The Bunn coffee maker is on the blink!

[electra225]

I don't know how I'll make it thru the day. I may have to visit Mickey D's. I fixed my coffee pot to make coffee like I normally do. The liquid came out about like thin tea. The book says I need to clean it every three months. I have had it two or three years and have never touched it. It worked fine yesterday. It is not getting enough volume of water to the coffee grounds. Just a little spot in the middle is getting water. It is on a reverse osmosis system, so it shouldn't have lime in it. I dumped a bunch of vinegar in it. We'll see what that does. I have a number for the company help line. This thing makes the best coffee anywhere. I can't function without coffee in the morning....

[Firedome]

I sympathize... I'm a java addict too, 2 cups in the AM then a couple throughout the day, last about 3PM, any later and I have sleep problems. I call it my Go-juice... it gets the old bones movin'!

I drink it black (no milk, no sugar) and grind whole beans (VT Coffee Co) every morning, so taste is super important.
About 3 yrs ago we set out to research the best drip brewer (we don't like the muddy results in a French press that our kids all use), after several previous ones, including a beloved 1970s Phillips/Norelco Dial-a-Brew, had finally given up the ghost.

Brew temp is critical and most don't get up to the proper temp, roughly 200 to 205. After reading a ton of reviews this Dutch job consistently got the best ratings from just about everyone:

https://www.seattlecoffeegear.com/mocca ... DR499K1080

Not wanting to spend those kind of bucks we ended up settling on a slightly less expensive one that was rated #2 in many tests and is Certified to maintain professional brewing temps. 3 Yrs on now we're very satisfied with it and it did make a real difference in the flavor, more than I had imagined.... highly recommended!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076PFMRGX/re ... rd_plhdr=t

[Firedome]

My only complaint with our Bonavita is the carafe doesn't keep it hot long enough, even pre-warmed, so now I'd recommend the glass pot...when brewing is done, I used to set the pot up on the edge of the warmer base rim so it would only be in part contact with the warmer, and it would keep it warm but nut burn the coffee, worked well. I'd go back to that method, given the choice again.

If this one craps out sometime I'd be tempted to spring for the Technivorn MoccaMaster next time, if only because it'd probably last the rest of my life, and it comes in my favorite color for appliances: orange!
https://www.amazon.com/Technivorm-Mocca ... d3EALw_wcB

[electra225]

I reckon I can hang out my shingle saying I'm a coffee maker fixer. If your pot is on the blink, call me. I sure fixed mine. Herein lies a tale.......

I performed the cleaning procedure on my Bunn coffee maker. Remember, this is a professional model coffee maker. No Walmart $19.95 model. This thing is intended to be used 24-7 with no bad habits, which it lives up to. It worked fine yesterday. Today, all it does is make icky looking liquid. I read and re-read the troubleshooting and setup procedures. I pulled out the "sprinkler head" and made sure it was clear. Everything was fine. I was getting lots of water. Why no coffee? Then it dawned on me......

After I make a pot of coffee, I can hear it warming up the water for the next pot. I didn't hear that sound, the sound of water heating. So, I checked the power switch, a rocker switch on the side. There is a little blue light in that switch that is on when the power is on. The power switch was off. It won't make coffee with cold water. Who knows how it got turned off, but it happened sometime between breakfast yesterday and breakfast this morning. To save marital strife, I'll blame Mittens. She is cute, so nobody will get mad at her if I don't have coffee in the morning. The good side of this is that I didn't call the company and make a total fool of myself.

I am enjoying a cup as we speak.

[Firedome]

Good deal. I know our cat Pumkin is often at fault, so no surprise if that turned out to be a cause...
So it keeps one pot worth of h20 warm/hot all the time? I only make 1- 8 cup pot each day in the early AM so wouldn't need hot water in reserve all the time, the way a high-demand place like a diner etc would. Bonavita only takes 5 min max to brew.

[electra225]

I think it is a 12-cup capacity if you fill the carafe up to the top line. I generally make 8 cups, that is enough to make me spend most of the morning in the bathroom. The tank holds 12 cups. Nothing works if the main switch isn't on. There is a switch on the front to control the warmer under the pot. I haven't turned off the main switch since we got it, so I never even gave it a thought. I use a coffee mug that is probably bigger than your normal coffee cup. I get four mugs of coffee each morning. Oddly, there is no mention made in the manual when troubleshooting about making sure the main power switch is on. I wonder how many calls the company gets just because a coffee maker got turned off accidentally?

Mittens has to have ice cream each evening. Blue Bunny vanilla only, thank you. (This is a true story I'm about to tell you, with my hand up!) She goes out to the kitchen in the wee tinies of the morning when her ice cream has melted. She eats it then goes "on the prowl" just in case a paper towel or dishrag, or whatever is loose, needing her to "capture" it then drag it all over the house. We have a woodworking clamp holding the dish rag to the sink so she can't "capture" the wet dishrag and deposit it on finished furniture. She may have "chased" something back behind the coffee maker, then bumped the switch on her way out. Who knows? It wasn't a big deal, just exciting when I couldn't have my coffee.....

[TC Chris]

Really good coffee is a treat. But as a frugal SOB, I object to paying $$$ every day for fancy coffee. So I make it at the office in a Mr. Coffee, using (oh yes, go ahead and cringe) Folger's from the grocery store. And because I'm not only cheap but also lazy, I make two days' worth. 4 mugs' worth, one a.m. and one p.m., two days. The second day gets microwaved. It gets improved a bit with canned condensed 2% milk. That's likely better for my plugged arteries than the half-and-half I used to use, plus it keeps forever. Now I've crossed all the boundaries, right? Cheap coffee, reheated, whitened.

