How Coffee Makers Work

Ever wondered how coffee makers work?
We all wake up in the morning and depend on our old friend to start our day.

The only effort we have to put in when wanting to enjoy a mug of coffee is to add a scoop of freshly ground beans, add the required amount of water and turn the machine on.

We stand back and voila: your coffee is ready to enjoy. Think about it, have you ever stood there and tried to understand how the water gets from the compartment to the top of the machine?

Have you ever wondered what that gurgling sound was? Here is what goes on inside.

If you open the top of the coffee machine, you will find the bucket that holds the water when you pour it in before the cycle starts.

Inside, there's a hole in the bucket's bottom and a tube. The purpose of this tube is to carry the water to the area where it drips out.

The drip area is the part you see from the top that contains all the tiny holes. This is where the water arrives from the tube and then simply drips through the tiny holes.

If you turn the bucket upside down, you will see another tube and this is called the hot-water tube. It connects to the first tube that you see when looking at it from the top.

Remember the hole in the bottom of the bucket mentioned earlier? Well, this is where the cold water is picked up. Also visible inside are the power cord and the on and off switch of the machine.

Next is the heating element. This little part is what heats the water. It's just a simple coiled wire. This is similar to filament in your standard light bulb or the element in your every morning toaster.

The coil in the coffee maker is held firmly in plaster, and this makes it rugged. This element has two jobs.

The heating element (or the coil) boils the water when it is put in the coffee maker and keeps the coffee warm once the cycle is complete.

The heating element inside the coffee machine is pressed firmly against the warming plate. A heat conducting grease ensures that heat is transferred competently to the warming plate. The conducting grease is messy and is extremely difficult to get off yours hands. This grease can be found in power supplies, amplifiers - basically anything that squanders heat.

There is a part that's not visible in a coffee machine and this is the one-way valve. This valve can either be in that hole that was mentioned earlier or it could be in the heating pipe, and this pipe is aluminum. If a coffee machine had no one-way valve, the hot water would just flow back into the bucket after trying to make its way up the tube.

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