My percolator makes hot water instead of coffee?!


Question: I recently began using an electric percolator, a hand-me-down from my mom. It has an intermittent problem that I am just not sure how to solve. Sometimes, it makes a nice, strong cup of coffee that I am pretty sure God himself came down to brew for me. And sometimes it makes hot water.
The basket is holding the same amount of grounds each time, and the bubbling is working, as audibly as it does when it works. I have asked others, and received two seperate answers:
1: "If you put too much water in, it will not boil through correctly, and never go through the basket."
2: "If you don't put enough water in, then it doesn't boil all the way to the top of the straw, so it doesn't go through the basket."

As a point of interest, sometimes the coffee grounds are boone dry after this, and sometimes they look as though water has gone through them (in which case the water is light tan). I am tired of having to re-pour my hot water through the basket. Can anyone help me?


Answers: I recently began using an electric percolator, a hand-me-down from my mom. It has an intermittent problem that I am just not sure how to solve. Sometimes, it makes a nice, strong cup of coffee that I am pretty sure God himself came down to brew for me. And sometimes it makes hot water.
The basket is holding the same amount of grounds each time, and the bubbling is working, as audibly as it does when it works. I have asked others, and received two seperate answers:
1: "If you put too much water in, it will not boil through correctly, and never go through the basket."
2: "If you don't put enough water in, then it doesn't boil all the way to the top of the straw, so it doesn't go through the basket."

As a point of interest, sometimes the coffee grounds are boone dry after this, and sometimes they look as though water has gone through them (in which case the water is light tan). I am tired of having to re-pour my hot water through the basket. Can anyone help me?

make sure you allow it long enough time to perculate...in beginning it looks like water and then really weak coffee but as you continue to perculate it becomes stronger and stronger like regular coffee...

i had to use an electric percolator at work every morning to make coffee for the boss. there use to be little fill lines on the inside, and the plastic basket was on top, i used to use a coffee filter inside the basket and it worked great every morning, never had a problem

It sounds to me like it's time to take in for repairs. The timer isn't functioning properly. If you love this pot, then it's worth a few bucks to take it to a small appliance repair shop.





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