Dan got me a wonderful coffee maker for Christmas in 2004, a 12-cup Bodum Santos vacuum coffee maker. The principle is pretty cool, and neat to watch: The water in the lower chamber boils, and all of the steam moves up to the top chamber (where the ground coffee is), where it condenses. After a predetermined period (determined either by time or by a sensor – probably time because it’s cheaper), the heater switches to a lower setting, the water stops boiling, and the condensed steam runs back into the lower chamber, pulled by the vacuum created by the water boiling. It’s all very efficient, and yields a great cup of coffee.

Over the last month or so I noticed that the coffee maker would behave oddly, like switching to boiling (higher-output heat) after the coffee was done brewing; since I immediately decant into a pre-warmed carafe it wasn’t a big deal, but a bit disconcerting. Then yesterday, whatever was wrong came to a head: I turned on the pot, the light indicating the brewing process had started came on, and…nothing happened. No heat at all from the heating element. Aieee! No matter how much jiggling, rattling, or power cycling we try, it makes no difference. I suspect that the internal computer control of the heating element has gotten borked, and there’s probably not a lot we can do about it. Obviously, it’s over a year old so I doubt any warranty would still be in place, though I intend to review the paperwork and maybe even call Bodum, just in case. The sad likelihood is that it’s probably toast. While I have my emergency-backup French press, I really want an electric unit for company and such. I’ll probably suck it up and drop another $100 for another Bodum Santos, but I won’t be particularly happy about it. Also, while I doubt if anyone else has had much experience with problems like these with this unit, I’d be open to any suggestions.