I bought this coffee maker in 1994. That means, 15 years of heavy duty service as I am a real big coffee drinker. I regularly clean it completely.

The machine started giving up about two years ago. The plastic tube that carries the boiling water upwards was cracking up. A first simple repair lasted for quite some time: I took out the damaged tube, put aluminum foil around it and secured it by lots of cotton sewing thread, as you cannot use any glue or plastic stuff due to the hot temperature.

But then the whole tube disintegrated. Solution: our Chinese maid found some stainless steel pipes that were a near fit. I replaced the plastic with the stainless steel tube.

As the boiling water goes through it and the pipe sits in the water container, the water starts to warm up slightly but that is not a major problem.

I hate to throw away stuff. Repairing keeps it for much longer instead of polluting the environment with the discarded machine and using more of our precious resources.

I know, the USA is number one in buy – use – throw away when broken; China is a willing copier of this nasty and shameless consumer habit.