Senseo not working properly

[CeeJay]

Had a bog standard Senseo for a number of years now but suddenly it wouldn't fill up a mug of coffee when the requisite button pressed, only half a mug. Contacted Philips for advice and was told to clean it twice and flush thoroughly, if this didn't work I was advised to buy a new one!

Cleaned it thoroughly as advised but still not working properly. OK, time for a new one and started looking at Darty etc., however the thought occured to me that if I replaced the pod holder with the two pod holder what would happen. It worked a treat, so checked the difference bewtween the two and found that the very inner hole of the two pod holder was bright shiny new, on the other it was manky and dark brown. So I cleaned the old one with a pin and lo and behold it also works a treat. Saved myself about €50.

Not posting this to show how clever I am, although wife thought so!!! But it is very easy in our materialistic world just to throw things away and easy to buy again on the internet.

[Christine Animal]

Had exactly the same problem.  So went and got the pod holder from an old Senseo (that I hadn't thrown out even though it doesn't work!) and it works perfectly again.

So if you do throw an old one out, keep all the loose bits, accessories.  Have had so many coffee machines over the years, but there's nothing to match the Senseo coffee.   [:)]

Just wish they wouldn't keep changing the names of the pods.  We used to buy Espresso, which then became Ristretto.  Now I'm not sure what it has become!

 

[Chancer]

Your in good company, I have often détartré'd mine for it to make little difference, like you I found the blockage in the pod holder, I now scrape it clear with a dental pick as the détartrant doesnt seem to dissolve it, I think its coffee grunge not calcaire.

Have you found the purge/prime function yet? My one in the UK dried out over winter and would not prime, I was just playing pressing buttons randomly and I found it, you hold down the outer buttons and press the inner one to action it.

Still plenty of good value and non brand coffee pads in France, the Aldi expresso ones are very good, but in the UK you are lucky to find one packet on the whole rayon, always Douwé Egberts and more often than not the double mug size, no-one does their own brands any more, bref, there is no longer any choice and if you dont like the flavour or want a single cup size then tough, this was my experience in Tesco and Asda, Lidl and Aldi no longer stock theirs either.

A real shame as its still a great system but they make there money by selling the machine and initially having the monopoly on the coffee sales so all the efforts now are on the various cartridge systems.

[Hereford]

Assuming you have one: put the pod things in the dishwasher every week or so - works a treat. We had tried all the ways suggested above to no avail.

 Mrs H

[CeeJay]

Chancer

Could you explain a bit more about the purge/primer function. No idea what this is or what I might look for, as, like you I have another Senseo sitting idle in an apartment in Bristol for about 3 months at a stretch which could turn a bit manky, the Senseo, not the apartment!