Is your Masterbuilt smoker heating element not working?
The biggest sign is that your smoker just doesn’t change the temperature at all, and you may even be able to touch it with no signs of heat being given off.
You may find it reaches low temperatures but fails to hit the max temperature you’re looking for, which can just indicate it’s on the way out and still requires replacement.
Your Masterbuilt smoker heating element may not working due to using water pan in the smoker or exposing your smoker to external environmental elements.
Overheating your Masterbuilt smoker can cause a number of issues with your heating element burning out and not working.
Your smoker heating element may not working due to faulty temperature gauge.
So, there are a number of reasons for this, and most of them require that you replace either the heating element or replace other components that could be causing problems with the heating of your Masterbuilt smoker.
If you need to understand why your Masterbuilt smoker heating element is not working, then keep reading for all the information you need.
How Do You Check The Heating Element On A Masterbuilt Electric Smoker?
To check the heating element on a Masterbuilt electric smoker, you’ll need a multimeter, and if you don’t have one, it may be worth buying from Amazon as it’s a useful tool for many things.
- Turn the power off to your Masterbuilt smoker.
- Remove the back panel on your Masterbuilt smoker to expose the heating element terminals.
- Put each of your multimeter probes on one of each of the terminals
- If the resistance is high, then it’s likely working well; if the resistance is low, then it will have issues heating up enough to do its job.
If you find that the resistance is high, but your heating element is not working, then it may not be your heating element that is at fault, and you should troubleshoot further being spending time replacing the heating element.
Causes for Masterbuilt Smoker Heating Element Not Working
Using A Water Pan While Smoking With Your Masterbuilt Smoker
If you’ve been using a water pan while smoking, the water in the pan may have allowed moisture to corrode the wiring in your Masterbuilt smoker.
The most likely location is the writing close to the water pan, which is the heating element terminal wires.
Prolonged exposure to moisture is a common issue for the wiring and connectors on the heating element.
Exposing Your Masterbuilt Smoker To The Elements
If you leave your Masterbuilt smoker outside without any kind of covering, then the elements, specifically rain, can seep into parts of the smoker and cause issues with the electronics, such as the controller, or can cause corrosion on the wiring.
If there is corrosion on the wires that connect to the heating element, then you will find poor heating or no heating coming from a perfectly good heating element.
Lack Of Cleaning Your Masterbuilt Smoker
If your Masterbuilt smoker is very dirty, you may find that the controller stops working, which can mean that your heating element is not being told to start and what temperature it needs to be.
Dirt can often be caused by sitting outside for long periods or from heavy usage, and the grease and other dirt created by the smoker slowly seep into the controller.
Overheating Causes Heating Element Terminals To Fail On Smoker
Overheating your Masterbuilt smoker can cause a number of issues with your heating element burning out, your wires or terminals becoming corroded, and many of the components in the smoker will simply break.
Overheating is often caused by heavy use in summer or a faulty temperature gauge that allows the heat to go too high for too long.
You can also find that overloading your smoker can cause low temperatures in some locations and extremely high temperatures in others.
So poor airflow keeps the temperature gauge lower than other parts of the smoker.
Environment Temperature Issues Affecting Masterbuilt Smoker
One of the common issues that people face is trying to use their Masterbuilt smoker in sub-freezing temperatures.
If your smoker has been working fine, but you’re now having issues getting it to heat up or seeing errors codes related to temperature, you may find that the temperature sensor is too low to even start.
There are a huge number of reports of Masterbuilt smokers failing to start when the smoker is left outside in winter, and the temperature drops too low.
Temperature Gauge Is Faulty On Masterbuilt Smoker
If your temperature gauge fails and stops being able to register temperatures correctly, your heating element will not be able to start.
This can happen due to a faulty temperature gauge that needs to be replaced or due to the environmental temperature mentioned above with sub-freezing temperatures stopping the smoker from starting at all.
