Pellet Fan
All Things Considered => General Discussion--Non food Related => Topic started by: Canadian John on March 07, 2020, 02:14:18 PM
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For the last few days I have been searching drip coffee machines. We don't need one @ the moment, just prepping. The last two we had/have are a large grocery store brand no longer available. The last one
lasted ~ 11 years and was used daily. Replacement carafes were available up to a few years ago. # 2(same model) is a few years into service. How much longer it will go is questionable. They make good coffee
too. They are 12C units, fed filtered water and descaled 2 - 3X/YR using a 50% vinegar solution.
No matter where I searched I never found any majoritty good reviews..The problems were, leaks, stopped working not hot any more and-FIRES..The company contacts were all about the same. LONG wait times
and poor service..The warranties were good(on paper).The problem is the customer pays shipping to and $20 to the company for its return, this coupled with lost time, makes returning the unit not worth the
hassle.
Cuisinart, that I used to think highly of is a let down. Customers with units that have died after many years of daily use finally died. A direct replacement was purchased on past performance only to let down with
some of the above mentioned problems.
Consumer Reports lists all but one manufacturer as average to poor with only one as being reliable. @ $400 + the M M is unaffordable and requires a $$$ only descaler every 100 brew.sessions. They don't allow
reusable filters either. I emailed the company with a few questions and wasn't answered. So much for service from a high end company..
No companies have replacement parts except for some that have baskets and carafes..It's a throw away world.
Does any other have any suggestions? My criteria is: 10 - 14C size, 12C desirable. Filter; cone, able to use reusable. Simple on/off switch. Don't need clock or timer. If a reliable unit has it, OK. Carafe. I like glass
as long as replacements are not over priced + available. The thermo SS carafes could be ok if easily cleaned, dont leak(pouring) and keep the coffee hot for 2 Hrs..
One option I have considered is buy what I feel is good. If it fails during warranty + I can't return it to the store where I bought it for an exchange or credit OK, otherwise into the land fill it goes-not my style.
CONTINUED BELOW..
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Other options are the more labour intensive French press and the pour over. They have different flavor profiles that I am not a fan of..Guess I am too old school expecting things to be repairable and last..
Enough said.
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We don't drink much coffee any more and we threw out more than we drank. So a few years ago we switched to a Keurig. Now we just brew a cup as we want one and never throw any out. After testing several coffee brands we found a few that we like.
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Not sure that this meets your criteria, but I've been using Saeco super automatic coffee makers for the last 20 years combined with imported Italian beans, best cup of coffee anywhere. :clap:
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We went through several expensive, supposedly high end, coffee makers only to have issues like leaking, short life span, stopping in the middle of the cycle, etc. Finally through run my hands in defeat. Ended up with a very basic 12 cup Mr Coffee for $17. Kept a nice carafe from one of the previous machine and pour coffee into it at end of cycle instead of letting it sit baking on the burner. It’s been going over 9 months so far. When it dies I’ll just replace it with another, only out $17 instead of $100+.
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We went through several expensive, supposedly high end, coffee makers only to have issues like leaking, short life span, stopping in the middle of the cycle, etc. Finally through run my hands in defeat. Ended up with a very basic 12 cup Mr Coffee for $17. Kept a nice carafe from one of the previous machine and pour coffee into it at end of cycle instead of letting it sit baking on the burner. It’s been going over 9 months so far. When it dies I’ll just replace it with another, only out $17 instead of $100+.
Jim, that's exactly what I was referring to. I was thinking of going that route and may have to. I just find it hard to fathom there aren't any reliable drip coffee makers out there..Why are they all competing to see which one can be the worst?
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We have hard water and went through several Kuerigs and Cuisinart coffee makers that didn’t last very long. We bought a Bunn several years ago and have been happy with it. No timer or other features, but It always has hot water ready to go, so it brews a pot in less than 5 mins and we use it it just for hot water for tea, etc. often as well. I would buy another one, and that’s the first time I can say that about any coffee maker we’ve owned.
