# MES 30 Vent Mod question



## johnduoh (Jul 30, 2013)

I have just picked up an older model MES 30 with the top vent last week and had an inaugural run on Sunday. I did some ribs and smokey thyme shells and cheese, turned out great.













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__ johnduoh
__ Jul 30, 2013






 However living in a high rise in Chicago, at times I tend to get alot of wind blowing into the patio which causes ventilation issues that I have seen smoking on my gas grill in the past.  In order to get around this I attached two 90 degree adjustable elbows and a five feet of 3" duct pieces to hang over away from the building and vent exhaust smoke away.  













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__ johnduoh
__ Jul 30, 2013


















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__ johnduoh
__ Jul 30, 2013


















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__ johnduoh
__ Jul 30, 2013






I added the second elbow to try to get a gentle curve for the smoke to follow while ensuring the straight duct was angled down to drip condensation away from the MES.  While it seemed to work well directing smoke away,  I did have a minor back draft during one strong gust and a still had bit of a problem with what I believe was creosote condensation dripping back the elbow into the MES.  My questions are;

1) How should I adjust this to cut back on the creosote condensation? Remove elbow? Shorter Pipe? Maybe drill hole and add drip wick? 

2) Is this type of venting going to cause any cooking issues I should look out for?

3) Any other venting suggestions?

Thanks in advance!


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## themule69 (Jul 30, 2013)

I have a MES40 I don't use a vent pipe. However the short the pipe the better. It also needs to point up. Remember heat rises. If you were to wrap the pipe it would do better.

Happy smoken.

David


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## daveomak (Jul 30, 2013)

Insulate the metal elbows.....  try using one elbow at 90 degs....  less metal that will cool and less metal for condensate to form on...  Insulate the entire length of the extension....  as the exhaust cools, it gets heavier and may impede the exhaust being heavier air....

Or, you can place a small pan inside the smoker for condensate to drip into...  

Place it on the top shelf directly under the exhaust opening leaving a gap of about 1 1/2" or so.....

Dave


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## johnduoh (Aug 5, 2013)

Thanks Dave , and David.
I guess I just over thunk the heck out of it as I was convinced by reading other posts I need a down angle on the exhaust. Think that's just for in wall housing exhaust.
Thanks to your guy's advice I made a few changes.  I built the 2x6 MES cart I found on the site in order to get closer to the edge of the patio, and I also cut the chimney down to two feet and insulated with R6 pipe insulation.   Did a three hour smoke for a vertical roaster chicken and saw a great improvement. Unfortunatkey my camera took a crap and I can't post those pics. Thanks again for your help gentlemen.Thumbs Up


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## mike johnson (Aug 5, 2013)

A fairly cheap answer might be to buy a cheap bathroom  exaust fan to hook to the pipe and leave it running while sitting a couple of inches above the smoker. It might no catch all the smoke but it should get the majority.


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