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Warming chamber

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    Warming chamber

    After using my 2 Star for the past 9 months, a lot, I need to clean it a lot. I have never had occasion to use or need the warming chamber, yet it collects grease because of the venting, so needs to be cleaned. I though a great idea would be to plug up the vents into this chamber, but some of guys over at the MAK FB page though that might cause problems with temp control. I contacted the gang at MAK and was told it would be perfectly fine to plug up that vent, in fact would allow more smoke to remain in the main chamber. So far just using foil, but maybe some clever handyman, might come up with a operable vent, to open or close as needed. Just thought I share.

    #2
    That does seem to be a change in direction as I’ve always heard that MAK told people not to change venting at all. I never understood it completely as the 1 Star doesn’t have the warmer and I think uses the same controller and firmware, but never counted vents to see if it had more on the back to compensate though. I have seen a person or two with space limitations remove the 2 Star warmer box and block off the vents though. EDIT: As GolfGeezer points out in comment below, it does appear 1 Star has 4 extra vents in the back of grill to compensate for the warming box on 2 Star.

    Cleaning is my only real complaint about the MAK. I don’t say too much about it though as I think part of it is when you spend that much on a grill, you can feel obligated to keep it looking new longer. I find stainless harder to keep clean on a smoker though. Maybe just because you can’t see the buildup on black painted surfaces.

    Will be curious to see if you see any changes in performance, keep us posted.
    Last edited by glitchy; September 30, 2021, 08:11 AM.

    Comment


    • GolfGeezer
      GolfGeezer commented
      Editing a comment
      The MAK 1 Star has 12 vents in the back, while the 2 Star has 8. I could not say if they are the same size.

    • glitchy
      glitchy commented
      Editing a comment
      GolfGeezer After I posted that, it was bugging me, so I went to MAK’s sight to look and saw that. I am a little surprised they’ve changed stance seeing that they engineered the two to have same airflow.

    • GolfGeezer
      GolfGeezer commented
      Editing a comment
      glitchy Well, the smoker box has 4 vents, so the total vents come out the same. I think it would be easy to test the airflow, at least as it impacts a cook by blocking the smoker box vents. Do your favorite rib cook and try to discern if it really impacted it. I'll bet the answer is "no", but I don't go to Vegas either, so my betting record is somewhat sketch.

    #3
    I don't use the warming box on my MAK 2 Star nor have I ever cleaned the inside of it in the 15 months I've owned it. Bar Keepers Friend seems to work best "for me" cleaning the outside. I was told by MAK that it's tough to keep the entire outside completely clean so mine has some permanent stains where the roll door seals on both sides. Do any of you have better ideas for keeping the outside clean?

    Comment


    • GolfGeezer
      GolfGeezer commented
      Editing a comment
      Try not using the MAK! It will stay very clean! .... just kidding. Once a year, I use Mr. Muscle although I think it is called "Break-Up grill Cleaner" now. It really gets that area where the rolltop lid joins the fixed portion very clean. Also around the vents. Watch out though, as it will also remove the black coloring on the fixed logo, the one on the lid on the lower right side (on the pre-2021 models).

    #4
    I use Breakup, with the grill still warm from a cook or a few minutes of running, the stains on the outside simply wife off. I use that every few months, looks brand new. Be careful not to get it on powder coated parts.

    Comment

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