Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/03/17/the-moka-express-coffee-maker.html
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forever is very long time.
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I need one that will outlast the heat death of the universe. Can do?
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I admire your enthusiasm for the product, but that actually sounds like kind of a lot of maintenance to have had to do on a two year old coffee maker. Is it doing some kind of fancy crazy stuff? Because for drip coffee, I’ve got a black & decker that has required zero maintenance in the last three years. When it does break, it will be toast, and that will be the end - it is not especially user-serviceable.
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Happy with my drip melita with the insulated stainless steel carafe- no burner. No bitter coffee and the carafe is unbreakable. I haven’t even dented it when I’ve gotten clumsy and dropped it.
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I gotta agree. I have a Mr. Coffee going on 10 years and Bodum french press going on 8 years, and neither one has needed any maintenance in that time.
The melted handle is pretty common especially when used over gas stoves but pretty easy to avoid otherwise. The gasket is a simple replacement that I’ve only ever had to do once. It’s not really any more maintenance than you’d expect to do for, say, a French Press, like maybe replacing that screw that holds the filter together, or replacing the screen if it got torn. Similar amount of cleanup afterwards too.
If you like really strong coffee, these are way better than drip machines. If you like a lot of coffee, these require a lot of work.
To be fair, I have a couple different kinds of moka pots, and I recently broke one in a way that will be difficult to repair. Somehow (maybe I dropped it?) there’s a crack or split in the metal lower chamber, and water vapor leaks out when the thing gets up to pressure.
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Great. Nearly my only way to make coffee, unless there are more people who want, and than I use a kettle+pouring filter holder with filter.
But please buy a stainless one, the only thing you need to replace is the rubber ring once in a while. (N=1 for 28 years)
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You’ll be surprised! They are composed of one extremely robust moving part, one simple nichrome heat element, a generic 120vac power switch, some silicon tubing, and the casing which is the least durable part. That’s it, unless yours has a timer. If you can fix a broken plastic hinge pin, you can do the most difficult repair necessary.
Typically they are strategically glued to appear non-serviceable. When yours fails, just break the glue bonds. If the housing shatters irreparably, you learned what not to do, and that coffee maker didn’t work anyway, you didn’t lose anything. 
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My mom has one. I think it’s from the 60’s.
My Bunn Thermofresh has been in constant use for 10 years now and only gets the normal cleaning any coffee pot should get. A Bunn will last many many years. I also have a Bialetti. If you own one you may have seen the water tank lool like this
Bialetti fans will tell you that this is normal and you can keep using it. I’m not so sure.
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They will be passed down from father to son on the great generation ships to Zeta Reticuli. Faster ships will pass them by, and when the generation ships arrive, people will be stunned to find no humans aboard, but dozens of self-aware coffee makers with really strange personality quirks.
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That looks like it might be hard water scale or pitting. If it doesn’t affect taste or performance, or indicate something else going wrong, don’t mess with what works.
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That’s nearly pristine compared to my 20-something year old Bialetti. 
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I assumed that the first thing to go would be the one way valve - is the the robust moving part? where do you source a replacement if the heating element or the valve go?
I’m more of a software guy than hardware, but the next time my coffee maker goes I should see what I can do for it.
Things “last forever”, as long as you keep fixing them. Whoddathunkit?
I’m rather sceptical of a product out-living me when there is a need for a reliable parts source to also out-live me.
It’s nice that it lasts but I’m also really digging the way it looks.
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These things are awesome.
Since I haven’t used mine in forever, it’s nice to know it’ll still work.
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They do an 18-cup version which will make about a litre of weapons-grade coffee.
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monogamy is a very bad form of mono.
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