Coffe Maker

How A Coffee Maker Works

When we wake up in the morning we have an old friend to start our day with - the coffee maker. The only real effort we have to put in when we want to enjoy a hot cup of coffee is to add a scoop of coffee, then the water, and turn the machine on. We just stand back and wait for our coffee to be ready. Think about it, have you ever stood there watching the coffee machine wondering how the water gets from where you poured it in, to the top of the machine? Have you ever wondered what the gurgling sound was? Here is what is happening inside. When you open the top of the coffee machine you will see the reservoir that holds the water when you pour it in before the cycle starts. If you look inside, you will see a hole in the bottom, and this will become clear to you very soon. You also see a tube, and this tube is used to carry the water to the area where it drips out. The drip area is the part you see from the top where you put the filter in. This is where the water arrives from the tube and then simply drips through the tiny holes. If you turn the machine upside down, you will see another tube and this is called the hot-water tube. This tube connects to the other tube that you see when looking at it from the top. Remember the hole in the bottom of the reservoir mentioned earlier? Well, this is where the second tube picks up the cold water - from that hole. You can also see inside, the power cord and the on and off switch of the machine.

The next thing is the heating element. This is the little part that makes the water hot. The heating element is basically just a simple coiled wire. This is similar to the filament in your standard light bulb or the element in your toaster. The coil inside the coffee maker is held firmly in place with plaster, which makes it rugged. The element has two jobs:

* The heating element boils the water that is put in the coffee maker.

* The element keeps the coffee warm once the cycle is complete.

The heating element in the coffee machine is pressed tightly against the warming plate, and a heat conducting grease ensures that heat is transferred efficiently to the warming plate. The conducting grease is oily and can be extremely difficult to get off your hands. This grease can be found in amplifiers, power supplies, and in basically anything that squanders heat.

There is a part that you can't see in a coffee maker and this is the one-way valve. This valve can either be in the hole that was mentioned earlier or it could be in the heating pipe. If a coffee maker didn't have a one way valve, the hot water would just flow back into the reservoir after trying to make its way up the tube.