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Trouble Brewing
The coffee maker was no longer perky. Once it had sent the hot steaming water in regular gouts over the fresh grounds with polite little coughing noises; now it groaned and gurgled and rattled like a performer dying upon a stage. You still got a pot of coffee eventually, but only after a performance that would never receive any positive critical attention.
“Another sluggish brew,” I sighed.
“Run another cleaning cycle?” my helpmate Jalan suggested.
“We’ve done that a few times, both with vinegar and with the tablets. I think I need to give this some deeper attention.”
I was happy to have an excuse to pull something apart anyway. I broke out a screwdriver and got to work, and soon had the heating element exposed. It was mainly a metal tube bent into a U shape that ran under the hot plate. It was an extremely simple and efficient design, where water flowed into the tube from the reservoir, got heated to the steam point and expanded rapidly. Blocked from flowing back into the reservoir by a one way valve, the water had no way to go but up, fountaining over the grounds and flowing down to the carafe as coffee. The same heating element also kept the hot plate warm, doing double service. This lovely design had consigned the old percolator systems to their dusty place in history.
I disconnected the heating tube and tried gently blowing through it, but found resistance. it did seem clogged. I set the pipe so that the U was upright, and poured vinegar in up to the top. It foamed and bubbled as it broke down the thick calcium deposits deep inside.
“Getting anywhere?” Jalan was peering over my shoulder.
“Yes… we are literally turning our problem into a solution,” I quipped. “Please have patience, I’ll have it all back together in an hour.” As I spoke, I fingered a piece of plastic inside the case, one of the mounting points for the screws that held the heating element in place. It felt a little too wiggly for my taste.
“Is that supposed to bend like that?” Jalan asked, and as the question was posed the plastic snapped in half under my probing fingers.
“Uhm, no.” I sighed. Another project that was developing side projects. “Please have some more patience, I’ll have it back together by tomorrow. Maybe.”
That day, I worked to reinforce the weakened plastic around the heating element using fiberglass cloth and a brand of epoxy putty called J.B. Weld. This was a tested technique for internal repairs and I had used it successfully on many laptops with broken hinges. The job only took a couple of hours and it was the sort of patience work that kept me happy, but the epoxy would need time to cure. Would we have the machine back together in time for morning coffee?
The following morning, I tested my repair. The parts I had reinforced no longer wiggled and seemed ready to take the tension and strain. Jalan watched as I reconnected the heating element to its tubes and gently screwed the machine back together. We set it upright and prepared for the moment where reality would meet our expectations, or further disillusion us.
The beans were poured into the grinder and prepared, rattling around the hopper as they turned into fragrant dust. The carafe was filled and the water poured into the reservoir, and then the red switch was flipped… We waited quietly, raptly, until we heard the first popping surge of water, then the next, with polite little coughs that sent rich dark coffee flowing down into the carafe.
We sighed with relief and filled our cups.
“So what was up with the plastic?” asked Jalan. “Why did it weaken in that way?”
“Probably age, plus repeated exposure to heat,” I said. “The case is mostly solid, it was just cracked around the heating element. And when I fixed one crack and explored a bit, there was another one… Anyway, I’m glad it worked out well.” I stirred my steaming brew. “My yen for problem solving got a workout yesterday, with one issue leading to another. So many forking tasks…”
Jalan toasted me. “You could fairly say that of coffee… It’s the solution that sets you in search of problems!”
“Another sluggish brew,” I sighed.
“Run another cleaning cycle?” my helpmate Jalan suggested.
“We’ve done that a few times, both with vinegar and with the tablets. I think I need to give this some deeper attention.”
I was happy to have an excuse to pull something apart anyway. I broke out a screwdriver and got to work, and soon had the heating element exposed. It was mainly a metal tube bent into a U shape that ran under the hot plate. It was an extremely simple and efficient design, where water flowed into the tube from the reservoir, got heated to the steam point and expanded rapidly. Blocked from flowing back into the reservoir by a one way valve, the water had no way to go but up, fountaining over the grounds and flowing down to the carafe as coffee. The same heating element also kept the hot plate warm, doing double service. This lovely design had consigned the old percolator systems to their dusty place in history.
