Jon, thanks a bunch for your help; you have certainly put us in the right direction for maintaining our smoke units. In my own experience with my board, the thermistors when perpendicular and parallel and at the same height to the heating elements have a gap of 1/16 inches exactly. When installing the board for them to meet the wick, be careful not to bend them out of alignment.
Now for the wait for the new parts to arrive. Many thanks to the gents on the forum for participating in solutions!