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ibyers's avatar
ibyers
Explorer
Jun 28, 2013

No Coffee! ARG

Here I sit grumpy and wanting to vent.

Decided to take the family out camping after working for 7 days straight, 18 hour days, due to the flooding in Southeren Alberta.

Got up early so I could log into work, I went out and fired up the generator, Champion 2000i.(before anyone makes a smart comment about early morning, and running the generator, the closest person is about half a mile away).

Came back in and threw a T-Disc in the ol tassimo. It brought my genny to its knees, then it went into overload. Weird! I thought. This Tassimo is rated at 1350watts, ny genny should have handled this no problem. I shed all the other loads and tried again, same result.

No worries, I thought, I brought both gennies. I went back out and hooked them up to the parallel kit. Fired them up and came back in. This time it did not go into overload, but they sure were working hard. The Tassimo was sounding really rough, then POP! it blew up a T-Disc. After 6 discs, I had half of cup of coffee...

Both gennies run the A/C, microwave, etc. but they both can't run this little coffee machine.

I did a quick search on the site and it appears this has happened before to "Hedge" on his Honda eu3000i
His post

I wonder what makes this little coffee maker not play nice with inverter generators.

too early for a beer?
Seeking Advice
  • travelnutz's avatar
    travelnutz
    Explorer II
    Jun 29, 2013
    Cloud Dancer,

    Now you're talking even if the coffee brand etc might be different as we only use fresh ground from whole bean cherry flavored ground very fine but that's our choice. Beats ANY of the overpriced coffee disk types hands down we've ever tasted. No external AC hookups needed nor even a generator. Just plug into one of our silent MSW inverters (1500 watt to 2500 watt) that is always installed on every RV we've owned since the late 1980's and WALLA!, fresh delicious hot wonderful coffee in 5-10 minutes and the only sounds ever heard is the coffee brewing followed by guaranteed elongated AHHHs!. Starbucks etc is an extreme ripoff as is the dick type coffee units in our opinion and also the opinion of the many we've brewed coffee for. Very telling as most of those who have had a cup of our brew now have inverters also and many are using the same ground fresh from whole bean coffees and are saving gobs of money while stating they now are having "better tasting coffee" blissfully and without any extra noise or vibrations.
  • Cloud_Dancer's avatar
    Cloud_Dancer
    Explorer II
    Jun 29, 2013
    I had to read the whole thread in order to figure out what's Tassimo.

    I realized again how old-school I am. I do NOT leave without what's in this photo PLUS a stovetop percolator PLUS a propane stove. There's no life without good morning coffee:


  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    Jun 29, 2013
    YC 1 wrote:
    Are the generators Pure Sine Wave?? If not, many things do not play well with modified sine waves.


    Yes, Inverter generators are Pure Sine Wave, at least all the ones I've heard of are.

    I used to have a Tas myself... T-Discs are too expensive, Went with a Proctor Silex single cup automatic drip, Can use Senso pods (But not T-Discs) I liked the Tas. but too expensive.
  • JaxDad's avatar
    JaxDad
    Explorer III
    Jun 29, 2013
    ibyers wrote:
    Came back in and threw a T-Disc in the ol tassimo. It brought my genny to its knees, then it went into overload. Weird! I thought. This Tassimo is rated at 1350watts, ny genny should have handled this no problem. I shed all the other loads and tried again, same result.

    No worries, I thought, I brought both gennies. I went back out and hooked them up to the parallel kit. Fired them up and came back in. This time it did not go into overload, but they sure were working hard.


    I think you'll find the Tassimo is actually 1600 watts while brewing. According to Champions website a 2000i genny is 2,000 watts max, but only 1,700 watts continuous.

    Add to that the fact that most manufacturers "specifications" are, well, rather 'optimistic'. Then add a little science, if the loaded down genny drops down in rpm, and therefore voltage, then the current load rises proportionately.

    So in the end, even without any other loads other than the Tassimo, the genny just wasn't going to do it.
  • poppin_fresh's avatar
    poppin_fresh
    Explorer
    Jun 29, 2013
    Tassimo did have a recall a while back on brewers that were defective and would cause t-discs to explode. Did you see if yours was on the list?

    http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2012/02/massive-recall-of-tassimo-coffee-brewers-after-10-year-old-burned-hospitalized/
  • Gene_Ginny's avatar
    Gene_Ginny
    Explorer
    Jun 29, 2013
    Just to make you feel better I came accross this story:

    Massive Recall of Tassimo Coffee Brewers After 10-Year-Old Burned, Hospitalized

    LINK
  • westend's avatar
    westend
    Explorer
    Jun 29, 2013
    Fredzo wrote:
    By the time you had to get out the second gennie, I would have just chewed up the K-disc!

    Nom-nom!
    LOL!
  • Fredzo's avatar
    Fredzo
    Explorer
    Jun 28, 2013
    By the time you had to get out the second gennie, I would have just chewed up the K-disc!

    Nom-nom!
  • ibyers's avatar
    ibyers
    Explorer
    Jun 28, 2013
    Thanks all for the replies.

    I do have both a coleman coffeemaker (stove top) and a perk. BUT! I didn't bring any, just those t-discs. I ripped open a few and added to the coleman. it was a little weak but made it through the morning.
  • mockturtle's avatar
    mockturtle
    Explorer II
    Jun 28, 2013
    Since I mostly dry camp, I use my little stove-top percolator most of the time. I also have an electric drip coffeemaker and a French press. Coffee is much too important to leave to the uncertainties of electric power! :D

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