Lately whether I put in pre-ground beans or whole beans, 1/2 the pot while dripping, leaks all over the counter, Help!

Good morning Kenneth.

There are a couple directions you could take to diagnose this.
Since the change happened overnight, or quickly in any case, this tends to suggest clogging or contamination that happened recently.
My suggestions:

1. Try running a batch of coffee with no grounds in at all. Fill up the water, run it on 'pre-ground' mode, and let the hot water run into the tank. Is the water clear in appearance as expected? Does the water run into the pot in about the time you'd expect? Does it flow readily from the filter outlet into the pot, or come in dribbles and spurts? And... if you taste the warm water, does it taste like nice neutral water, or is there an overall taste?
2. If any of the above is true, then your water path can me mucked up. A few possibilities here would be :
   1. There is usually a water filter in the unit, which will get gunked up with water filtrate, or just algae over time. You'll need to look at your manual for your particular model to find how to access it. Changing the filter can make a big difference in both taste and in how reliably water flows from the reservoir.
   2. The filter cone is gunked up. Usually you can remove the entire filter cone assembly for cleaning. There is pretty much always a spring-loaded push valve on the bottom that will not allow coffee to flow out the bottom unless the pot is in place. This can get majorly gunked up with old coffee grounds that overflowed at some point or another. Make sure the valve is free of debris, along with the surrounding area.
3. if the water path is ok, then 'weak' coffee translates into 'the water and the grounds are not interacting enough'. that can come from a couple directions:
   1. Not enough coffee, or stale coffee. I'm discounting that since you said you'd already tried both pre-ground and auto, and i assume you used the same amount of coffee grounds.
   2. Water is not hot enough to extract coffee essence from the grounds. If the system is pumping the water over the grounds, but it's cold, then if you are on morning auto-mode, it's possible the morning timer is running tepid water, and then heating it with the pot heater.
   3. Water is hot, but not in contact with the grounds long enough to extract much. This could either be that the system is flowing really fast - whether high water flow would mean fast pass-through will depend on the filter specifics, or that it's by=passing the filter. If there is an overflow catch that will still direct the coffee to the pot is it misses, then you may be either flooding and catching, or the filter might be mis-seated, so that some significant amount of the water can just flow past it. Your description reminds me of some times that the paper filter in my system has folded over, so that the water is dripping against the outside of the paper filter and then running down to the bottom of the filter holder. Bleccch.
   Hoping this is helpful!
   
   Good Luck

I'm assuming you've got a coffee filter pot as this is the most common kind (especially as wedding gifts).

1. Boil the water.

2. Put the filter (should come with the pot) into the filter holder.

3. Add 2 level tbsp. of ground coffee per 6 oz of water.

4. Pour some of the hot water over the coffee grounds, giving them a few seconds to swell.

5. Now add the rest of the hot water and allow the coffee to slowly drip through the filter.

6. Remove the filter with the coffee grounds in just before the final drops of water go through.

7. Now sit down and enjoy!

Hi,

There are whole coffee beans, and there are ground coffee beans, but there is no such thing as "pre-ground" coffee beans because you wouldn't want the beans to be ground AFTER making coffee.

If you have a problem using "pre-ground" beans, then STOP using pre-ground beans and grind them yourself.

I hope this helps.
Randy

finer grind setting and non oily beans did the trick for me.......

I cook 140 lbs of beans every year at church for a ham & bean dinner. I soak them overnight in 4 large rubbermaid containers (about 35 lbs in each covered all the way to the top with cold water). In the morning I drain the water, rinse beans and divide between about 14 cookers (several of them are the 22 qt roasters). You can put beans in to about 1 1/2 to 2" of the top rim. Put a ham bone in (I pre-cook about 12 10 lb bone-in hams two to a roaster sitting in about 1" water several days before, chop the meat, save the juice and the bones) and a cupped palm full of salt (3/4 to 1 T ?) and cover with water. Cook on about 350 degrees. When they start going dry add the leftover ham drippings that were saved (I usually have it heating in a crockpot nearby so that it doesn't slow the cooking of the beans down).

Just use the whole bean. Using pre ground coffee through your grinder will screw the blades completely.
However if you have a decaff option that allows you to put coffee directly into the brewer that would be ok........just dont put it into your hopper that feeds the grinder.

Hi
Open the door and remove the drip tray. Then remove the brew unit and empty the beans. Make sure that you get all the beans. Check the brew unit thoroughly. Then put everything back. Try the pre ground button but don't put anything in the brew unit then push the medium coffee button. That will run the machine through a brew cycle and if it works OK then you set to go.

When I brew coffee, I use a mild to medium columbian roast. I then use one tablespoon of coffee grounds for ea 2 cups of water as marked on the pot. The measure of coffee is the same whether you use the ground or the whole bean.

I always use fresh filtered water. Chlorine, flouride, and any other ingredient in the water affects the flavor of the coffee.
I stay away from the french roasts & dark roasts. they are very bitter and frequently taste like ashtray to me.
I assume that the coffee pot uses a 6 oz measure of water for their one cup of coffee.
I frequently check the drip area for coffee sludge buildup. That also affects the coffee flavor if the coffee sits at all.

Hope this helps

Hey Nashville,

I have a few suggestions/questions for you. I've had the Innova(Ascaso) Dream for several years now and use it at least twice daily. I would trust your own senses before sweating the gauges too much. If you're really worried about it being a temperature problem, my first question is whether or not the espresso is actually hot when it comes out.

But my best guess is honestly your beans and grinder (or lack thereof). The problem with using pre-ground beans is that even on the day you open the can, they won't be nearly as fresh as truly fresh ground beans you grind yourself. And the problem gets dramatically worse every day after they are opened.

The key to a thick, crema-laden espresso is very fresh beans that you grind right before making your espresso. You can certainly confirm that the machine is working with any old coffee grinder and a bag of *really* fresh beans from a local roaster.

You really need all the oils that come with really fresh-roasted and fresh-ground beans. And the beans really need to be ground very fine for espresso.

I keep a can of pre-ground Illy decaf beans around for the rare occasions I need to make a decaf, and it's like night a day between that and what I drink daily.

If you try the fresh beans and grind them yourself and can see the obvious difference, then you may want to invest in a good-quality burr grinder (as opposed to the spinning blade kind that most folks use for drip coffee). The reason is that with a burr grinder you can get consistently-sized particles every time. So once you get the setting right on your grinder you can keep pumping out the shots time after time. With a rotary blade grinder you get some big pieces, some little pieces and the water flows through too easily -- or you grind it longer and (1) burn the beans from the heat, and (2) end up with some particles that are just too small -- essentially dust, that will actually clog the process.

So, my best suggestion would be to find a local cafe/roaster and buy a half a pound of beans from them and grind yourself. If you don't have a grinder or want to eliminate a variable, ask them to grind it for you for an espresso machine.

Again, if you can see the difference (and I think you will), then you can consider getting yourself a good grinder.

Good luck!

Tony

Hi Chris,

The leaking is your steam valve that has to be replaced, you can see this if you open the door and look up in the right corner there you will see water drip.

If not then you have a pipe or boiler leak.

How old is your machine?
How often do you descale the machine?

When you try to make a cup of coffee, starts the grinder for two seconds or is it dead?

Hope this will help you.