Why is my hamilton beach flexbrew leaking

Top critical review

1.0 out of 5 starsHorrible plastic taste on mine too.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 20, 2014

I read a lot of reviews before deciding to take a chance on this coffee maker. I loved the idea of being able to make a full pot of coffee and use the K-Cups (as well as the fill it yourself K-Cup).
Before ordering it I emailed Hamilton Beach asking if the horrible plastic smell problem had been addressed. Below is the reply I received:
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Dear Gregg,
Thank you for contacting us. We will be happy to assist you.

The plastic taste should dissipate in the first week or two of use.
However, because model 49983 seems to have an initial plastic taste we would also suggest cleaning your appliance and its parts using baking soda. If you mix baking soda with a little water to make a paste, you can then apply it to the unit and parts with a toothbrush. Allow it to sit for an hour or so and then brew just water through the machine to rinse.
We have found that this is more effective is diminishing the initial plastic taste than in vinegar.
Sincerely,
Joanna
Consumer Affairs
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Based on this encouraging info I purchased the 49983A through Amazon. When it arrived it did indeed have an extremely strong foul plastic smell. I tried to make a cup of coffee and the smell permeated the coffee making it completely undrinkable.
Following the instructions from Hamilton Beach Customer Service I completely scrubbed every plastic part I could access. I brewed a few pots with vinegar as well as a solution with some baking soda. After all this effort I gave it a complete rinsing but I could still smell a strong plastic odor. I thought I would brew a few more pots of clear water to see if the odor would dissipate, but the coffee maker would not brew at all and had ceased to function (I did not immerse the coffee maker during the cleaning process). I packed it up and returned it to Amazon. Thank goodness for Amazon's return policy, they even covered the return shipping. A + + + to Amazon and F - - - to Hamilton Beach.
I emailed my experience to Hamilton Beach. The following was their response:
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Dear Gregg,

Thank you for your email. We apologize for any issues you experienced with your coffee maker.

For over 100 years it has been our priority and privilege to develop and manufacture high quality small appliances. Please be assured that our products and components meet all government requirements and are FDA and UL approved. They are also tested by independent laboratories to ensure the high quality that is expected of Hamilton Beach brand products. The rigorous tests we employ often exceed the standards set by our government making us a leader in the industry for quality and safety.

Our company regards product design information such as drawings, bill of materials, specifications, test specs, performance specs, specific component/part materials, identification of suppliers/vendors and technical design rationale as being proprietary.

Our engineers are aware of the issue and have been working to make corrections the newer units of this model.

Thank you for contacting Hamilton Beach Brands. Please let us know if we can further assist you.

Jessica W.
Consumer Affairs
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Over the next few weeks at about a half dozen stores, we smelled the display units and in one case opened up a sealed box and every one had the pungent plastic odor. As an interesting point, NONE of the other manufacturer's coffee makers had this foul pungent odor, so I am convinced that the factory in China is using a poor grade or contaminated plastic. Why Hamilton Beach has not addressed this issue more aggressively is a mystery to me. Based on this and Hamilton Beach's reply I am not convinced that this issue will be resolved in the near future. I would strongly urge anyone wanting this coffee maker to either buy it in a retail store where you can smell the unit before you buy or buy it on Amazon where you do not have to pay for return shipping.

I'm really disappointed, my wife and I were really looking forward to this coffee maker. Unfortunately it seems no one else makes a combo unit so we still have two coffee makers taking up counter space.

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***** Update on 12/01/14 *****

After reading more comments about this coffee maker I came across one by Dr. Not and realized that he hit the nail right on the head. He said: "They are using a rubber tubing to get the water up to Dispenser and that tubing is BAD!!!".

I am kicking myself for not realizing this myself (even though I didn't disassemble the unit to discover this). You see this isn't the first time I had this EXACT same problem with a Hamilton Beach product.

We bought the Hamilton Beach model 33155 Slow Cooker at Wal-Mart last year. We bought it specifically because of the rubber seal around the lip of the lid and were thrilled until we used it. We washed the Slow Cooker before using it but the food had a chemical/rubber smell and taste. We washed it very thoroughly and a few weeks later tried it again with the same results. We used it a total of three times and the odor and fowl taste remained. The Slow Cooker then sat in the cabinet unused. I was about to throw it away but decided to inform Hamilton Beach first. I checked on Hamilton Beach's web site for a recall but found nothing for this model number. I emailed them and told them that we have no intention to ever use it again. I did not have the receipt so they considered it out of warranty but did offer to replace the lid for a $4.99 shipping charge. I was not able to get a confirmation from Hamilton Beach that the material used in the lip seal had been changed, so the slow cooker remains buried somewhere in the bowels of my basement. Hamilton beach did offer to give me a 50% discount off list price on anything on their web site, but at the time there was nothing I wanted. Looking up that model number on Amazon I see there are (at this time) only 11 reviews for this slow cooker with no mentions of a foul odor.

Based on this incident from last year and the discovery by Dr. Not (give credit where credit is due) I am confident the smell is caused by the rubber feed tube for the water as he states, which would also give a possible explanation why there is such a disparity in the instances of the foul odor. I'm just willing to bet the feed tube quality and/or material varies from lot to lot. In a manufacturing process a roll of tubing needs to be replaced more often than the plastic pellets used in the injection molding of plastic parts. With multiple lots of rubber tube sitting on the inventory shelf, it is just the luck of the draw whether a "good" vs "bad" roll is grabbed and used on the coffee maker.

Now why Hamilton Beach as not figured this out and addressed this is completely beyond me, especially when there is such a huge number of complaints AND the solution seems so simple to solve. Maybe there are other components contributing to this problem, but to be honest, were I Hamilton Beach, I would not sell another unit until I have solved this problem.
If anyone out there has a unit out of warranty they cannot return and are unwilling to use because of the foul taste, try disassembling it and replacing the tube with a different type of tube. I don't know off hand where you could buy flexible plastic food grade tube, and not knowing the diameter, but maybe either a tube used for an air pump for an aquarium or a larger diameter tube like I have seen at Home Depot or Lowe's would give you an idea if we are on the right track before having to hunt down a flexible plastic food grade tube. If this does work, post a comment so others can fix this horrible problem.

Good luck!

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***** Update on 12/03/14 *****

I emailed my last update to Hamilton Beach adding to the email:

"I hope you can resolve this problem and even offer a fix to the multiple owners who are dis-satisfied.

Should the problem be fixed I would be willing to give it another try.

One suggestion I would also like to mention would be to allow the reservoir to remain full (like the Keurig) and allow you to still use the single serve rather than having to fill the reservoir an exact amount every time you use it."

Below is the reply I received from Hamilton Beach:

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Dear Gregg,

Thank you for your email.

Design suggestions and comments do not go unnoticed. We will forward your comments to the appropriate individuals for consideration.

Thank you for contacting Hamilton Beach Brands. Please let us know if we can further assist you.

Jessica W.
Consumer Affairs

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Sooooo, we'll see if anything comes of this, though I will not be holding my breath. I sure hope they can resolve the problem since at least at this point in time no one else offers the dual features of this unit.

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