Bunn coffee part 2

I had the fancy one with the black plastic and stainless steel water tank. Paid around 100 bucks for it thinking I was getting top quality and a unit that would last for many years. Had the same problem with it not making a full pot even though a full pot of water was used each time. Since the water in the tank stays hot, some will evaporate while sitting idle awaiting additional water being added for a new pot of coffee.

Problems started about a month after purchase when it started running slow and making noise. Reading the book, it said to clean water tube with the included "de-limer" a/k/a zip tie. Did this with no improvement. Used a piece of fine braid 3/32" cable instead. Speed improved, noise got worse. After a couple more months of routine cleaning to keep the speed up, less and less coffee every time even though same volume of water was used. About 8 months into it, it started making severe noise and taking forever to get hot. Called bunn, explained the problem and they offered no assistance other than to return it to the store where purchased. Store had since gone out of business thus a return was impossible.

Decided to rip it down and check out what the problem was myself. Removed the covers and top of tank to find a real nasty mess. Solid sludge about 1" deep in the bottom of the tank, heating element in the tank had actually blown open not only exposing the electrically live portions of it to the water but also allowing all the filler between the electrical element and outer shell to drop into the water tank as well. Made me sick to the stomach to think I was actually drinking coffee that came from this crud tank.

Tossed the bunn to the trash and my wife picked up a plain jane 12 cup GE at wally world for 20 bucks. No stored water, one on/off switch and makes 12 cups with ice cold water in 10 minutes. Also will hold coffee in pot for about 3 hours without giving it a burned taste.

Just wanted to throw this out for you to consider... if you have a bunn, may want to take a look inside and see what you're really drinking.

1. Use Lime-A-Way or some other lime cleaner and run some diluted through the system. Make sure you flush it out well afterward.

2. Get filtered/bottled water for use in your coffee machine. Will still need cleaning out from time to time, but not nearly as often as with the tap water.

We have one of the plastic "home" Bunn machines and have had it for a long time. We clean it out with the lime stuff from time to time (when it begins to slow down a little). It has never made any noises, has never produced less than a full pot of coffee and it stays on 24/7.