Just been made aware of the new EU regulations regarding coffee machines. I have just bought a new machine which switches off automatically after 40 minutes meaning that unless I drink ten cups of coffee in one sitting the coffee goes cold or gets wasted.
Is there a way to bypass this rediculous EU regulation with a simple wiring fix. Many thanks

 

Welcome to AAC!

This isn't what you asked, but...

Do you have a microwave oven? I did the calculations and having a coffee maker keep coffee warm for an hour or two is a waste of energy. They don't even keep it hot enough.

 

Just been made aware of the new EU regulations regarding coffee machines. I have just bought a new machine which switches off automatically after 40 minutes meaning that unless I drink ten cups of coffee in one sitting the coffee goes cold or gets wasted.
Is there a way to bypass this rediculous EU regulation with a simple wiring fix. Many thanks

Take it apart, remove all the electronics, replace with a single power switch.

I, too, like the freedom to choose when my coffee gets cold.

 

Welcome to AAC!

This isn't what you asked, but...

Do you have a microwave oven? I did the calculations and having a coffee maker keep coffee warm for an hour or two is a waste of energy. They don't even keep it hot enough.

This one's pretty good at keeping it hot but only for 40 mins. I hear what you're saying but I figured the very reason you buy yourself a coffee machine is so that you can have hot coffee all day. I drink about 5 mugs a day but not in 40 mins.
I figured there must be a work around the circuitry to bypass this timing circuit

 

Use a vacuum bottle carafe... Keeps it hot without burning it. Nothing quite like coffee that's been sitting on a hot plate for a few hours.

 

This one's pretty good at keeping it hot but only for 40 mins. I hear what you're saying but I figured the very reason you buy yourself a coffee machine is so that you can have hot coffee all day. I drink about 5 mugs a day but not in 40 mins.
I figured there must be a work around the circuitry to bypass this timing circuit

Mine is almost hot enough right when it's made. A few minutes after that and it's too cool for my liking (though I use my coffee maker to make tea).

If your coffee maker is 1KW (mine is 900W), having it on for an hour costs you a KWH in electricity. If you heat that coffee in a 1KW microwave, you can have a hot beverage in less than 2 minutes; or 2KW minutes of electricity.

Is hacking it worth burning your house down?

You're not a coffee purist because heating it for 40 minutes is a no-no.

 

If your coffee maker is 1KW (mine is 900W), having it on for an hour costs you a KWH in electricity.

10 cents/hour (including regulatory charges)? Damn, I'm gonna have to start drinking Starbucks.

 

10 cents/hour (including regulatory charges)?

That would be nice!
Most of the world power prices are a lot higher than 10 cents.
Here in Oz, ours is around 34 cents/KWH, (plus connection charge) although some others places are still higher than that.

 

Use a vacuum bottle carafe... Keeps it hot without burning it. Nothing quite like coffee that's been sitting on a hot plate for a few hours.

Agreed. For that matter, even in an insulated carafe it's degrading over time. If you're home anyway, brew half size batches twice as often - it'll be fresher and warmer.

Most home coffee machines aren't well optimized for their maximum brew size anyway (they take too long to deliver the water, meaning you either get too long of contact time which leads to over extraction, or the bed of coffee isn't fully saturated all the way up, leading to very inconsistent extraction.) Of course this varies by model, but most home machines will brew better tasting coffee when running well below their claimed capacity.

 

Mine is almost hot enough right when it's made. A few minutes after that and it's too cool for my liking (though I use my coffee maker to make tea).

If your coffee maker is 1KW (mine is 900W), having it on for an hour costs you a KWH in electricity. If you heat that coffee in a 1KW microwave, you can have a hot beverage in less than 2 minutes; or 2KW minutes of electricity.

Is hacking it worth burning your house down?

You're not a coffee purist because heating it for 40 minutes is a no-no.

