Sunday 14 April 2013

Delonghi Nespresso U: Water tank DIY repair

I acquired a used Nespresso capsule coffee machine, for I was impressed by the good taste of the espresso and the small size of this machines. From the beginning I planned to refill the capsules occasionally with other sorts of coffee like my favourite trung nguyen vietnam coffee. Sadly the water tank of the delonghi "U" machine had some cracks at the bottom. The cracks seem to be a result of a bad choosen material combination of metall and polycarbonate. Whatever, the cracks made the water extraction valve at the bottom of the tank leaking and therefore useless to hold the water for a longer time; I had to fill it with only the amount of water needed to produce one cup of coffee....
Yesterday I found a piece of plastic that fits exactly the water intake port, a 10 mL syringe. Because I also had an empty water bottle, the idea was born to improvise a water tank until I'll came up with a proper replacement. After all, I was so appealed of  that improvised water tank, that I don't feel the need to replace it by an original one. So here is my idea.

A 10mL syringe with 16 mm external diameter was used. I removed the bottom and made two holes in the middle of barrel. The plunger acts like a valve, as when you pull the plunger to a point above the holes, liquid can flow trough the holes into the barrel. However if you push the plunger down, it will close the holes. I glued the modified syringe into the bottom of an nice looking water flask made from plastic and cut the neck of the bottle so that it fits the original lid of the water tank.
The new nespresso water tank for my delonghi U

The glued syringe with water inlet holes 

The bottom of the water tank 

Ready to use

The filled tank with pushed down plunger: No water leaking!

The installed tank with pulled up plunger: Water is allowed to be sucked from the machine when needed

I think its now looking even better than with the original water tank. Some refillable capsules in the foreground

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