Burp it and Spank it!! (the secret Keurig fix)

WARNING***  there is a lot of back story before the actual solution.  So feel free to skip all my rambling and go right to the meat of the issue.  You will know it when you see it...Promise.


THE BACK STORY:
Okay, for those of you wonderful people who read this blog who don't know me personally I need to let you in on a little secret: I am a Cragslist-a-holic. Yes its true I am.  I love finding great deals on items that others are tired of but are new to me, or I can completely overhaul them to make the new again. My husband thinks this is a problem, but I consider it a blessing and great fun.  Its kind of like the ultimate scavenger or treasure hunt!  You wouldn't believe some of the gems I have found.  I purchased a weeks old Leather couch from a nice couple who when they got it home realized that the reclining ends didn't work with their room size and coffee tables.  Bless them for being able to go out to purchase another couch and put this one right up on Craigslist for a fraction of their cost.  I'm talking this baby was NEVER used!!! I have been lovingly sitting on it for two years, my kids not as lovingly, but it has held up like a champ keeping that sweet leather smell and buttery soft feel.  Next I purchased my Buick Rendezvous for a STEAL.  It was just what I wanted.  A small-ish SUV, fully loaded, and with BONUS a third row (she had it customized when she purchased it brand new).  It was driven by a sweet older lady who put a grand total of 35k miles on it in 4 years.  A STEAL I tell ya!! Next was a couch and love seat for my den from a young couple moving. I could go on and on and on and on (yes I really do buy that much stuff off of there), but I think you get the picture.  So I told you all that so that you could understand why I made my next purchase the way I did.  I have wanted a Keurig ever since my sweet friend Kristi told me about them before Christmas.  Her zeal for "the perfect cup of coffee" Keurig style was infectious.  So I started doing my daily Craigslist scan (I happen to live fairly close to two large cities so there are usually a good variety of items to choose from).  A few days ago I came across THE PERFECT MACHINE a Cuisinart Keurig.  This machine retails for $199 at most stores, and I am not going to make all you keurig owners who paid full price for your machines mad by telling you what I gave.  I will tell you that I paid about $20 less that what the cheapest Keurig mini costs brand new he he he.  Now you are asking "what is the point to all this if its not to just make me mad about paying more?".  Its this... the Keurig had an issue I learned about upon pickup: it wasn't dispensing the correct sized cups of coffee.  Now I had done extensive research on these machines, and I had a intuition that there might be a problem with it or one would be arising soon.  (If you are a Keurig owner and don't know, they don't have the best track record.  There have been recalls, faulty pieces used on the insides, and other issues with them.)  The seller told me that she had only used the machine for two weeks before her children (not knowing she had just purchased one) bought her a Keurig for Christmas.  Since theirs was a gift, she said she felt she needed to keep theirs, but didn't need two so she was selling the one she purchased. Anyway I was fairly certain that I could fix the problem. Oh, I forgot to mention the machine is still under warranty so if I couldn't fix it I could always return it for a new one she just didnt want to bother with it since she had another now.  So, SCORE!

NOW TO THE POINT OF THIS WHOLE POST 

(whew that was a lot of back story)

The Keurig did have an issue with dispensing short cups...like REAALLYYY short, and I tried several tricks to fix it that I found online.  Still didn't work.  Until I stumbled across this article on a website called Coffee Detective.  It was an interesting little write up that didn't help at all.  Yes I said it didn't help, until the very last line where it said to read the comments for others suggestion and solutions that they have found.  there I hit the GOLD MINE of keurig pointers from others who have triumphed over Keurig related issues, #1 of which seemed to be brewing a short cup.  That was what my machine was doing so I started devouring comments.  What I read cracked me up...some of them were downright hilarious, but they all had a main theme Spank that machine baby!!

Now I was skeptical,but before I went to the trouble to pack up the machine and return it to get a new one I wanted to exhaust every solution, especially since after all this I figured I would probably just face the same problem in a new machine.  So I tried exactly what they said.

Step 1:
Flush your system with water only

Step two:
Take out the piece that your purchased K-cup sits in and take it fully apart and flush with warm soapy water.

Step three: (not really necessary, but a great idea) take some compressed air and blow into the two needles. Then flush with warm soapy water.

Step four: (Here it is folks the one you were waiting for)
a)unplug your machine
b)Take your reservoir off (if there is a removable one)
c)Take your machine to a large sink (or bath tub if your sink isn't big enough)
d)Turn it upside down
e)bang on the bottom (i used an open hand, but whatever works for you).  I mean really go to town    smacking the mess out of the bottom of that machine.  Because mine was new nothing came out but some gurgling water and air, but several who had older machines noted that grounds came out with their water and air.
f)Turn machine right side up
g)replace water reservoir
h)plug in

Step five:
pop in a new K-cup and choose the size you prefer

Step six:
watch as your cup is filled with the CORRECT amount of coffee

Step seven:
Celebrate with a little shimmy dance at having fixed your awesome machine all by yourself

Step eight:
Enjoy your coffee/tea/cocoa

Step nine:
LEAVE ME A COMMENT telling me how awesome you are feeling right now!!!


So I hope this worked out for you as well as it did for me, and as always please let me know what you think.  If you did read the long back story and are a fellow Craigslist-a-holic I would LOVE to hear about your finds!  Its so exciting to get a great deal isn't it!!!

As always have a great day and God Bless.