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We have hard water. I have a very modest price coffee maker and about every 4 months have to run a pot full of white vinegar thru it to remove the scale and get it back to perking along.
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We have hard water. I have a very modest price coffee maker and about every 4 months have to run a pot full of white vinegar thru it to remove the scale and get it back to perking along.
Here in AZ we have very hard water, virtually every home has a water softener and an RO (reverse osmosis) system. We use the RO system for cooking, drinking, ice making and coffee. I very seldom have to descale the coffee maker.
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We did away with our Kuerig for some reason. I liked it but it was gone one day and my wife had gone to Walmart (I think) and got a Black and Decker rig for $10. It has a paper filter, 12 cup capacity and can programmed to come on at a specific time. My brother bought the same one before we did and he's had his for quite a while now. Makes coffee good enough for us using RO water.
I save the used grounds to put on my tomato and pepper plants every now and then. My brother used to teach high school biology and says they help release the nitrogen in the soil. They also keep cats from burying the stuff they bury where we don't want them too. Right by my barn seems to be the preferred spot. Beats throwing the grounds away in the trash.
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We have hard water. I have a very modest price coffee maker and about every 4 months have to run a pot full of white vinegar thru it to remove the scale and get it back to perking along.
Descale OK. The thing is, it keeps working.
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We did away with our Kuerig for some reason. I liked it but it was gone one day and my wife had gone to Walmart (I think) and got a Black and Decker rig for $10. It has a paper filter, 12 cup capacity and can programmed to come on at a specific time. My brother bought the same one before we did and he's had his for quite a while now. Makes coffee good enough for us using RO water.
I save the used grounds to put on my tomato and pepper plants every now and then. My brother used to teach high school biology and says they help release the nitrogen in the soil. They also keep cats from burying the stuff they bury where we don't want them too. Right by my barn seems to be the preferred spot. Beats throwing the grounds away in the trash.
The grounds are a great fertilizer for sure. They go into my home composter.. For ANTS: The grounds are a super deterrent - they don't like them and steer clear.
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I would like one of the Keurig if they would make an individual pouch with about 3 times the coffee in it!
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It seems the more money we spent on a coffee pot, the more problems they had. We had a cheap Mr. Coffee that refused to die, but brewed so slow that it ended up at the cabin, but is still going. We have a Cuisinart that is probably close to 10 years old with no issues.
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While I do not have a dog in this fight so to speak I can give my opinion because well, that is what the internet is for. We do not drink a lot of coffee at home. We have an old Cuisanart that is fine for when we use it. My wife is a daily espresso drinker so that is the machine that gets use. All of that said, I have a friend that drinks way too much coffee. He and his wife use their machine probably twice a day every day. It is a Technivorm Moccamaster. I'm thinking that might be the M M you were alluding to in your write up as being too expensive and needing descaling. If that is the case and that doesn't interest you I'm sorry for suggesting it. I can just tell you that they use it daily for at least 4 years now since their last Bunn quit. Also, they just use a #4 cone filter so you could use a reusable one no problem.
I can also say, that were I to buy one, I would buy it from Seattle Coffee Gear. I did a lot of searching when I bought my wife's breville espresso machine last year and I chose them. They have a great website with fair prices. They are responsive to questions, they have a good Youtube presence with reviews of things, and they have an in house repair facility. Technivorm offers a 5 year warranty and SCG sells extended warranties.
Like I said, I'm not buying one, I just know that if I were going to, that is the one I would buy and that is the place I would buy it.
Cheers!
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Just a thought as I lie after ding my knee exercises . It is amazing that we will spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on a pellet grill however one will tend to agonize over spending 100 or so dollars on a coffee maker.
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What I have taken away from this thread is more expensive units do not equate to longer life.
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What I have taken away from this thread is more expensive units do not equate to longer life.