Here's a coffee story. I was in Rome with my siblings. We had rented an apartment and spent a few days exploring. In the a.m.one day we headed off to the Vatican Museum. We stopped at a local coffee shop. One of the crew ordered "cafe latte." The rest of us chimed in "Yeah, I'll have a latte too!" The first one got coffee and hot frothed milk. The rest of us got a mug of hot frothed milk. Orders were followed strictly. Cafe latte vs latte. There's a difference. We all laughed when we realized what had happened.

Frugality in small things allows extravagance in larger ones. This winter I paid the boatyard to refinish and paint the bottom and topsides (hull) of my older sailboat (1961). The yard has done really fine work on other boats so I placed my order and then stepped out of the way. The cost was way WAY more than the market value of the boat. But now she's pretty again, and maybe if I come to grief somebody else will be inclined to adopt that pretty lady.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I drink Eight O'clock Columbian Blend coffee we buy at Walmart in the beans, then I grind it myself. My grandma used to go to A&P grocery store and buy Eight O'clock coffee by the ten pound bag. I started drinking coffee when I was about two because we couldn't afford (or grandma was too cheap to buy) orange juice and we always had a lot of coffee. The doctor gripes about how much caffeine I consume. That is my only vice.

[Firedome]

Well it sure ain't MY only vice, but I figure the 50 cents or so extra a day spent on really good coffee is worth it because when you drink it straight black you REALLY notice the difference, adulterated maybe not so much. For me it's not just about the caffeine jolt but about enjoying a really good cup (or 2 or 3) of good black coffee to start out each day right. Like they say "Life is too short to drink cheap wine" - and I'd add "and coffee!" To me it's one of life's great pleasures, and you can't have too many of those!

Just writing about this now - excuse me while I go get a cup o' Joe! lol

OK then... so when in Vermont we buy Vermont Coffee Co. Dark Organic Caribbean Sea: ethically-sourced, Non GMO, sustainable, all that good stuff. Coffee production can actually cause a lot of ecological damage if not done right, and the farmers are often taken advantage of. If we run out in the winter if need be we will buy Costo Columbian, Wegman's Columbian, or 8 O'Clock, whatever's available in whole beans at the particular store we happen to be at that week. But Vermont Coffee used to be a true local VT company in Middlebury that we liked supporting, however it was bought out by a big corporation, Stonewall Kitchen, last year, but at least they've had the sense to leave them alone.. so far.

[electra225]

Okay, you got me! I might have another teensy weensy little vise in addition to coffee. Pepsi. I drink way more than I should.

[Firedome]

I have too many to count! lol

[walyfd]

Best coffee maker I've ever had. Mom bought this for my grandparents for Christmas in 1954. Grandma never used it. I found it in the cabinet one day and started using it.

I LOVE 8 o'clock coffee. I remember the coffee grinders at the end of the checkout aisles at A&P. You ground it while your order was being rung up...

Chock full of nuts is a good coffee, too.

[TC Chris]

OK then... so when in Vermont we buy Vermont Coffee Co. Dark Organic Caribbean Sea: ethically-sourced, Non GMO, sustainable, all that good stuff. Coffee production can actually cause a lot of ecological damage if not done right, and the farmers are often taken advantage of. If we run out in the winter if need be we will buy Costo Columbian, Wegman's Columbian, or 8 O'Clock, whatever's available in whole beans at the particular store we happen to be at that week. But Vermont Coffee used to be a true local VT company in Middlebury that we liked supporting, however it was bought out by a big corporation, Stonewall Kitchen, last year, but at least they've had the sense to leave them alone.. so far.

I drink wine that comes in a box, as a clue to my degree of discernment.... But at home, on weekends, I grind the coffee from beans, and the beans are from local roasters who pay attention to the environmental and ethical components of the transactions. Even then, it's not nearly as good as the stuff you can get at a fancy coffee shop. There was a time when I stopped at one of those every a.m. But then they treated me with unusual rudeness once and I just stopped going. It really was superior coffee. Now I'm distant from coffee shops at work except for one that charges like $5 a pop, and besides, it's hard to carry a cup of coffee on the bicycle.

Chris Campbell

[TC Chris]

Okay, you got me! I might have another teensy weensy little vise in addition to coffee. Pepsi. I drink way more than I should.

My Dad, a doctor who did bones, was an anti-fizzy-drink evangelist, especially for women because of the effect on bone density (negative). The combo of sugar and fizz is not friendly to the body. It's never too late to reform... even if that means just cutting back.

Chris Campbell

[Firedome]

"I drink wine that comes in a box" .. yes, we do too sometimes, Franzia Merlot...we call it our CardBordeaux!

[hermitcrab]

we had the home version of the bun coffee maker ... what we liked was it could brew a pot in about 5 mins ... but being made out of plastic the heat and cold cycles took their toll on the body of the maker itself and the plastic started cracking and breaking... ended up getting another Mr.Coffee that takes 20 mins to brew a pot ...

[electra225]

My understanding is that our coffee maker is rebuildable. I don't know whether they'll send me the parts and let me do it, or if they have a local service center that does it. They say every part is available for repair or service. I got tired of the cheap coffee makers you buy at retail. Something was always wrong with them. If you break the carafe, the whole thing is junk. If you lose the funnel, the whole thing is junk. If some seemingly incidental plastic part breaks, the whole thing is junk. That is not a bargain to me. I want something I can fix is something breaks.

[Firedome]

From what I read only the $349 Bunn VP17 is a completely rebuildable Bunn model with metal brew chamber, its a true commercial model not hybrid with plastic parts.