Why I Almost Killed Somebody When I Cleaned my Coffee Maker
Let’s put this post in the category “doing something for a really big company that would save a lot of people a lot of frustration if the big company would take 5 minutes and update their website.” Let me ‘splain…
The B99 and I were in the coffee maker shopping state for a while, and eventually we decided on the 10-Cup Thermal model by Mr. Coffee. Wendy (my Better 99%) had one requirement – the thermal carafe – and I wanted something that made it easy to brew coffee, since I do most of the coffee making in the home. I’ve got to say, this machine is the real deal, and we have been very pleased with it, except for when the clean light came on.
A quick Google search for our model (BVMC-PSTX91) took me right to the manual on Mr. Coffee’s website and right there on page 12 were the simple step-by-step instructions for what to do when the clean light comes on. I followed them to a “T” and pushed the clean button. Basically the cleaning cycle pushes 3 cups of white vinegar through, pauses for 30 minutes, and then pushes the last cup of vinegar through. Then you run a few cycles of water through and you’re good to go.
Right. Except for the fact that after the first 3 cups went through, the clean light started blinking and the coffee maker started emitting this high-pitched, shrill noise that went on continuously. The first time this happened I was outside and so the B99 let it go since I had told her not to touch anything until the cycle was finished. So, when I came back in I heard an ungodly, piercing noise and found Wendy in the corner in a fetal position mumbling something that sounded like “make it stop.” I tried pushing the clean button, but when I pushed it again, the soprano from the land of hockey sticks was back. I unplugged the machine and waited a bit before plugging it back in. She was gone!
I decided to try again. I poured in 4 more cups of vinegar and pushed the clean button. Same thing happened, only this time it was worse because I had to hear it, too. I told the B99 that we’d let it run for 30 minutes and hopefully it would stop at that point and run through the rest of the cleaning cycle. We passed the time trying to match the high pitched noise. By the time the 30 minutes were over, we still had a piercing shrill coming from the coffeemaker and a yard full of neighborhood dogs.
At this point, I turned back to my friend, Google. I typed everything I could think of to try and find a solution.
“Mr. Coffee makes high-pitched sound during cleaning”
“BVMC-PSTX91 cleaning cycle not finishing after 3 cups”
“Police find couple twitching uncontrollably after neighbors call to report an odd, high screeching noise coming from home”
Nothing. Even when I clicked the link at Mr. Coffee’s website for “special cleaning instructions,” there was nothing about a noise during the cleaning cycle.
Finally (and the fact that this was my last step should give businesses a clue about how important their internet presence is), I actually called Mr. Coffee for help. Surprisingly, Mr. Coffee sounded like a female living in Indiana. I think I was expecting more of a Juan-type voice. She asked what I needed, and I told her about the problem with the cleaning cycle and the shrill noise and that my wife was in the corner of the kitchen rocking back and forth. She mentioned that others had been experiencing this same type of beeping during the cleaning cycle, and I clarified with her that we weren’t hearing beeping, but rather one continuous “fingers on a chalkboard” sound that made us want to kill somebody.
She laughed – nervously – and seemed relieved to hear that we hadn’t actually hurt anyone.
The solution, she told me, was simple. “Just put 2 more cups in the reservoir and that will trigger the cleaning cycle to continue until it is complete.” Apparently the sound that makes you want to stick something in your eye is just coffee maker-speak for “please add 2 more cups than the instruction manual calls for.” The obnoxious noise is the way the coffee maker punishes people like me for not knowing that intuitively.
So, I am now putting this classified information on my blog in case some other poor sap finds himself uncontrollably slapping small animals that show up in his yard during an attempt to clean his Mr. Coffee BVMC-PSTX91 10-Cup Thermal Coffee Maker. It would be much simpler for the company that makes the appliance to put it on their website, but that’s crazy talk.
Besides, my version is A LOT more fun to read.
(here is the link to the Mr. Coffee BVMC-PSTX91 10-Cup Thermal Coffee Maker manual if you need to download it)
Facebook Comments
LOL! I love to read your stuff, Paul! This was extra special great cause we are avid coffee drinkers–
Thanks !!! Your a lifesaver.. Our dog was ready to jump out the window, and our cat has lost his mind..
