I have a Mr Coffee coffeemaker that’s about a year and a half old. It’s a model with a heating element on the bottom to keep the coffee warm. Unfortunately, it’s not a great coffeemaker, and it drips all over itself each time I pull the carafe out to pour a cup of coffee. That happens even when brewing is past complete, but the dripping is worse if I pull it out before it’s done, despite it supposedly having the “brew pause” feature.
With the dripping, the bottom warming plate is becoming damaged. It’s hot enough to make the water sizzle and boil off, and as a result the plastic (?) surface is becoming bubbled and is starting to peel in a couple of places.
Is this coffeemaker still safe to use? I’ve been trying to remember to turn it off soon after brewing, so it doesn’t use the warming plate as much, but with that coating peeling off, I’m not sure how safe it is to have water on it.
You’re not at risk of electrocution, but the hot plate will probably start rusting with the covering off.
Just out of curiosity, have you tried to fix the dripping problem? Usually there’s a very simple little spring-loaded flap thing that stops the coffee from flowing down then the carafe is missing. They very commonly get clogged with grounds and coffee sludge and so usually it’s just a matter of washing it off. (On my brewer, you can take out the piece that the brew basket sits in and put it in a dishwasher).
I clean the entire thing fairly regularly. The spring-loaded bit is part of the brew basket, and I clean it daily. As far as I can tell there’s nothing stuck in it.
The obvious solution seems to be to take $20 to Wal-Mart, which will get you a new coffee maker that neither drips nor rusts/melts.
I think it’s normal for water to sizzle and boil off the warming elements - it happens with both of my current coffeemakers without any sgn of damage.
The peeling may be something like a teflon coating, but I really couldn’t say more without seeing the coffeemaker or knowing what brand/model we were talking about.
Other than that, my thinking is along the lines of GreasyJack’s.
The hot plate is not something to worry about. The only breakage concern you have is if the glass carafe gets accidentally warmed with nothing in it. In that case it’s prone to shatter without warning at any time. But the peeling hot plate - not a problem, it’s just not pretty. If you’re concerned with even heating at all for protection of the glass bottom, you could always find a metal piece that fits directly on top of the hot plate and place the carafe on that. Still not pretty, but functional.
“Mr. Coffee” coffeemakers subject to the modification are identifiable by a letter and a two-digit number etched into the upper right-hand portion of the outside of the back cover plate. Only those machines bearing the letters “G”, “H”, “I”, “J”, "K’, and “L”, and the number “75” are affected. (For example, “G-75”.)
