From:
Tina.
Question:
I have the original Keurig, the first one. It won’t pump water unless I take off the lid and I plug the rubber piece (name unknown) at the top of the water reservoir. Then water bubbles back up through the bottom and it will work. I used to blow air through it and it would work, but no more.
Response:
Tina’s brewer seems to be having trouble with water and air pressure regulation, a common problem in these older models.
The “rubber piece” Tina refers to we think is the outlet tubing that Keurig’s have to feed water and air back into the water reservoir (see photo below). This system is part of the brewer’s regulation of water and air pressure; one also sees this problem when a brewer discharges water back into the reservoir. Back in June we had a question from William with this very same problem.
By holding or blowing (not recommended) into this tubing a pressure build-up is being generated and so enabling the machine to create the necessary pressure in the boiler unit. Once the water is heated in the boiler this pressure is used to then force it into the K Cup and then your coffee cup.
To illustrate how this works: in the photo below there are three tubes connected to the top of the boiler unit. The front tube, being pointed at, is used to force the heater water out of the boiler unit and up along the top assembly to the waiting K Cup. The second tube, to the right, connects to the water pump which is used to pump water from the water reservoir and into the boiler unit. And the third tube, obscured by tube one, is where the solenoid and air pump regulate the air pressure inside the boiler. This tubing connects to the main processor or logic board through a FPN air pressure sensor.
The only permanent solution to the problem Tina explains is to replace the pumps and / or solenoid unit. It does sound like a solenoid failure so we would start with replacing this first. And as the solenoid unit sits right next to the air pump in most Keurig’s (shown in the photo below with our B60) it would be a good idea to replace this at the same time. We have separate guides to help with these repairs, the solenoid repair can be found here and the air pump replacement here.
The solenoid unit is the bluish cylinder on the left, while the air pump is the silver cylinder on the right.
These replacements should solve the problem as long as the water pump is in good shape. If the water pump is not operating as it should replacing this will ensure the machine is back in proper working order. Our repair guide here will step you through each step required.
The replacement of all three pieces does take a bit of work, but for around $35 will normally get a Keurig back up and running. It was exactly this type of work that we wrote about the other day and how Terri got her B70 back in working order.