How Does a Coffee Maker Pump Water?

For many people, the thought of a life devoid of coffee is almost unthinkable. It serves as a vital source of energy, propelling us to tackle our day with zest. In the realm of brewing coffee, the coffee maker remains unparalleled. This appliance revolutionizes the coffee-making process, ensuring we can effortlessly enjoy an ideal cup of coffee each day. Have you ever wondered about the mechanism by which a coffee maker circulates water?

Just like any other electrical appliance, the coffee maker equips a lot of components inside it. These components work on specific parts. The interesting fact is there is no pumper inside the coffee maker. So, how the water travels through the ground coffee from the water reservoir. You may find this weird but that is actually not.

In this article, we will discuss how your coffee maker pumps the water without a pumper. We will also let you know about different parts of the coffee maker. Keep reading the article.

Different Parts of a Coffee Maker

Before you know how a coffee maker heat the water and pump it, you should know the parts that consist a coffee maker. Different types of coffee makers may include discrete parts. In this article, we will discuss the drip coffee maker. That is because it is the most used variation of the coffee maker. So, let’s know the parts.

Reservoir

One of the noticeable features of your coffee maker is the reservoir. It holds water for making the coffee. It’s the part where you pour the water before making the coffee. The size of the water reservoir varies on a large scale based on the models. Some coffee maker equips bigger pumps while some can include small ones. You may notice some holes in the bottom of the coffee maker which we will discuss later.

Shower Head

The showerhead is the part that pours the water on your coffee ground. There is a white tube in the machine that bring the hot water to the showerhead. The showerhead of the coffee maker is designed to release the water in a way so that it can extract most flavor and taste from the coffee grounds.

Heating Element

The heating element is one of the important parts of the coffee maker. It is the part that heats up your water for the coffee perfectly. The heating element of the coffee maker also keeps the coffee hot through the warm plate. It is placed between the heating plate and some tubes. The heating element is something like an electric coil that you see in the electric heater.

There are sensors that control the heating element. When your water becomes hot enough, the sensor stops it. The same thing goes for the heating plate. When the heating plate is hot enough, the sensor cuts out the power to it. When the temperature drops at a certain point, the sensors turn on the power to keep your coffee hot.

One-way Valve

The one-way valve is the part that works as the pumper inside the machine to pump the water. The interesting fact is it is not something that you can consider as the pump. It is typically placed either in the aluminum pipe or on the hole of the bucket. Through the valve, the hot water comes to the coffee ground while the cold water come back to water reservoir.

How Does a Coffee Maker Pump Water?

When you pour the water into the coffee maker reservoir, it goes through the bottom holes in the machine. The water goes to an orange tube in the machine. Then the water goes through the one-way valve of the machine to the aluminum tube. That is where the water got heated and go a bit up through the white tube because of the force of gravity.

When the coffee maker switch is turned on, the water will become hot through the mechanism of the heating element. This will start boiling the water in less pressure under 100 C. The bubbles created by the boiling will go through the white tube. The bubbles also being a column of water upwards on the ground coffee beans. It gets evenly dispersed on the coffee grounds to extract the flavor.

And, then mixed coffee and water goes to the carafe from there. This is how your coffee maker works to make the coffee. Finally, we can say that the valve and mechanism inside your coffee maker make the work done of pump. That too without using an actual pumper.

When A Coffee Maker Don’t Pump Water

If your coffee maker is not pumping the water, there can be several reasons behind this. Below, we will let you know some of the main reasons behind this.

Clogged Pipe

Most of the time, the coffee maker may not be able to pump the water properly due to a clogged pipe. Especially, if you use hard water in the coffee maker, there are chances of buildup of minerals. Along with making your coffee taste bad, the buildup can sometimes even clog the pipes. Sometimes the pipe may also get blocked due to the algae and mold buildup.

Make sure that you are cleaning the coffee maker on a regular basis. Also, try to use filtered or bottled water on the coffee maker. The hard water is not only bad for the coffee maker it can also be harmful for you as the coffee maker don’t boil the water.

Malfunctioned Parts

Sometimes the coffee maker part can be got damaged after using for a long period. If parts like pipe or the heating element get malfunctioned, then the coffee maker might not be able to pump the water properly. Moreover, sometimes the one-way valve can also get damaged and prevent the water from going upward.

Conclusion

Hopefully this article will help you to understand how the coffee maker pump water without utilizing a pumper. If your coffee maker is not pumping water accurately, you should contact a technician or the customer support of the coffee maker manufacturer.