I disconnected the heating tube and tried gently blowing through it, but found resistance. it did seem clogged. I set the pipe so that the U was upright, and poured vinegar in up to the top. It foamed and bubbled as it broke down the thick calcium deposits deep inside.
“Getting anywhere?” Jalan was peering over my shoulder.
“Yes… we are literally turning our problem into a solution,” I quipped. “Please have patience, I’ll have it all back together in an hour.” As I spoke, I fingered a piece of plastic inside the case, one of the mounting points for the screws that held the heating element in place. It felt a little too wiggly for my taste.
“Is that supposed to bend like that?” Jalan asked, and as the question was posed the plastic snapped in half under my probing fingers.
“Uhm, no.” I sighed. Another project that was developing side projects. “Please have some more patience, I’ll have it back together by tomorrow. Maybe.”
That day, I worked to reinforce the weakened plastic around the heating element using fiberglass cloth and a brand of epoxy putty called J.B. Weld. This was a tested technique for internal repairs and I had used it successfully on many laptops with broken hinges. The job only took a couple of hours and it was the sort of patience work that kept me happy, but the epoxy would need time to cure. Would we have the machine back together in time for morning coffee?
The following morning, I tested my repair. The parts I had reinforced no longer wiggled and seemed ready to take the tension and strain. Jalan watched as I reconnected the heating element to its tubes and gently screwed the machine back together. We set it upright and prepared for the moment where reality would meet our expectations, or further disillusion us.
The beans were poured into the grinder and prepared, rattling around the hopper as they turned into fragrant dust. The carafe was filled and the water poured into the reservoir, and then the red switch was flipped… We waited quietly, raptly, until we heard the first popping surge of water, then the next, with polite little coughs that sent rich dark coffee flowing down into the carafe.
We sighed with relief and filled our cups.
“So what was up with the plastic?” asked Jalan. “Why did it weaken in that way?”
“Probably age, plus repeated exposure to heat,” I said. “The case is mostly solid, it was just cracked around the heating element. And when I fixed one crack and explored a bit, there was another one… Anyway, I’m glad it worked out well.” I stirred my steaming brew. “My yen for problem solving got a workout yesterday, with one issue leading to another. So many forking tasks…”
Jalan toasted me. “You could fairly say that of coffee… It’s the solution that sets you in search of problems!”
Hm. There's nothing wrong with this, but it's also really inconsequential. I could tease a theme out of it, maybe that old things are still useful if you invest the time in them. This really couldn't exist as a longer story, since it'd get boring, but when it's only a page or two, it's not a waste of a couple minutes. I liked the atmosphere and the narrator's voicing. I didn't get an impression of what Jalan is like, and it would have helped to have some context of why coffee is so important to them.
>>Pascoite
Please neither of those! :)
Isn’t there a third, more pleasant, option?
In any case, I’m going to join you in reviewing the stories today. Thanks for your staunch commitment all over these years.
Please neither of those! :)
Isn’t there a third, more pleasant, option?
In any case, I’m going to join you in reviewing the stories today. Thanks for your staunch commitment all over these years.
I like this one because I’m quite fond of home repair. That’s typically the kind of thing I could do at a weekend.
To be really nitpicky, I don’t see the point of disassembling the machine to descale it. Filling the reservoir with acidic water and starting a ‘dry’ run would do the trick. After all, that’s how most coffee machines are descaled. Your protagonist has a fondness for overkill. Also using vinegar to descale coffee machines is a very bad idea. It leaves a horrible taste even after a few rinses. Better use a tasteless acid, like citric or sulphamic acid.
I also had the idea to treat ‘solution’ in the prompt as a chemistry term. But I couldn't really derive anything useful from it except maybe some criminal trying to get rid of a corpse by dissolving it in lye, and flushing everything. But that wasn't really able to fit into 750 mL… oops words, sorry.
To be really nitpicky, I don’t see the point of disassembling the machine to descale it. Filling the reservoir with acidic water and starting a ‘dry’ run would do the trick. After all, that’s how most coffee machines are descaled. Your protagonist has a fondness for overkill. Also using vinegar to descale coffee machines is a very bad idea. It leaves a horrible taste even after a few rinses. Better use a tasteless acid, like citric or sulphamic acid.
