We have an electronics recycling bin at my workplace’s building. Last spring, someone pitched a Keurig K-150 coffee machine in the bin. The machine looked mostly fine, so I proudly pulled it out and brought it home. After giving it power, I found it would cycle off if the power switch on its back was left in the downward depressed position and you tried to brew a cup of coffee. Surely it’s a capacitor?

While I haven’t opened the machine far enough to identify which capacitor is failing, I did figure out that if I replaced the machine’s power switch and placed it in an upward depressed position the machine would happily brew cups of coffee. Nice! I’d like to figure out which capacitor is failing, so that its switch can be placed in the downward depressed position, but I’ll take this workaround until I have more time.

I also found out the machine had brewed a couple thousand cups of coffee before I got my mitts on it. I’ve done another 200 cups since last spring. There are directions to access the machine’s diagnostics menu here – in short:

• Hold down the center of the screen
• Click brew 3 times in quick succession
• Press brew to cycle through each menu

Our city recycler, Eureka, won’t recycle K-Cups. For my testing, composting the the grounds and filters in the backyard, the cups get hauled to the incinerator by our waste hauler. If I keep using this thing, I may switch to a reusable pod:

https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Perfect-Pod-Micro-Etched-Compatible/dp/B084L54QQ7