On Tuesday, May 9, 2017 at 1:18:19 AM UTC-4, mike wrote:
On 5/8/2017 5:54 PM, wrote:
I brew a pot of coffee every morning.
(electric) Drip coffee makers last about 6-12 months,
before something goes bad.
Often I can take 'em apart and find the bad bit.
This limps them along for another 6-12 months.
(I wasn't able to find the bad bit in the latest Mr coffee that
failed... grumble. (And the f'ing security bits.))
A new one is ~$30-40. Do I just keep throwing them
out? Another solution? I'll use a hand poured drip tomorrow, heat
water on stove pour through, let drip, add more hot water.
But I really like the convenience of pushing a button,
going off for the morning ablution, and coming back to a cuppa.
(Is cuppa only for a cup of tea.. in Oz?)

George H.

You can make the situation 3-4 times better by buying the cheap
coffee makers when they are on sale for $9.99. I've never
had one fail. One had the on/off switch right on the front
begging for you to spill coffee on it. I taped a piece of
plastic over that to protect it.
A switch I can fix. All the ones I see around here (amazon)
have timer's and other bells and whistles I don't need (or want.)

I was thinking I might find an old used simple coffee maker on ebay.

My mother in law has an old drip maker that must be ~10-20 years old.


An electric kettle to boil water and a French Press makes
pretty good coffee, but it's a PITA to use. Funnel with
paper filter is easier to toss. I made about a gallon
at a session and stuck it in the fridge. Obviously,
I'm not a connoisseur.

My latest venture is into Keurig Gen 1.
You can find them for cheap to free at garage sales and
thrift stores. They're broke, no matter what they say.
Buy two.
Take the good solenoid from one and replace the always
bad solenoid in the other one. Put a switch on the plug,
cuz that solenoid is always engaged, even when you think
you turned the power off. And it sits right next to the
water heater.
Use the DIY K-cups. No sending plastic to the landfill
and the cup of coffee costs about 10% of what you'd pay
for the real thing. But it's still a PITA to empty/refill
the cups.
Keep a few of the real K-cups on hand so you can impress
visitors with your extravagance and wanton disregard for the
environment. ;-)

No Kerig! I know they are all the rage, but I like to grind my own
beans and then make one big pot. (I'm an old fart and I don't want
change. :^)

And what's the average lifetime of a Kerig?

George H.