Fixes For Masterbuilt Smoker Heating Element Not Working
Clean Your Masterbuilt Smoker Controller
If your Masterbuilt smoker is heavily used and rarely cleaned, it’s possible that your controller is causing issues.
You can either clean it or replace the controller with a better version.
To clean your Masterbuilt smoker controller:
1.Unscrew and unclip your controller.
2. Unscrew the four screws on the back of the controller.
3. Open the controller to expose the circuit board.
4. Lightly spray WD-40 on the circuit board and wait 60 seconds.
5. Spray compressed air on the circuit board so that it dries.
6. Replace the cover and screw everything back into place.
You can test to see if a newly cleaned controller will work better with heating your smoker up.
Heat The Temperature Gauge On Masterbuilt Smoker
If you’re in subfreezing temperatures, then it’s likely an issue with your temperature gauge being too cold, and you need to heat it up before you can start your smoker.
You can use a hairdryer and blow hot air on your temperature gauge inside the smoker for around 60 seconds, this should be enough to heat it up to the point the smoker will work.
In the long term, you may need to cover your smoker or bring it inside when not used.
This is also a great option to keep the external elements, such as rain, from impacting the writing on your smoker.
Replace The Heating Element Terminal Plugs On Masterbuilt Smoker
To replace the heating element terminal plugs, you first need to unscrew the back panel on your Masterbuilt electric smoker; this will require six screws to be removed and to pry off the panel.
Check the terminals to see if they look healthy or whether they appear burnt and disintegrated.
You will need a pack of spade terminals from your hardware store and a crimping tool to replace the terminals.
- Cut the old terminals off along with the burnt part of the wiring.
- Put the spade terminals onto each wire
- Crimp the space terminals onto each wire
- Attach the plug back to the heating element terminals.
Put the back panel back and screw everything back together.
You can test to see if the heating element starts to heat up now.
Replace The Heating Element For Masterbuilt Smoker
If you’ve determined that the resistance of your heating element is too low, then you’ll need to purchase a new heating element and use the instructions below to replace it.
It’s a simple and quick process to replace the heating element; it just requires following the instructions, and if you have a helper, that can make things go a lot easier for you.
How Do You Replace A Heating Element In A Masterbuilt Electric Smoker? (Step By Step Process)
To replace a heating element in a Masterbuilt electric smoker, you will first need to buy a new heating element; your fastest option will be buying a heating element from Amazon.
Just double-check that you get the right heating element; you may need an 800 watt or a 1200 watt heating element.
You should consult your smoker manual to see which version you’ll need.
1.Unplug the Masterbuilt smoker from the power.
2. Unscrew the smoke tray from above the heating element; it will require 2-4 screws to be removed.
3. Open the back panel on your Masterbuilt smoker; this has six screws that will need to be removed, and then pry the panel off.
4. Remove the wires from the heating element connectors.
5. Unscrew the two main screws of the heating element.
6. Unscrew the grounding wire.
7. Remove the insulation gasket from around the screws and terminals.
8. Lift out the old heating element.
9. Put the new heating element into place.
10. From the back panel, screw the two main screws in but wait to tighten.
11. Adjust the grounding wire and then screw it back in, this will require you to put the screw in from the inside of the smoker, and you may need assistance to hold it while you put the nut on.
12. Replace the insulating gasket into the cavity with the screws and terminals.
13. Place the wires back on the terminals.
14. Tighten all screws.
15. Replace the back panel and screw it back in.
16. Replace the smoke tray that you removed and screw it back into place.
Once you’ve gone through the replacement process, you can plug the power back in and try to heat up your smoker to ensure that everything works as expected.
If you’re still having heating issues, then it’s likely another component in your Masterbuilt smoker that is causing the heating element not to work correctly.
Use the tips further above to troubleshoot and find a solution.
Sources:
https://www.instructables.com/Repair-and-Restore-Masterbuilt-Electric-Smoker/
https://www.fixya.com/support/t3965284-masterbuilt_electric_smoker_stopped
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EATQdUUY2gY
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