# MES 30...  NEW exhaust  smoke tunnel mod



## daveomak (Oct 14, 2012)

*EDIT*

*Originally this mod was put in use to eliminate the hot spot in the right rear corner of the MES and it seems to work ....*

Long story about this mod......  When doing cheese the other day, I noticed black flakes of old smoke residue on the cheese.....  The residue was flaking off the old heat/smoke diverter pan I had installed in the roof of the smoker and the walls....  I figured it was due to reduced creosote from moving the AMNPS to the mail box mod I did... The stuff was flaking off of the walls, ceiling....everywhere... for 2 years this hasn't happened....  So, more frequent cleaning is in order.....  Removing the old deflector was a PITA and a new design was developed..... 

It is a  tunnel about 8" long and 5" wide...  sides bent up 1" to form the tunnel....  2 holes poked in the tunnel to secure the tie-wire to it.... about 1" toward the center of the smoker from the center of the exhaust vent.... See where the wire attaches in photo 4....  I think that allows the tunnel to be pulled tight to the corner of the smoke chamber.... seems to work....

If you haven't noticed by now, when I do stuff it is designed to be temporarily permanent.... The tunnel is easily removable by removing the wire from the top exhaust thingy.... 

Old heat/smoke tunnel that made the center of the smoker the exhaust...













old tunnel design.jpg



__ daveomak
__ Oct 14, 2012






New tunnel... see the wire in the center where it penetrates...

I used a SS Wool pad to get rid of the flaking stuff.. It came off

real easy...... 













exh tunnel 1.jpg



__ daveomak
__ Oct 14, 2012






1 more view....













exh tunnel 2.jpg



__ daveomak
__ Oct 14, 2012






How the wire comes thru the vent and holds the tunnel... 













tunnel holding wire.jpg



__ daveomak
__ Oct 14, 2012






Since I can't close the vent I needed a new way to keep dirt and 

bugs out of the smoker.... It works....  













exhaust cap.jpg



__ daveomak
__ Oct 14, 2012






OK..... now you are all up to date on my mods..... I will be testing the tunnel design when the 

bellies turn into bacon..... I can't wait for that.....  UMMMM     BACON......    

Dave


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## tjohnson (Oct 14, 2012)

Cool Mod

Curious to see how it works??

TJ


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## daveomak (Oct 14, 2012)

With the old aluminum pan mod, the hot spot was reduced quite a bit....  removing the chip chute and housing helped also.... Of course all this would not be possible without an alternate smoke generator...   The AMNPS is just the prescription the avid smoker wanted and needed....


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## ronrude (Oct 14, 2012)

looking forward to the results.  i love the simplicity.  what if you used some high quality magnets to hold it on?  I have never checked mine to see if the interior is magnetic.


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## daveomak (Oct 14, 2012)

ron, morning.... Some stainless is magnetic.... haven't tried on mine either...  I'm pretty frugal and 4" of tie wire is pretty cheap.. like me...


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## tbarreth (Jan 2, 2013)

Hey Dave,

   Curious to know how the tunnel worked out compared to the old one.  I just got an MES-30 for Christmas and am planning on doing some of the mods you have on yours.

Thanks,

Barret


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## daveomak (Jan 2, 2013)

TBarretH said:


> Hey Dave,
> 
> Curious to know how the tunnel worked out compared to the old one.  I just got an MES-30 for Christmas and am planning on doing some of the mods you have on yours.
> 
> ...


Barret, evening.... I just did beef sticks... hung in the smoker for 24 hours...  I could not tell if there was a hot spot... all the sticks came out the same.... then again, the dimmer on the heating element keeps it on all the time.. No more HOT then COLD with the element cycling all the time...   I had to put the AMNPS inside the MES30... it was 20 deg out and the mailbox being cold, it wouldn't stay lit.. I couldn't even get it lit hardly... had to heat the stainless screen to get the pellets to burn....  at 100 deg inside the smoker, it worked perfect as usual...  The new ceiling vent, I am very happy with it.... works good...


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## jimalbert (Jan 2, 2013)

Dave... I also did alot of your mods but I never had an issue (even in very cold temps like this weekend) with keeping the AMNPS lit in the mailbox.  I normally nuke my pellets for 45 seconds or so before I light it though.  I actually think I am going to run outside and try it with a few pellets quick because its 19* here now.

Jim


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