Introduction
The appliance
I bought a Cuisinart Combo Steam + Convection Oven CSO-300N1C (the manual was for a similar CSO-300) because I wanted the steam function for baking bread.
The problem
When the oven was 3 years old, the steam function stopped working.
At first, when I tried to use any mode where it would use its steam function, if the external water tank wasn't completely full, it would just continually beep and light its "Add water" indicator, but soon no matter what I did it would continually beep and light its "Add water" indicator.
What didn't work
• I followed the user manual directions for descaling using a vinegar solution.
It didn't help.
What does work
• The actual problem is an internal plastic hose that goes from the cup the external water tank sits into to a boiler a few inches away. The hose get filled with gunk - easy to clean out once you get to the hose.
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The problem:
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The Add Water indicator shows, beeping every second, even though the external tank is full.
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Disassembly: to get access to the underlying problem
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• To get to the hose, I remove the right side cover.
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• Start by removing the external tank,
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• By the kitchen, unscrew the rear drain plug cap and tilt the Cuisinart slightly to let any water drain out into the sink.
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(The black plastic drain cover is just a plastic on plastic join: be very careful not to cross-thread it, since you will be opening and closing it a few times in this repair.)
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• Remove the right side cover by unscrewing the four screws on the top of the cover (set safely aside) and
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the four screws of the bottom cover (set safely aside) Note that the top screws are different than the bottom ones.
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• Once the 8 screws are removed you can easily remove the right side cover. (the sheet metal edges can be sharp - be careful)
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Remove the hose by moving the wire hose clamps, one at a time, off the nipples, toward the middle of the hose.
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• Using needle nose pliers, pull the top clip of the wire hose clamp to the bottom clip, and slide the wire hose clamp toward the middle of the hose. Once it is away from the joint area pry the hose off of the pipe it is attached to. I used a flat-head screwdriver to help free up the hose. Do this for both ends of the hose.
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• Clean the gunk out of the hose. I used this brush with running water. But running water by itself is probably good enough.
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The red ball is supposed to be inside the hose - it keeps steam out of the external water tank.
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Reassembly
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• Put the hose back. Put the clamps back, securing the hose over the pipes at each end.
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• Test, with water in the external tank, and the tank back in place, that the repair is not leaking.
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• Drain the toaster oven by unscrewing the black plastic drain cover on the back of the toaster oven so you can turn the toaster oven to get at the screws on the underside.
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• Reattach the cover. Reattach the 8 screws.
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Confirmation of the fix.
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• I let the toaster oven sit for a day, in case there was any residual internal water I missed, then used it as a toaster - at least that showed my work didn't make it worse.
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• I filled the big transparent tank with water and put it on the toaster oven.
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• I emptied the tank and put it back on the toaster oven. So now there was just what residual water remained.
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• I set the toaster oven for "Bread", 400°, 30 minutes. I started it with no bread, just as a test. It started its regular cycle, producing the expected steam for the first 10 minutes, just running off the residual water.
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• I let the toaster oven cool down, and ran it again. This time, I got the "Add water" indicator after a few minutes, so I just cancelled the rest of the run. This proves that enough water flows through the system to run the steam function, and the "Add water" detector still works.
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To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
One comment
5/10/2024 https://forums.egullet.org/topic/153705-... is an earlier version of this guide, by someone else, but it was very hard to find by searching. I'm hoping Google makes steam repair easier to find.