You made me laugh. It was such a relief after the tears and hair pulling that had accompanied the squeal.
My fifteen-year-old, blind golden retriever, Charlie,thought the world was coming to an end.
We are all relieved.
Thank you for doing what Mr. Coffee did not.
Thank you!! I just attempted to clean my BVMC-PSTX91 for the first time and that happened to me too…I was quite confused, to say the least. The manual is extremely vague about what exactly is supposed to be happening, but that horrendous noise kept going for over the 60 minutes that the manual said it should take. Confused, I assumed that maybe it was done…so I brewed 2 batches of water to clean it out…and that stupid orange light is still on! Now I have to go buy more vinegar and restart the process, I suppose…but at least I know how to do it successfully this time…so thank you very very much! 🙂
Glad to help out, Bruce! Hope it cleans correctly now.
All I did was unplug the machine and the light stopped blinking.
Thanks for the laugh…PTL
I loved your humor. After going upstairs and putting a pillow over my head for thirty minutes, the noise was still there. Your blog saved the coffee maker from being smashed. Thank you for the information and the laugh.
THANK YOU! I almost lobbed the damn thing off my roof!
Catherine and Justin – your coffeemakers are very glad I wrote this!
Thank you! You have returned calm to my house. The two dogs, toddler, and husband were all frantically trying to make the horrible noise stop.
Thank you VERY much for this info.
Saved me a call to ask the same question you asked.
Last Mr. Coffee I buy !
Such a humorous approach to this post! It is also amazing that in the manual they dont tell you how to use it properly, but they tell you what not to do…”CAUTION! Never immerse the coffeemaker itself in water, in any other liquid or place in the dishwasher.”
I’m so glad you posted this! I Googled “shrill sound mr coffee clean cycle” and yours was the #1 hit. My family thanks you for your humor and saving us from “death”
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I was listening to that awful sound as I stumbles upon your blog…a god send if you ask me. I ran to fill the pot while reading this in hopes not to wake my napping child. Lesson learned. Do not clean when child is sleeping 🙂 Love your humor and THANK YOU for this post. I will read it again and pretend you have an Indian accent so I can feel some of you pain 🙂
I am glad you shared this on you blog. I also was about to go looney, but my poor dog wanted to hide somewhere in the hills far, far- away.
thank you so much for sharing this – i was just totally freaked out by it and couldn’t find any other answers, either!
Add me to the list of people SO very thankful that you wrote this. I thought I was losing my mind!!!!
Paul, the horrid experience you so beautifully described happend to me JUST BEFORE A HURRICANE HIT MY AREA…yes, on August 27th before our power went out, the clean light came on. I quickly pulled out my instructions and did as they said…only to hear that sound. I tried all the obvious things one would as many have, and, of course, nothing worked. Hurrican Isabel came and we lost power, phone and internet service for five days. Each day seemed longer since I had a cup pf coffee, not brewed, but made on a CLEAN cycle when my husband ran the generator. My husband, Richard came to my rescue when when he found your wonderful blog and the solution to a rediculous problem. As I type this I sip my first cup of BREWED coffee in SEVEN days…all thanks to YOU kind sir! By the way, I checked my receipt and the return time ran out on the day BEFORE the hurrican hit…Murphy’s Law. THANK YOU!!!!
I found your blog and now will not have to go out and kill someone
— I hope the extra 2 cups will MAKE IT STOP!!!
Thanks for the info! I did the same thing – google….nothing….and finally I found your post!
THANK YOU!
Not only did you save me from throwing my coffee maker off a bridge, you entertained me. THANK YOU! Mr. Coffee should pay you. Really.
a-ha… i googled “mr. coffee clean cycle orange light blinking insanity”, and your blog came up. thank god.
Thank You!!!
Your nearly becomming a murderer story was a bit long to read to find the actual solution for our Mr. Coffee continuous-beeper-on problem during its cleaning cycle.
