# I was told not to do this....



## rainyprincess (Jul 7, 2014)

30" 2nd Gen MES. Manual and forums said not to use the same outlet for smoker and cold smoking attachment. I'm doing a rack of spares at 225 using the MES for heat and the cold smoker for smoke. Seems to be working. Am I missing something? Is it not getting all the power it should and it's struggling or something? It's holding temp pretty well. I'm using the RediChek as a backup gauge to the MES display and it seems okay. Nothing has tripped yet. Anybody with this set up have issues before or anybody plug the same outlet with no problems?

Ryan













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__ rainyprincess
__ Jul 7, 2014


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## james1nc (Jul 7, 2014)

Not sure about your smoker but as an electrical stand point only thing I could think of is if you have a 15 rated outlet and if both units combined are more than 15 amps it could cause the outlet to over heat. That being said lets go deeper. if your circuit is on a 15 amp breaker and you use two different outlets but they are one the same circuit you will trip the breaker. So what's the out putt of your unit.


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## sctdg35 (Jul 7, 2014)

I have plugged my MES30 and Masterbuilt cold smoker into same outlet for about a year . I did not read anything saying otherwise .


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## rainyprincess (Jul 7, 2014)

Hey, thanks for the input. I don't know jack about electricity and wouldn't know how to tell how many amps my outlet is good for. It must be enough I guess because I haven't had any problems. I had read in the threads that other folks had issues with tripping the breaker when using both out of one outlet and I thought the manual said to run it off of a different outlet than your smoker too. Good to know it's not an absolute. Thanks! 

Ryan


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## daricksta (Jul 7, 2014)

RainyPrincess said:


> 30" 2nd Gen MES. Manual and forums said not to use the same outlet for smoker and cold smoking attachment. I'm doing a rack of spares at 225 using the MES for heat and the cold smoker for smoke. Seems to be working. Am I missing something? Is it not getting all the power it should and it's struggling or something? It's holding temp pretty well. I'm using the RediChek as a backup gauge to the MES display and it seems okay. Nothing has tripped yet. Anybody with this set up have issues before or anybody plug the same outlet with no problems?
> 
> Ryan
> 
> ...


I've cold smoked cheeses twice in my MES 30 Gen 1 smoker and I've never plugged it in for those smokes. The only smoke source I use for any smoking is the A-MAZE-N Pellet Smoker from Todd Johnson. It's simply a 5x8 metal tray that holds enough wood pellets for (easily) a 6-hour smoke without replenishing the wood pellets. It works incredibly well for both hot and cold smoking. After using my MES over the past three years, I'm still learning how not to overly smoke meats and cheeses and to fine tune what my target temps for hot smokes are. My own choice was not to buy anything I'd have to attach to or mod the MES for. I just want to simply plug in (or not) the smoker, insert the AMNPS, do my smoking business, and then clean it up after the smoke is over.


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## sctdg35 (Jul 9, 2014)

If you are going to do a true cold smoke with the Masterbuilt cold smoker ,before putting unit in the side of the smoker plug in the cold smoke unit and get it smoking. Then shut it off .Pull out ash tray and put a piece of aluminum foil in it's place to catch ash .Stick cold smoke unit into side of MES . It will keep going with no heat coming from it .An option is to put a small low speed fan at the opening of the cold smoke unit where the ash tray opening is and it will work great . Fan is not necessary .


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## rainyprincess (Jul 10, 2014)

Thanks for the advice and info on all of this. Good stuff to think about. 

Ryan


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## foamheart (Jul 10, 2014)

I have a MES40 and the cold smoker ordered and I got the generation 1. I am really excited to see the aux. smoke generators ability.

I have read numerous posts where people are modifying the cold smoker by adding a rheostat, to control the chip feed speed. I love using pecan shells vice chips and hoping they will still work in the cold smoker. If ao I will be as happy as a Bearcarver in the woods.


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## porkpatrol (Oct 1, 2016)

Sorry I am only seeing this now. I read the same thing in my manual, but I just don't believe it. Here is why:

The heating element in the MES30 is rated at 800 watts, so figuring for Amperage, we divide 800 watts by 120 volts and get 6.67 Amps. The heating element on the cold smoker is rated at 150 watts. Again, figuring for Amperage we get 150/120, or 1.25 Amps. Adding the current we get a max element load of 7.92 Amps. Most outlets are rated at 15A, and most breakers are at least 15A. Even if we add up the current of things like the temperature controller, display, power on switch, etc, I cant see the whole system exceeding 9 Amps.

Long story short, it may be more appropriate to say: "If using the units together, do so on a separate circuit."


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## jted (Oct 2, 2016)

PorkPatrol said:


> Sorry I am only seeing this now. I read the same thing in my manual, but I just don't believe it. Here is why:
> 
> The heating element in the MES30 is rated at 800 watts, so figuring for Amperage, we divide 800 watts by 120 volts and get 6.67 Amps. The heating element on the cold smoker is rated at 150 watts. Again, figuring for Amperage we get 150/120, or 1.25 Amps. Adding the current we get a max element load of 7.92 Amps. Most outlets are rated at 15A, and most breakers are at least 15A. Even if we add up the current of things like the temperature controller, display, power on switch, etc, I cant see the whole system exceeding 9 Amps.
> 
> Long story short, it may be more appropriate to say: "If using the units together, do so on a separate circuit."


Hey, That is just how I see it. Jted


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