with that and the fact that you've had worry-free use for 3 years backs that up.  I just cringe when someone says they hooked up a dimmer as some of them aren't rated for that high of wattage and they tend to be pretty finicky when you're not trying to throw lots of load at them.