That's probably true, the higher priced units have more parts to fail, but take it from a 70+ year coffee drinker who has done a plethora of research on the subject, combined with the right beans they do produce better tasting coffee. :2cents:
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We use a basic Bunn coffee maker and it is great. Makes great coffee, quickly.
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What I have taken away from this thread is more expensive units do not equate to longer life.
That's probably true, the higher priced units have more parts to fail, but take it from a 70+ year coffee drinker who has done a plethora of research on the subject, combined with the right beans they do produce better tasting coffee. :2cents:
I agree as I have also found that quality stands the test of time however one must take care of these new machines more so then the old percolator.
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We use a basic Bunn coffee maker and it is great. Makes great coffee, quickly.
We have the same.
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What I have taken away from this thread is more expensive units do not equate to longer life.
Exactly Bent. I understand nothing is 100% and am willing to deal with it. However when the fail rates are 30 - 50% or higher it doesn't sit right with me.
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What I have taken away from this thread is more expensive units do not equate to longer life.
What I've taken away from this thread is that, in matters of taste...tastes vary. I wrote that Marcia & I found K-Cup coffee that we like. Others, who have more experience with coffee brewing, may not like our choices as well as the brands & brewing method they use. We might easily switch from our Keurig to another formula if we sample other methods that produce coffee that we like better.
A man at church told me that he burns wood chips in an air-tight aluminum foil envelope in an old refrigerator he modified. He said, "It makes wonderful smoked meat." Marcia had to stop me from telling him too much about pellet pits, kamados, barrel smokers and stick burners. She later said, "It's just a matter of taste preference. He may change his mind if he tastes food from another pit, and he may not. Leave him alone."
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I too had this problem a few year back. My Cuisinart grind and brew started to fail and I looked into replacing but always hated the entire cleaning process. The fact that the grinder got wet with steam from brewing was an awful design flaw. I finally got a decent deal on a refurbished breville grind control coffee maker. The only cleaning you have to do is filter and basket. Hopper is easy way to hold a good amount of beans and doesn’t need cleaning very often 1-2 times in past several years. Can set the grind to ur preference and time. The grinder going off in am is my alarm clock, pretty loud. The carafe stays hot especially if pre heated.
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We enjoy our coffee and bought a $150 Bonavita.
At the time it was the only coffee maker approved by the Speciality Coffee Association.
It's a simple unit in construction with no fancy timers.
When guests are over and have a cup of coffee, they compliment us on how good the coffee tastes and how friendly and attractive my wife is.
For compliments like that, a guy will pay almost any price, and the $150 is well worth it at the going rate of $80 per compliment.
We've had the Bonavita for over 6 years and never a hiccup. Just an occasional cleaning with vinegar.
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When guests are over and have a cup of coffee, they compliment us on how good the coffee tastes and how friendly and attractive my wife is.
I wonder why they never say that you're an attractive couple. ;D
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Just to defend the expensive coffee makers. I have had a Moccamaster by Technivorm since 2013. It works great and makes a six minute pot of coffee without having preheated water like a Bunn does. It also has a thermal carafe so coffee doesn’t burn on a hot plate after you brew it. It is an expensive one but it works great. We make a pot on weekdays and 2-3 on Saturday and Sunday.
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Moccamaster is on my list as it is reputed to be reliable, makes very good coffee, lasts a long time, and important to me, parts are available to the customer or factory installed. On the negative side, the
Moccamaster "cups" are 4 OZ, not the usual 6 OZ size. Our present 12 cup carafe is the perfect size for us. It's a 12 cup size: 12 X 6=72 ounces. The Moccamaster 10 cup works out to 10X 4=40 ounces, almost
1/2 the amount of coffee. To us, that would mean 2 daily brewing sessions.
I have read the thermal carafe has a tendency to drip while pouring. Have you experienced it? How long does the thermal carafe actually keep the coffee good + hot if not preheated? The write-ups say 1 1/2 hrs.
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When guests are over and have a cup of coffee, they compliment us on how good the coffee tastes and how friendly and attractive my wife is.
