Scored a Keurig B70

I was in Goodwill earlier today and spotted a fancy looking Keurig B70 coffeemaker on a shelf away from the others. It was a little dusty and looked to have a bit of hard water residue in the bottom of the water reservoir but it powered on when I plugged it in so for $12, I decided to take a chance on it. Worst case scenario, I could bring it back within 10 days for a store credit.

Wben I got it home, filled up the water reservoir, and ran out a cup of hot, albeit decidedly cloudy looking water. Running through all the menu functions, I determined that except for one LED on a selector button, the machine was completely functional and whisper quiet. This was further reassuring as some Keurigs tend to get noisy as they age.

So having passed the functionality test, I filled the reservoir with a 50/50 white vinegar and water solution and flushed it out with repeated brew cycles until the reservoir was empty, then repeated the process with clear water. By the time I'd done this, the water was coming out much clearer so I and gave the whole machine a thorough cleaning, which it badly needed.

As a final test, I made a cup of Twinings Chai Latte but it came out tasting sour. It didn't take long to figure out despite running clear water through it, there must have still been some vinegar left in the system and it didn't take much to curdle the milk in the chai so I ran more water through, tasting it each cup that came out, until I was satisfied the vinegar was gone. Then I made another cup of chai latte and it tasted fine.

Goodwill's pricing is so bizarrely random that the other two machines they had in stock, both base model K60 machines missing their drip trays, were priced at $25 each. The B70 was their top-of-the-line prior to the introduction of the Keurig 2.0 line and thus does not have the obnoxious built-in digital rights management to tell me which K-cups I can and cannot use with it. It was also complete except for the optional charcoal filter, which I always use in my Keurigs, even though my water isn't terribly hard. So for now, it has the one out of my K60 and I've ordered another to replace it. I guess I'll now have to decide whether to take the one I've been using in my kitchen to my office whenever we return to teaching face-to-face.


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Post# 438923 2/19/2021 at 15:52 (1,173 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina)
Checkrate/Likes 1 I was in Goodwill earlier today and spotted a fancy looking Keurig B70 coffeemaker on a shelf away from the others. It was a little dusty and looked to have a bit of hard water residue in the bottom of the water reservoir but it powered on when I plugged it in so for $12, I decided to take a chance on it. Worst case scenario, I could bring it back within 10 days for a store credit. Wben I got it home, filled up the water reservoir, and ran out a cup of hot, albeit decidedly cloudy looking water. Running through all the menu functions, I determined that except for one LED on a selector button, the machine was completely functional and whisper quiet. This was further reassuring as some Keurigs tend to get noisy as they age. So having passed the functionality test, I filled the reservoir with a 50/50 white vinegar and water solution and flushed it out with repeated brew cycles until the reservoir was empty, then repeated the process with clear water. By the time I'd done this, the water was coming out much clearer so I and gave the whole machine a thorough cleaning, which it badly needed. As a final test, I made a cup of Twinings Chai Latte but it came out tasting sour. It didn't take long to figure out despite running clear water through it, there must have still been some vinegar left in the system and it didn't take much to curdle the milk in the chai so I ran more water through, tasting it each cup that came out, until I was satisfied the vinegar was gone. Then I made another cup of chai latte and it tasted fine. Goodwill's pricing is so bizarrely random that the other two machines they had in stock, both base model K60 machines missing their drip trays, were priced at $25 each. The B70 was their top-of-the-line prior to the introduction of the Keurig 2.0 line and thus does not have the obnoxious built-in digital rights management to tell me which K-cups I can and cannot use with it. It was also complete except for the optional charcoal filter, which I always use in my Keurigs, even though my water isn't terribly hard. So for now, it has the one out of my K60 and I've ordered another to replace it. I guess I'll now have to decide whether to take the one I've been using in my kitchen to my office whenever we return to teaching face-to-face.

Post# 438964 , Reply# 1 2/20/2021 at 20:12 (1,171 days old) by gregvacs28 (U.S.)
Checkrate/Likes Wouldn't it be better to remove the back, take out the reservoirs if removable, and actually clean them by hand? I got a mini 2 cup coffee maker to use for making hot water. I open up the the water reservoir and did a vinegar soak and washed manually. Just running a bit of vinegar through something that may be heavily limed, isn't going to clean much. Sometimes one needs to soak overnight, then clean, and maybe soak again until you can see all the lime and grunge is abolished. Same for the accessory parts like the delivery tubing and spout.

Post# 438991 , Reply# 2 2/21/2021 at 14:06 (1,171 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina)
Checkrate/Likes Access to the guts of the Keurig is through the bottom. You're probably right that I ought to take the bottom plate off and at least give it a visual inspection but that said, I'm not totally convinced what I saw in the bottom of the water reservoir was calcium/lime deposits. There was any real evidence of obstruction. Water was flowing freely through it, even before I cleaned it. The more I think about it, I believe the unit may have sat idle for an extended period before it was donated, with dust collecting the damp plastic and adhering as it dried, initially giving the appearance of hard water deposits but those would have been much more difficult to remove. It washed out too easily with a soapy sponge.

