Cuisinart Brew Central Coffeemaker DCC-1200 Series

Steaming, gurgling, and slow coffee production

My Cuisinart DCC-1200 started to slow its brew time, gurgled non-stop, and steamed up my kitchen.  Visiting numerous self-help repair sites, I read about vinegar treatments, CLR flushes, and flushing the water chamber to clear any stray coffee grounds.

First I started with the easy process of flushing out the water chamber.  No luck.  Then I moved on to performing a couple of vinegar “self-cleaning” runs, the gurgling continued.  I then graduated to a 50% strength CLR flush, the gurgling and steaming continued without change.

It was time for surgery.  One post that I read suggested opening the bottom base plate and snooping around.  Here’s what I learned that worked.

1.       Open the bottom base-plate on the DCC-1200 unit using a T10 Torx precision screwdriver (less than $5 at your local hardware store).  You will need to loosen four (4) screws – two built into the feet and two found on the opposite ends of the base plate. 

2.       Check to see if the electronic wires are clean and intact.  Mine were.  No electronic issues for me.

3.       Locate the two dark-orange colored flexible water tubes.  One tube pulls water from the water chamber (reservoir) routing it to the heating element.  The other routes hot water from the heating element and circulates it to a pipe that connects to the shower unit above the coffee basket.

4.       Feel along each of the two dark-orange water tubes.  One may contain a hard section where an in-line plastic filter unit is located.  Remove this tube by loosening each end.  Note that the end connected to the heating element may be a bit more difficult to remove as it may be melted onto the metal section it covers.  A little tugging will release it.  Don’t rip it, be gentle and it will eventually release.

5.       Push the in-line plastic filter unit out of the tube and inspect it.  Mine was roughly ½ inch long, made of white plastic, contained a small round ball much like a small ball bearing), and several pieces of large coffee grounds.  I removed the coffee grounds and made sure that the small ball was re-inserted into the center of the filter unit.

6.       Push the plastic filter back into the dark-orange flexible tube and reattach it to the two connections on the coffee maker.  Reset the bottom plate in place and line up the four screws.  Tighten the screws with the Torx T10 – the screws strip easily so don’t overdo it.

7.       Flip over the unit and make your coffee.  My result was that the unit returned to normal coffee production – no gurgling, no excessive steaming, and its normal production time.  The brewed coffee tasted better as well – probably due to the earlier vinegar and CLR flushes.

8.       Happy coffee break to you!