I wonder why they never say that you're an attractive couple. ;D
:clap: :clap:
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Moccamaster is on my list as it is reputed to be reliable, makes very good coffee, lasts a long time, and important to me, parts are available to the customer or factory installed. On the negative side, the
Moccamaster "cups" are 4 OZ, not the usual 6 OZ size. Our present 12 cup carafe is the perfect size for us. It's a 12 cup size: 12 X 6=72 ounces. The Moccamaster 10 cup works out to 10X 4=40 ounces, almost
1/2 the amount of coffee. To us, that would mean 2 daily brewing sessions.
I have read the thermal carafe has a tendency to drip while pouring. Have you experienced it? How long does the thermal carafe actually keep the coffee good + hot if not preheated? The write-ups say 1 1/2 hrs.
That unit looks very similar to the Bonavita and similar in brew times as well. We have the thermal carafe on ours which has been great. Keeps coffee warm for hours.
Our unit has been solid but the moccamaster is an impressive looking machine as well.
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Best drip we have ever used: Hamilton Beach "Brew Station" Cheap, easy to use, and reliable. No carafe. You just push your cup up against a little pressure bar and coffee comes out until you pull away. You can take coffee out as it is still brewing when you know there is enough to fill the cup. 12 cup capacity, and easy to fill and clean. Requires a paper filter for best results. That's it. See below;
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hamilton-Beach-Brewstation-Summit-Ultra-12-Cup-Coffee-Maker-48465/133344384386?epid=87753833&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item1f0bf1d582:g:muEAAAzyLv1Stz97&enc=AQAEAAACYBPxNw%2BVj6nta7CKEs3N0qUMMvb6%2BdSkF%2FAeEdXfg4L%2FpNxUwBEoOpL6pk2YnQtNq8ldAaaMrEcnRRaUMUsM%2F5OG13F0ZqLkGA9R91vW3I%2F%2B42I0EjDHEQjLzd%2FrLYfw0Bhc7As1vKt77jLlZwc3pcN0CZrdUxoL%2B3LIG6cGHp2fwE8Fcg8FXmc79aMGl2GHxQymEUz%2Fzl1DBWau3HjxCfinnn0cu5iwOm5yDKHJSn9R%2BD980CNUrYRCma4dnDyuBUlNXsysiRq3MPnzqi6R3Rc3K5Xk%2FhGKPP%2Fy%2BJJoaYH2GtWfPkXyfsoyAFUb27LtoAKY5Tv9RW6AJNTXUTaMlOHHp%2B4J9pi52QX8VxGI%2FsVPdkSRxvaYd1dD24jUeB2x%2Bvz%2FRQg1jhSU0bVuJHq0vqW4b1NuNzJnX53SSMNzSX4UwupqgwYobJP5MBsv%2FvEQBUPyfgoiKfNyCz7vi%2BbrMf1%2FrQb8QF8qKslN6JARFyGofPMyHBD%2B45zbltvUnQ2LO1TBTJA8AtYiCDiAQBqZwb9ItptL6D2Hbn6EcIVNDqukfAIHL9oJvV5nZ0es6ZHU4lrbU39RRVJsDH9TvcfN%2B79Q83MpUdjvgjOvIdwXxx6YAVon7Ttc9zL%2B%2Br8dBPrcuWwJHIiCAiy6XHmGKkptA0XPZseCMzMktpriQyh4USno77ZTXpes9tA5RtWZ1955VYgHSIcw3bpjtNE%2FM5zePBn9R7RreiWDCIGN%2FpFuy7zSllzTfDFlhMkgNxsQvDDKvb3dzdvsnOiSHgdcnhxBYBv0yr%2FNuCsdEIG5o656Ewib&checksum=133344384386015cf390edc34a31bf7d84a489b19fe6
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The moccamaster has two different lids for the carafe. One is for brewing and keeps the coffee hot for about 1.5 hours. If you put the solid lid it would stay hotter for longer. I’m sure there are fairly accurate reviews and tests online for that. If you pour the pitcher too d
Fast it can spill outside the rim of the mug. Not a big deal once you learn how to do it. There are a few versions that might be different. I am not a coffee enthusiast but I think it makes good coffee and I like that it is hand made in The Netherlands.
