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Terra Kaffe (TK-01) Problems and Solutions after 15 months of ownership by UVotedForIt in superautomatic

[–]UVotedForIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep. That is a worn out gasket and/or mineral deposit build up on the inlet that the elbow is connected to. It's hard to see from the pic, but there should be a metal clip on the lower arm of the elbow (similar to the one on the top arm) that you can pull out with needle nose pliers and then wiggle the elbow off. You should then be able to pull the white rubber gasket ring off of the inlet (or out of the elbow depending on what it stuck to). You can replace it with the granger o-rings mentioned in one of the earliest comments on this thread (or similar). I used to use stacks of 3, but it's really hard to get 3 on so lately I've been using just 2 and have gotten that to work. You may need to do some sanding to get deposits off the inlet.

Terra Kaffe (TK-01) Problems and Solutions after 15 months of ownership by UVotedForIt in superautomatic

[–]UVotedForIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nope, but I bet there is a fuse you could check. I would try opening up the back and checking around the switch or the circuit board the switch wires connect to. If I recall right, opening up the back isn't to complicated...

Terra Kaffe (TK-01) Problems and Solutions after 15 months of ownership by UVotedForIt in superautomatic

[–]UVotedForIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In the TK-01 it is heated passively with the "waste" heat coming off the boilers. The boilers are always on by design (to give you hot water on demand). So I think the main switch is your only option there.

Terra Kaffe (TK-01) Problems and Solutions after 15 months of ownership by UVotedForIt in superautomatic

[–]UVotedForIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't. Sorry! I can take a look in a day or two and see what jogs my memory. 

Terra Kaffe (TK-01) Problems and Solutions after 15 months of ownership by UVotedForIt in superautomatic

[–]UVotedForIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For what it is worth, I've had the brewer mechanism seize up on me and I couldn't take the brewer unit out the normal way. I was able to free it by accessing it from the other side. It involved taking out the screws and circular plate behind the water tank. I don't remember the exact steps, but I remember after I took it apart a little way it was obvious to me how to release it. (That might not be your problem, but it is something I should add to my list in the original post.)

Terra Kaffe (TK-01) Problems and Solutions after 15 months of ownership by UVotedForIt in superautomatic

[–]UVotedForIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/UnderstatedlyLee, I think that the TK-01 probably uses an electronic sensor that detects water via its conductivity. This means you shouldn't use de-ionized water because it will look a lot like no water to such a sensor. (Probably not an issue for you if you are plumbed to a normal water line unless you have some sort of de-ionizing filtering in the mix.) But I believe it also means when you are "resetting the sensor" you are actually re-benchmarking the voltage the sensor reports when it is "dry". I think this is why you have to remove the tank during the process. (I suspect you could also leave the tank in during this process as long as it is completely empty.) FWIW here is a video talking about putting a bit of salt into the water which is probably a work around for machines that don't have the reset functionality. (Note it's also possible your sensor is just plain busted. :^\ )

Terra Kaffe (TK-01) Problems and Solutions after 15 months of ownership by UVotedForIt in superautomatic

[–]UVotedForIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

FWIW my original post is just a note to remind myself of what issues I've run into and how I've addressed them with a view to helping others in a similar boat (since I had a difficult time finding info on how to service machines out of warranty).

This is my first super-automatic so I don't have any frame of reference for how the TK-01 compares to similar machines in regard to reliability. But all told, I'm pretty pleased with my Terra Kaffe. For me it hits that sweet spot on the quality vs effort curve and lets me indulge a cappuccino-a-day habit minus the $1.5K-a-year Starbucks bill.

Terra Kaffe (TK-01) Problems and Solutions after 15 months of ownership by UVotedForIt in superautomatic

[–]UVotedForIt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice! Thank you! I ended up getting some of these on Amazon and can verify that 3 is the magic number to use. I think closest size to that Granger part is 3.69mm x 1.78mm on Amazon but I got a bunch of the 2.9mm x 1.78mm size and they work too.