Post# 438993 , Reply# 3 2/21/2021 at 14:58 (1,171 days old) by n0oxy (Saint Louis Missouri, United States)
Checkrate/Likes *you might try this instead of vinegar* You might give this cleaner a try, it's made from citric acid, it should clean better than vinegar and also will not have the vinegar smell. Mike CLICK HERE TO GO TO n0oxy's LINK

Post# 438997 , Reply# 4 2/21/2021 at 16:39 (1,171 days old) by MadMan (Chicago, IL, USA)
Checkrate/Likes I've had a Keurig in for repair from a friend of mine for a while now. I was using it for a while and it worked fine, but it stopped heating up and got stuck in preheat mode. I opened it up... and man it was a bear to take apart. And this is coming from a guy who's accustomed to working on German cars. It's a stupidly complex chunk of plastic. Really, it's only a motherboard, pump, and heater. Yet it's got way too many parts, hoses, and wires. They make a lot of different models, of course, some may be simpler. But my point is that disassembly for descaling may be more trouble than it's worth if you can just run some vinegar through it and achieve the same result. Just sayin. Anyway I think I got mine working again. I say 'mine' because I think I'm keeping it lol. I youtube'd the problem and only one video fit the bill, and it was some guy who noticed one broken wire to the microswitch that tells the machine that the cover thing is closed. Well mine had no broken wires, but I do know that microswitches wear out. Replaced it and so far, so good.

Post# 439009 , Reply# 5 2/22/2021 at 01:08 (1,170 days old) by gregvacs28 (U.S.)
Checkrate/Likes *ewwww* If it's sat for a while it could have grown severe mold. CLICK HERE TO GO TO gregvacs28's LINK View Full Size

Post# 439017 , Reply# 6 2/22/2021 at 07:01 (1,170 days old) by kirbyklekter (Concord,Ca.)
Checkrate/Likes *MadMans right* These Keurigs are way over engineered, at least the one being worked on,on YouTube was. I don't have any security bits to unscrew the bottom plate on mine and they sunk the screws so deep into these tunnels that trying to drill out said screws would no doubt damage things. The pump was so loud and got louder it was understandable why my brother gave it to me. Good luck with yours. Do you know where or who has an assortment of "security" screw drivers? I think that's what they are called. There's different types I know, but are you familiar with these? I actually check before buying any appliance, in stores, to see if they are using these, and if yes, I don't buy. CLR works wonders for de-scaling steam irons,coffee makers and just about any appliance that uses water.

Post# 439027 , Reply# 7 2/22/2021 at 12:30 (1,170 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina)
Checkrate/Likes Yeah, it's somewhat of an anomaly that I even like Keurig brewers with their proliferation of circuit boards and inherent inaccessibility for repair. While it runs completely counter to the philosophy behind my appliance purchases, I do enjoy the convenience. That said, I've never encountered a Keurig with 'security screws' but I have only had the earlier first-generation units. I guess those screws could have been added as a 'feature' to the Keurig 2.0 machines, which I have studiously avoided for other reasons. The whole idea that a manufacturer thinks they should be able to exert digital rights management over my coffee is both intrusive and abhorrent to me. After using this new (to me) Keurig for a few days, I have no real complaint about it from an operational standpoint. Everything seems to be fully functional and it makes great tasting coffee. Nonetheless, I plan to take the bottom plate off at some point soon to examine it for signs of scale or mold. I have only ever run a vinegar solution through coffemakers to clean them. Vinegar is an effective cleaning agent and totally safe, should I accidentally ingest some. Since the water initially came out cloudy on this machine, I kept running clear water through it after the vinegar solution until it came out clear with no 'floaters' so I'm reasonably comfortable that the machine is sanitary and safe to use.

Post# 439043 , Reply# 8 2/22/2021 at 17:32 (1,170 days old) by gregvacs28 (U.S.)
Checkrate/Likes Have you tried allen wrenches. Maybe the ones with ball ends.

Post# 439057 , Reply# 11 2/23/2021 at 01:24 (1,169 days old) by kirbyklekter (Concord,Ca.)
Checkrate/Likes Thanks MadMan I was thinking Harbor Freight also. What ever I buy will be a good investment in tools, they'll pay for themselves with the first repair I make. @ Human I made some pancakes in the electric fry pan yesterday and I think you are right they do seem better. They are also good for making French Toast! Mom used to batch cook about 18 scrambled eggs and transfer to a large bowl so we could help ourselves. Have used the fry pan 3 times already since reading your thread, so thanks for the reminder.

Post# 439052 , Reply# 9 2/22/2021 at 22:38 (1,169 days old) by MadMan (Chicago, IL, USA)
Checkrate/Likes Harbor Freight has a security bit assortment. It's like $5 or so. And you'll need a 1/4" bit driver. But if the screws are in deep wells, a bit driver won't fit down there. You might need to hop on amazon and look for security screwdrivers.

Post# 439056 , Reply# 10 2/23/2021 at 00:53 (1,169 days old) by kirbyklekter (Concord,Ca.)
Checkrate/Likes *@gregvacs28* Thanks for the suggestion, unfortunately this specialized screw head had a raised dimple coming up from the middle of the place you would insert a screwdriver. I can't even get a drill bit on it to drill it out because of this high spot.Just one of a few different methods used to keep us constantly in the loop of replacing instead of fixing.