Using Burnzy's solution for little/no water

My picture had arrows with labels indicating the location of the pump and the check valve, but they disappeared when I posted it. Anyway, It sounds like you have located the check valve that causes most of the brewing problems. The valve is white and semi-transparent with a spring in the middle. When this valve fails, water flows from the tanks and down into the air pump (white/silver cylinder) which disables the pump.

I have repaired three of these now, and two needed new check valves, but only one just needed to be cleaned. I found the valves on ebay for $7.00 (try seller; "Dartbikes"). if you do need to replace the valve, make sure that you purchase a high heat (275+ deg F)rated 1/4" to 1/4" check valve. The new valve will not be identical to the original, so will be adding the valve under the original. This should fix your problem... however, one of the units I fixed had a frozen pump which was caused by the water that got into it. I was able to open the pump and free the frozen parts with silicone, then it worked fine again.

As for your second question, no you don't need to run a cycle or drain it before opening the unit. However, you should unplug the machine to prevent getting shocked. Though, you may need to power in on a few times while it's open to test it. So if you do, don't touch any terminals or exposed wires.

Good luck and let me know if you still have questions, Erik