I also had the idea to treat ‘solution’ in the prompt as a chemistry term. But I couldn't really derive anything useful from it except maybe some criminal trying to get rid of a corpse by dissolving it in lye, and flushing everything. But that wasn't really able to fit into 750 mL… oops words, sorry.
I know nothing about coffee or how it's produced (though I understand it can be an interesting and rewarding habit), and I loved all of the attention to detail we got here about the mechanics of the pot and the cleaning process. You even give us a mini history lesson on the subject with the line
which gives us a snapshot of the speaker's expertise, and, by transference, a certain narrative tension with regard to whether he or she will get their coffee the next morning or not!
Archetypally, this kind of fact-driven story wants to have a "shock" that makes the reader reevaluate those same facts in an unexpected way. The punchline here is okay--at least okay for the prompt--but it gives me the feeling of, "this whole thing was written so the character could say the line." Which is not necessarily a wrong place to begin, if you wanted to revise further. The solution may lead you to more interesting problems.
This lovely design had consigned the old percolator systems to their dusty place in history.
which gives us a snapshot of the speaker's expertise, and, by transference, a certain narrative tension with regard to whether he or she will get their coffee the next morning or not!
Archetypally, this kind of fact-driven story wants to have a "shock" that makes the reader reevaluate those same facts in an unexpected way. The punchline here is okay--at least okay for the prompt--but it gives me the feeling of, "this whole thing was written so the character could say the line." Which is not necessarily a wrong place to begin, if you wanted to revise further. The solution may lead you to more interesting problems.
>>Pascoite, >>Monokeras, >>Heavy_Mole
Double Stewing
Gratz to Mono for the gold, tip of the hat to Mole, and thanks for the silver and the great comments!
I had nothing significant to contribute on the day of the contest, but I noticed that a recent event in my life could be made to fit the prompt and would even provide a closing pun, so I made it happen. I have compacted the sequence here and done some artistic rearranging, but the repairs to our aged but familiar coffee maker were done essentially as described. For the record, "Jalan" found the story amusing.
>>To be really nitpicky, I don’t see the point of disassembling the machine to descale it.
I had tried to descale it a few times using the methods you mentioned, with indifferent results. I was also interested to take a peek under the hood, and since it did lead to discovery of the weakened plastic supports, I do not regret the course I took.
>>I loved all of the attention to detail we got here about the mechanics of the pot and the cleaning process.
Glad you liked it! If you haven't already seen it, you may like to watch Technology Connections discussing this topic.
Double Stewing
Gratz to Mono for the gold, tip of the hat to Mole, and thanks for the silver and the great comments!
I had nothing significant to contribute on the day of the contest, but I noticed that a recent event in my life could be made to fit the prompt and would even provide a closing pun, so I made it happen. I have compacted the sequence here and done some artistic rearranging, but the repairs to our aged but familiar coffee maker were done essentially as described. For the record, "Jalan" found the story amusing.
>>To be really nitpicky, I don’t see the point of disassembling the machine to descale it.
I had tried to descale it a few times using the methods you mentioned, with indifferent results. I was also interested to take a peek under the hood, and since it did lead to discovery of the weakened plastic supports, I do not regret the course I took.
>>I loved all of the attention to detail we got here about the mechanics of the pot and the cleaning process.
Glad you liked it! If you haven't already seen it, you may like to watch Technology Connections discussing this topic.
>>GroaningGreyAgony
Please next time use something else than vinegar. It leaves a horrible taste behind!
Do not try concentrated sulphuric acid, unless you want to dispose of it :p
Please next time use something else than vinegar. It leaves a horrible taste behind!
Do not try concentrated sulphuric acid, unless you want to dispose of it :p
>>Monokeras
I did rinse and scrub it while I had it exposed, I had a small flexible brush for the interior of the pipe. The extra vinegar taste went away very quickly.
I will stick to acids suitable for use in a home kitchen, thank you.
I did rinse and scrub it while I had it exposed, I had a small flexible brush for the interior of the pipe. The extra vinegar taste went away very quickly.
I will stick to acids suitable for use in a home kitchen, thank you.
>>GroaningGreyAgony
Try citric or sulphamic acids.
They’re both used in the standard descaling packs you find at your regular hardware store.
Try citric or sulphamic acids.
They’re both used in the standard descaling packs you find at your regular hardware store.