coffee makers not so bad?

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Comments

  • Johann
    Johann Solar Expert Posts: 245 ✭✭✭
    edited October 2016 #32
    Yeah the kuerig is cheap on wattage, but man, oh man, those kuerig cups are expensive compared to buying whole beans and grinding them yourself with good old Mr.Coffee.
    Or you just buy a refillable cup for the kuerig coffee maker and use/fill with the choice of coffee you want.
  • jonr
    jonr Solar Expert Posts: 1,386 ✭✭✭✭
    My guess for most efficient hot coffee or tea with electricity is a cartridge heater dropped into a thermos.

    I am available for custom hardware/firmware development

  • solarvic
    solarvic Solar Expert Posts: 1,071 ✭✭✭✭
    I am new to keureg coffee brewers. and only turn it on when I want to make a cup of coffee. My users manual says if you leave it on all the time it uses about the same amount of electric as a 60 watt bulb on 24/7. I bought some plastic caps called  MY CAPS from Amazon. They have the address stamped on them with the address www.my-kaps .com and I think you might be able to buy them directly from the seller. You save the k-cups after you use them then clean out the used coffee keeping the filter intact. You can refill them with your own coffee and press the plastic my k-cap into the top. I like mine and it makes the coffee a lot cheaper to use. Also I got a Icoffee brewer that I feel makes a better cup of coffee than the Keurig brewer 
  • kc8adu
    kc8adu Solar Expert Posts: 50 ✭✭✭
    as for the 12v coffeemakers dont bother.
    they take forever and dont work very well.
    a $5 on sale proctor silex we have at the shop beats it in every way.
    i ran it on an inverter at hamvention and was making 4 pots a morning for our group and the vendors either side of us.
    no impact on battery life.
    but i have 4 8d agm under the bed/rear seat of the van.
    that setup can support a lot of stuff for a day.
    and we ran a pot then shut it off.the warmer is a big load if you leave it on all day.
    the thermal carafe is a winner.best thing you can do for efficiency if you must run a coffeemaker.
  • kc8adu
    kc8adu Solar Expert Posts: 50 ✭✭✭
    Johann said:
    Yeah the kuerig is cheap on wattage, but man, oh man, those kuerig cups are expensive compared to buying whole beans and grinding them yourself with good old Mr.Coffee.
    Or you just buy a refillable cup for the kuerig coffee maker and use/fill with the choice of coffee you want.
    dont forget to hack it first!
    http://www.keurighack.com/



  • solarvic
    solarvic Solar Expert Posts: 1,071 ✭✭✭✭
    There are lots of different ways to hack them. I did the one where you cut the wire to the reader and took the head apart and took the magnet out. Saw that on you tube. Another one that works well is to buy a pack ofstickers from wal mart or big lots. You can take any kind of cup and paste a sticker on the top of the cup about the 9 oclock position. The freedomcup thing doesn,t work on the new ones as they changed the shape where you can,t mount it.  I got tired of all that crap and bought an icoffee that I feel makes a better cup of coffee with no hacking needed. I saw them at KMart for $52.00  because the store is closing. The regular price is at least $100.00.
  • Lumisol
    Lumisol Registered Users Posts: 374 ✭✭✭


    Better yet, just brew Sun Coffee.
  • solarvic
    solarvic Solar Expert Posts: 1,071 ✭✭✭✭
    Yes sir, I already had one. It wore out the same as anything else. I used on gas stove range and it said in directions not recommended to use on gas range top. It will make a good cup of coffee though. 
  • Lumisol
    Lumisol Registered Users Posts: 374 ✭✭✭
    Personally I like cowboy coffee brewed in an old ceramic pot over the fire. It doesn't get any better than that in my opinion.
  • MarkP
    MarkP Registered Users Posts: 51 ✭✭
    Almost everyone would benefit from adding a couple of panels and buying regular (but efficient) 120 volt appliances.  On those cloudy days you can forgo the coffee while the extra panels help charge your batteries.  Can't do that with propane.
    15 Panels (about 3,000 watts), Schneider Conext 60-150 MPPT Charge Controller, Schneider Conext 4048 Inverter, 8 x 6-volt Costco GC-2 Batteries.
  • 706jim
    706jim Solar Expert Posts: 514 ✭✭✭✭
    Maybe this is a bit off topic (and then again perhaps not) but I've used this comparison regarding what energy can and can't do: 
    My coffee maker uses about 1000 watts for about 10 minutes to make 10 cups of coffee.
    One afternoon, I used my Skil saw to cut 32 2 x 6 boards on an old deck. Saw is rated at 1500 watts (max) and cut those boards in about 3 minutes. So, 32 boards cut = equals approximate amount of energy to brew maybe 3-4 cups of coffee.
    That would be a LOT of work with a handsaw and I for one am grateful for the reduction in manual labour required to cut those boards. But how many would ever equate this to brewing coffee?
    Island cottage solar system with 2500 watts of panels, 1kw facing southeast 1.3kw facing southwest 170watt ancient Arco's facing south. All panels in parallel for a 24 volt system. Trace DR1524 MSW inverter, Outback Flexmax 80 MPPT charge controller 8 Trojan L16's. Insignia 11.5 cubic foot electric fridge. My 30th year.
  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    You can't power a saw with propane, but you can make coffee with it.
    The once in a while saw usage, compared to the daily hit that coffee makes, over even just a weeks worth of time, adds up to a big difference.  And the coffee hits the batteries when the solar isn't. By the time the saw is out, so is the sun
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

    solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
    gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,

  • Pine
    Pine Registered Users Posts: 1
    We just put a kettle (or Turkish style coffee maker) on the wood cook stove or the wood heat stove. In the few months of summer it's the same on the propane stove. We have an electric on a shelf and haven't touched it in years. 
  • jonr
    jonr Solar Expert Posts: 1,386 ✭✭✭✭
    If there were no losses, it would only take 84 watt-hours to heat 4 cups of water/coffee.   Personally, I don't like coffee that isn't brewed at an accurate, below boiling temperature (easier to do with electricity).

    I am available for custom hardware/firmware development

  • kc8adu
    kc8adu Solar Expert Posts: 50 ✭✭✭
    i found a western auto 5 cup 12v at a yardsale for $1.
    tested it to see how it would do.
    starting full with cold water to strong took 36 minutes directly to a 8d gel with no assistance from solar.
    its passable in a pinch.
    the lighter cord was junk.
    ended up putting an anderson powerpole on it.
    on ac it took 17 minutes.
    a cheap 800w 4 cup drip pot does it in 7.
    reinforces past findings that 12v coffeemakers are barely usable and only if you are patent.