I like my coffee strong black and stewed. Which is why I like to come back to the machine after a couple of hours. My old machine stayed on all day but the hotplate wasn't as powerful. This one is 900W so the coffee is nice and hot. Think I may have to go down the microwave route or make ¼ of the usual amount but more often

 

Agreed. For that matter, even in an insulated carafe it's degrading over time. If you're home anyway, brew half size batches twice as often - it'll be fresher and warmer.

Most home coffee machines aren't well optimized for their maximum brew size anyway (they take too long to deliver the water, meaning you either get too long of contact time which leads to over extraction, or the bed of coffee isn't fully saturated all the way up, leading to very inconsistent extraction.) Of course this varies by model, but most home machines will brew better tasting coffee when running well below their claimed capacity.

Yep.looks like that's the route I'm going down. Less coffee more often and the microwave. Pain in the arse but really just another first world problem. Thought there might be a simple wiring fix to by pass the timer

 

Yep.looks like that's the route I'm going down. Less coffee more often and the microwave. Pain in the arse but really just another first world problem. Thought there might be a simple wiring fix to by pass the timer

If you're really confident that you can work on it without creating a safety hazard, you can look inside and try to get a better sense of how it works.

Unfortunately, home machines almost never have schematics available, because these days they're expected to be thrown away and replaced, not repaired. So, you'd have to reverse engineer it yourself.

It's possible that you'd find something in there that can be modified, but there's also a pretty good chance that what you'll find is a proprietary microcontroller that handles everything, in which case the only way to change any behavior is to reprogram it (essentially impossible in most cases) or create an entirely new control system to replace it - in other words gut the whole machine and replace all electronics.

 

Or you could make your coffee and then put the pot on one of these - https://www.amazon.com/Electric-Single-Burner-Hot-Plate/dp/B00BBBX1LC

 

Yep.looks like that's the route I'm going down. Less coffee more often and the microwave. Pain in the arse but really just another first world problem. Thought there might be a simple wiring fix to by pass the timer

The timer is probably controlled by a microcontroller. You could hack it to have the heating element be on whenever the coffee maker is plugged in, but doing that isn't without risks (e.g. a fire).

You could go with a Keurig and make single servings. I received one as a gift several years ago. My Wife and Daughter use it, but I haven't. I consider the single use pods to be environmentally unfriendly, though they do make reusable pods.

 

My wife and I have a big drip-maker but only make half a pot at a time because it is better coffee. Then pour it into the insulated carafe and drink it over a couple of hours. Repeat as needed.

 

Here is a REALLY RADICAL SUGGESTION: Brew less than the whole ten cups. I have a coffee maker that can brew up to 8 cups. If I just use half as many grounds and half as much water I get 4 cups. And I can drink that much in no time at all. But you will need to learn how much grounds to use for half a pot of coffee.

OR, does your coffee supply come in a ten-cup package? In that case you will need a seal-able container to hold the other half until you are ready to use it. AND you do not need to mess with the coffee maker at all.

 

Yes. That's what I have been doing. Half a pot. Take a mug when finished. Turn it off and back on again. Come back. Take another mug. By the time I've finished the second mug the third one is still hot. Repeat if necessary. Microwaving anything that is left for any later on coffee requirements.

 

I never liked the burned coffee that we got after a couple of hours cooking, with the maker we had at the one job. So my solution was to glue three pennies to the perimeter of the hotplate to reduce the heat input a bit. I had to glue them well because others would steal them, not understanding the reason for them being there.

 

So my solution was to glue three pennies to the perimeter of the hotplate to reduce the heat input a bit.

What type of glue can withstand a hotplates temperature? I'm looking for a heat resistant glue.

 

One time I used clear silicone RTV. One time I used superglue. The one that did not fail was Blue Loctite. But it may possibly been the RED. That was quite a while back.
Of course, most folks have a hard time grabbing pennies glued to a quite hot surface. So the glue does not need to be super strength.