On Feb 3, 1:06*pm, Amanda Ripanykhazova
wrote:
Someone just gave me one of these expresso machines. I can't figure out how to use it. The owners manual seems to just assume the machine works, that you prime it, press *MENU to get it to show functions etc.

When I plug it in, all that happens is that the clock turns on. Nothing lights up, no buttons seem to do anything. I am a bit reluctant to put any water into it if this wont do anything but is that the problem? Or must I buy a dozen or two pods to ascertain that the unit doesnt work? (it doesn't have the reusable pod or holder but they seem to be cheap on e-bay)

I have a similar machine, the Nespresso. There are reusable pods that
you can load yourself for it on Ebay too.
I bought one and it's totally unusable. It lacks any decent
seal, so part of the water just flows around the pod, instead
of through it. It's really junk that you can't use. Don't know
about what you will find for your unit.







There are reports on line of an on/off switch somewhere on it but I cant find it anywhere.

I just pulled up the manual from Breville. In the beginning of
the manual there is a diagram of the machine clearly showing a power
switch. It's located on the right side, near
the back, down near the bottom..... Kind of like where you'd
expect it to be.





Is there a way to simply reset the unit to make it work? I understand it should light up when plugged in or isnt it intuitive that at least pressing the menu button should either do something or give an error message of some type? (eg put some water in it!!)


Breville is on my junk list. I have one of their electric kettles
and it's OK, but has a big flaw that is obvious. It has a water
level gauge on the outside of the kettle. But, it obviously not
vented correctly or something, because when you fill it with
water you don't know how much is in there unless you stop
filling it and shake it side to side. Then the water level in
the gauge rises.

I also have one of their cordless immersion blenders. THAT
is a total piece of crap. Even from the beginning, it would
stop while using it. The way the buttons work, I couldn't figure
out if I had maybe let up on one of the buttons or if it stopped
for some other reason. Within a year or so it was doing it
all the time, to the point that you could put it in water and it
would stop every 5 secs. I took a look at reviews on Amazon
and what a total piece of junk. There were countless people
all having exactly the same problem.

I wound up taking it apart, tearing out their electronic control,
rigging up a simple on/off push button, and putting it back
together. It now works fine. So, clearly it was some safety
feature in their electronics that shuts it off, probably because
it thinks it's overloaded when it's not. Also, a lot of folks on
amazon had been through trying to get satisfaction out of
Breville and got nowhere.