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I like that it is hand made in The Netherlands.
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Why is that? I'll bet the Dutch are not doing their own production.
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They sure are (doing their own production). LOTS of videos on Technivorm/Moccamaster. I believe their copper boilers are outsourced. The history of the company is most interesting. See below. That is just a sampling of what's out there.
https://technivorm.com/
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They sure are (doing their own production). LOTS of videos on Technivorm/Moccamaster. I believe their copper boilers are outsourced. The history of the company is most interesting. See below. That is just a sampling of what's out there.
https://technivorm.com/
Thanks, I stand corrected. good info.
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I researched and found only one drip coffee maker that met my expectations. The reasons were mostly; best tasting coffee, rebuildable- all parts available, simple on/off switch - no clock or timer - just a solid
simple machine with a great reputation. Cost however was a deterrent. Got bank manager approval (kidding). I really lucked out. The many retailers I got prices from were within $2 of each other. Went to one
dealer and for no known reason I placed the item in the cart. It was instantly - $40. I left it there without paying and the next day got an email to say I had an additional 5% discount..Went searching for
discounts from that dealer and found a 10% coupon that should work. Back to the dealer website to see if it would work. Up came a 20% discount on all items. At that point I broke down and ordered it. The
price included free shipping..So what was it? A Moccamaster KBT-741. A 10 cup unit with a stainless thermo carafe... Costly, yes but it's a lifetime investment, or should I have said that being an old guy...
Forgot. The "cups" are european size, 4oz. That makes the 10 cups 1.2Litres. It's smaller than our present 12 C brewer. The faster brew time should help make up doing a second pot if needed. We'll see.
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We went through several expensive, supposedly high end, coffee makers only to have issues like leaking, short life span, stopping in the middle of the cycle, etc. Finally through run my hands in defeat. Ended up with a very basic 12 cup Mr Coffee for $17. Kept a nice carafe from one of the previous machine and pour coffee into it at end of cycle instead of letting it sit baking on the burner. It’s been going over 9 months so far. When it dies I’ll just replace it with another, only out $17 instead of $100+.
I went down the same path. We bought a Krups and several other expensive brands years ago and they broke after two or three years. The basic Mr Coffee rigs have almost all of the features that the expensive units do for roughly $25 not on sale. Our first one ran for 10 years and started running slow. We used RO water in it and flushed regularly with vinegar. It 's our decaff unit for parties now. Our latest one reminds you when a vinegar flush is required. It makes good coffee and it's cheap.
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It seems the more money we spent on a coffee pot, the more problems they had. We had a cheap Mr. Coffee that refused to die, but brewed so slow that it ended up at the cabin, but is still going. We have a Cuisinart that is probably close to 10 years old with no issues.
Same here. Bought a cheap Mr. Coffee for the cabin in 2012. Still going strong when we sold it last year (2019). Offered it to the new owner and he kept it. Once in a while I would run white vinegar thru it as we had hard water. Cuisinart at home.
Z
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That’s pretty much the same one I have and we love it.
A few things to watch out for:
1.) make sure the filter basket is nesting correctly when you start brewing. If it not sitting correctly the “pause and serve†feature will engage and the water will overflow.
2) make sure there is no old coffee in the carafe when you start the brewer or it will overflow.
3) put the water in last or it will start brewing before you have everything else ready(this isn’t a problem if you use the on/off switch, we just leave the switch on all the time)
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Before my Kuerig coffee maker, I had good luck with Bunn coffee makers. At work we had a commercial Bunn coffee maker that brewed 10 plus carafes a day. Was still going strong after 15 plus years when I retired.