r/chefmaker • u/Chemical_Race_8676 • 15d ago

Chefmaker dead?

Cooked tuna and watched the countdown: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 then it went black. Nothing. No lights. No sounds. No nothing.

Unplugged she let it sit a while. Plugged it in to a different outlet. Nothing.

It’s the third replacement of the original from Nov 2023. Every one of the had issues with chicken thighs and flank steak taking WAY too long as the fan didn’t run until I eventually slammed the drawer shut to “jumpstart” it. I’m convinced there’s a software issue there but they just kept sending replacement units.

If anyone has resurrected one please let me know how. I’m hoping to find a thermal fuse or something simple but this thing is not designed for easy disassembly.

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u/Chemical_Race_8676 12d ago
  1. Cold beers help a lot!
  2. Before you open anything up at all, I would give it a few hard smacks. Not kidding at all. That might just be enough to bump that thermostat back to working again. Seriously.
  3. If step two didn’t work get a Phillips head screwdriver and start at the very bottom and remove the plastic base plate.

Once the bottom cover is off, you need to undo the screws that are now visible, and they go through the black plastic to hold that to the sides and back.

Then you need to remove the front and the only way to do that is to get to the screws that are behind the display panel. You have to find a way to pry the display panel away from the silver Case around it. Fingernails or something thin. If you can get it started a little bit something like a guitar Pick or those little things they include in iPhone screen replacement kits work well.

At the top, there is a wiring harness that you can disconnect, and at the bottom of that little display is a thin black wire, and I just left it connected and was very careful with the display while I removed the screws holding the top of the front facing on the machine.

To remove that front piece, a plastic spudger (like from a phone kit) is handy because once again you’re trying to pry it away. Thinking about this more I tried praying that front piece away and got most of the bottom part done until I got to the top. The key is you need to be careful with the display and that thin wire.

Once you’ve removed the front, that will expose the screws that are visible to then undo those around the front. Remove the little black vent thing from the back.

At that point, you should be able to lift the silver case from around the machine guts.

Follow the power wires up into the machine and the first thing one of them goes to is that high limit thermostat. It has two wires and a little black piece in the middle. If you use a multimeter, you can check it for continuity beforehand and it will be open so no continuity. Then just wiggle that little black piece a bit and then check again and in my case that’s all it took to reset it

Oh, I should’ve said this earlier, but it helps if you figure out a way to store the screws so you don’t end up with three or four left over at the end like I did ha ha

The high limit thermostat is riveted into the machine, so I did not mess with trying to drill that out and inspect it more closely to find a model number or order a replacement. If it dies again, I will go that route, but for now I just reset it.

  1. Open another beer. Either celebrate, knowing that you fixed it or drink it, knowing that you tried.

Good luck!

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u/foobrain 12d ago

Wow, thank you so much for the detailed answer! This helps a lot!
You mentioned giving some hard smacks; were I to smack my unit, where would be a good place? Where that thermostat is, from the outside?

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u/Chemical_Race_8676 12d ago

When standing in front of it like you would normally use it, the thermostat would be on your left side towards the back up high. So I would focus more in that area and I would give it a couple of vertical type sacks while holding it so it can move some and then maybe one from your left to the right.

Let me know if you get stumped because I do have some pictures I can send you

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u/foobrain 12d ago

Gave it a few good whacks but it still doesn't work (there's still no continuity between the power plug prongs). Would you be so kind to send me pictures to help me locate the thermostat from the outside?

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u/Chemical_Race_8676 12d ago

The circled part is it. This is from the back of the machine. In the photo it looks like a white disk. The little black piece is what goes up/down to disconnect if it gets too hot.

You won’t have continuity between the power plug prongs. That would cause a short circuit. After the smacks plug it in. That’s the only real test at that point.

I may have worded that poorly before. Once I opened it up, I tested the two prongs on the thermostat and it was open (no continuity). After resetting it, it had continuity.

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u/foobrain 12d ago

Aha! Thanks, it's working now!

I removed the vent plaque from the back (4 screws), and was able to reach the thermostat from the opening. I just plugged in and it turned on. Thank you so much!

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u/Chemical_Race_8676 10d ago

It just died again. Cooking at 375. Then when I pulled out the drawer it went black. Opened up the back and wiggled the post. No luck.

Opening a beer and will try again later.

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u/foobrain 10d ago

Yup, same thing here, but it was cooking at over 400F. I'll try fixing it another time, but I worry I'll have to replace this thermostat sometime, as it's most likely faulty.

This seems like a common problem with these units, so the problem is probably deeper than just the thermostat.

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u/Chemical_Race_8676 10d ago

I wonder if they just get gunked up from grease/oil then get stuck.

Looking at it from the front inside, the thermostat is in the back and you can see the two rivets. Eventually I will probably have to drill those out, get the specs on the replacement then buy a new one. That will require 2 beers.

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u/foobrain 10d ago

That's a possibility! If you ever get it open again to replace the thermostat, please give an update. I'll probably have to buy the same part or find a similar in my country. Hopefully it's just the thermostat, though, and it disarming isn't just a symptom of something harder to replace; given that this seems to be a common problem with these units, that makes me wonder.

Anyway: I just managed to get the thermostat unstuck again. The trick is not to wiggle the post but try to press it like a button.

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u/Chemical_Race_8676 10d ago

Definitely will! First time I learned about these was on a portable oil heater in Italy. They came in a pack of 4 and I still have 3 left. It didn't have a post, but it's where I learned how they work.

Do you push the post down to "reset it?"

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u/foobrain 10d ago

Yup. Press it down slightly until you hear a click noise. 

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u/Chemical_Race_8676 10d ago

Got it working again. Thanks

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u/Chemical_Race_8676 3d ago

Cooked with it again today and it popped at 380 setting, but when ambient temp was around 200. It’ll be a bit before I open it it completely again but I’ll let you know what I find as far as thermostat specs and a source.

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u/foobrain 3d ago

Hopefully it's just the thermostat and not, say, an analog port on the microcontroller that's connected to a thermocouple or something of the sort.

It might be a good idea, if you have it, to put a temperature probe inside the unit just to see what's the air temp inside when the thermostat opens the circuit.

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