Is this moka pot fixable?
Found this moka pot at a friend's relative's house, they said it's been in their family for a bit over a decade. It just broke about a week ago, but it seems like it means a lot to them. Unfortunately they're a little too old to check out how to get it fixed, so I'm thinking of doing it for them in the near future just as a gesture.
Question is, is it possible? If so, what needs to be done/replaced?
Looks like it just needs a new o-ring and a good clean.
You can buy o-rings, and to clean it you could trying giving it an overnight soak in vinegar, followed by a scrub.
Sounds simple enough, thank you. I thought it would be a bigger job because they mentioned that the filter in the picture never came off before, but it doesn't have any signs of breakage. I appreciate the input.
I wouldn't reuse that particular seal/oring, though. It looks shot. The filter won't come off easily, but it should be able to gently pried off.
Bleach is a good option too to kill bacteria and fungi if any.
The contact with boiling water, steam and hot coffee from normal regular use is more than enough to ward off bacteria and fungi that you would encounter in households.
And bleach will ruin it, so definitely don't use that.
You say it broke relatively recently, so likely only one thing has failed. That seems to be the o-ring. As others have said, that is easily replaceable.
But ...
I think you haven't included all the parts in the photo. Or is that just it?
What is the status of the funnel where you place the ground coffee?
Also, how does the side safety valve look like? It should be on the side of the bottom compartment. The moka works with vapour pressure. A good valve is needed.
As others said, NO dishwasher. And I would also avoid much scrubbing. The moka is made out of aluminum which is a soft metal, easily damaged by acids, and with harsh scrubbing.
The funnel is fine, it was the only part that didn't look damaged so I didn't think to include it. The safety valve also looks fine, just a little dirty. Thank you for your input.
Echoing the others, this is totally fixable. I recommend buying a silicone gasket rather than the standard rubber ones they come with. My rubber gasket was obliterated within 9 months of daily use, but then I bought a pack of 3 silicone gaskets on Amazon maybe four years ago and the first one is still basically pristine.
Silicone over rubber, gotcha. Thank you
Just give it a clean and replace the rubber gasket. Should be fine. The replacement gaskets usually even come togheter with a new filter, if you don't feel like cleaning the old one.
Oh and don't put it in the dishwasher! It will completely ruin the surface and make it black and rough.
Thank you, noting all of this
What part is broken other than that nasty gasket?
I suspected that the filter was broken because the family mentioned that it never came off before. It also has a little bit of play when I put it back in. Another comment said it's designed to come out though so I think it's fine. Thanks for your comment
The top and water reservoir look alright. I would buy a new gasket and screen. After that, it just looks like it needs a good cleaning, and possibly descaling.
Looking at the pictures closer, it looks like the stem has some greenish tarnish in it, so a good scrub and maybe some vinegar or citric acid would be in order.
Definitely some elbow grease.
Thanks, happy to learn it's recoverable
Get them some cafiza. It’s for cleaning espresso machines but works great for cleaning all oily metal coffee equipment. Just get a big bowl or bucket, fill it with enough hot water to cover the parts, add a teaspoon of cafiza and let it soak for a couple hours. All the gunk should just rinse off, no need to scrub. But don’t soak the gasket.
If you have powdered oxyclean, it’s basically the same thing.
As others have said, the filter is supposed to come out. You just needs a new gasket and they’re cheap and easy to find.
Get a new seal. They're like $5 and will fix that moka right up.
The only part that really deteriorates is the rubber gasket, which needs to form a seal to keep steam from escaping. Should be able to order a replacement gasket of the same size.
The rest is just mostly thick metal and can be cleaned appropriately.
Probably about a 30 minute job to restore it, I'm thinking? Assuming you can just soak it in some CLR or something. (a common commercial de-scaling and rust-removal product)
No CLR! It will pit the aluminum. I wouldn't bother with the water chamber, that's just what aluminum looks like after the aluminum oxide builds up. 2 or 3 uses and it will look the same. If you need to descale, white vinegar or citric acid used sparingly should do the trick. Otherwise just take steel wool to it.
Good to know, thank you. Glad I didn't have to find that one out the hard way.
Those are indestructible and still being made today. I have one from the 1970's that works exactly the same as one made in the 2010's.
Here is the manufacturer site where you can buy replacement seals: https://www.bialetti.com/it_en/moka-express.html
Manual: https://www.bialetti.com/media/manual/caffettiere/MOKA_EXPRESS-manual.pdf
Parts: https://www.bialetti.com/it_en/set-of-3-gaskets-and-1-filter-holder-for-4-cup-model.html
It’s clearly past it’s 2010 expiration date on the bottom…
(JK these things last forever)
Also, after you clean it up, run a few brews through because the cleaning can bring out some bad aluminum taste that a seasoned moka pot coated with oils doesn’t have.
OP seeing a moka pot for the first time like: I thought coffee came in epson cartridges.
You joke, but until about a year ago I thought there was something special about coffee because I'd only ever heard of or seen it come from some specialized contraption. Coffee makers, espresso machines, French press, percolators, Keurig machines, all obscuring the fact that coffee is just like tea; add hot water, you get beverage. This is the fundamental formula, everything else is just a way to do that. I felt so lied to. I only learned because I got curious about why there were so many methods and also seeing in the store what was basically a scoop shaped tea ball intended for coffee. Did you know that coffee bags exist in some places? Like tea bags, but coffee. I didn't, until I got curious, and now I really don't understand why all those machines exist.
Anyway, I blame never really getting into coffee (you can blame sorting by all for my presence), how many machines and methods there are, and a difference in how people seem to approach coffee vs tea for my ignorance. Generally tea seems to have more of a focus on the making and coffee on consumption, at least outside of dedicated communities.
Gotta be one of the ten thousand eventually, right?
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
Haha it's not something I use often for sure. I hope your next comments actually answer the question though. Thanks for your input, I'll be noting that coffee doesn't come with ink