That said, it took me much less time to read your blog post and physically solve the problem then the time it took to re-read the Mr. Coffee cleaning instructions 6 times to see what I was missing plus reading their “special” online cleaning instructions twice, then checking out fixya and other sites … all to no avail.
Great post!
Thanks again for posting the solution.
Roy
I sincerely appreciate this post! You, good sir, were in fact my last desperate option before I called Mr. Coffee himself (or apparently herself?). Thank you for this post, I hope it works, I am in serious need of coffee.
It worked!
P.S. I’m an assembly of God youth pastor in Indiana.
All I can say is that Mr. Coffee owes you big time. You are a hero to Scout the Sheltland Sheep dog’s sensitive ears. How it’s even possible that this vital piece fo information wasn’t included in the instructions boggles the mind, but as you pointed out what’s even more stunning is that Mr. Coffee doesn’t feel the need to rectify the situation. I, too, love this coffee maker – in all other ways it’s outstanding. Thank you for keeping me from throwing it out the window to silence it.
Sweet lord almighty, I just ran into this. Thank you for they heads up, as I may have burned my house in protest if this had gone on any longer.
Wow, what a story. I have a different model (basic w/timer) that I bought recently, and was googling for an answer as to why the “clean” indicator light is still blinking after I cleaned it today. Thankfully, no noise!
Hmmm. Maybe I just jinxed myself…
omg…. THANK YOU for publishing this info on your blog! I was getting so pissed at my coffee maker. That high-pitched sound is soooooo incredibly grating! I was just about to kill someone too. 😀 I tried calling Mr. Coffee, but, of course, it’s Sunday today, so I would have had to wait until tomorrow. Who knows what I would have done in that 24 hours….
Thanks a ton. It was really bad!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Soooo glad that you posted this — funny but very informative 🙂 I can’t hear the high pitch noise but husband should a started barking hahaha he kept telling me to turn it off … thank you for posting this for the rest of us saps can figure thus out hahaha…
Just found your blog….and thank you kindly…on problem though…after reading this I went to add more vinegar to get it to stop beeping…I wasn’t paying attention to how much, just stopped adding when the beeping stopped…then a few minutes later, it started again…so I did the same thing…and again…the horrible beeping! This time…I had the full 2 extra cups….so long story short, add the full 2 extra cups all at one time!
Thanks again!
Yes, I had that happen, too…thank you for posting! I figured out on my own to add, but sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. NOW I KNOW WHY. 🙂 Interestingly, it turns out that adding 6 cups is like just filling up to MAX fill line. But I suppose you could recycle and wait for it to beep, then pour the extra 2 cups from the decanter to save on vinegar. Thanks to you and Paul for clearing this up! We drink alot of coffee between the 5 of us, so 40-some cycles happens in a hurry and the orange light comes on more often! Hilarious description absolutely made my day, and after research on Mr. Coffee website to find the model, here THIS blog was like, calling to me with that big photo of OUR coffee maker. I’m surprised Mr. Coffee doesn’t edit their booklet….geez, even textbooks get edited every 3 years! Thanks so much to both of you for the info!
Thank you so much for you blog. Not only did you make me laugh but you saved several small animals in my neighborhood as well. I actually had to add more liquid a few times. I eventually ran out of vinegar and starting pouring the contents of the carafe back into the reservoir. No point in not recycling. Thanks again…you saved the day!
Thank you! This happened to me a year ago and I just unplugged it and contacted Mr. Coffee through their web site e-mail. They sent me a new coffee maker, no questions asked. Well now that coffee maker is doing the same thing and I am going to try the 2more cups solution instead. I can’t believe that they would not include this in their manual and that they would just send out brand new coffeemakers over this. I thought there must be some major known defect!
Thank you. I lost 70% of the hearing in my left ear a couple of years ago and was in fear of losing what was left to Mr Coffee. Crazy that the Mr Coffee site does not tell you about this. You are a life saver…well…at least an ear saver.
Dude…you are A-LIFE-SAVER!!! …and pretty darn funny…lol…
Very entertaining and even more helpful! Thank you!
ah-haa…I put black electrical tape over the orange light but the method you’ve described sounds…better.
OMG This can’t be true, but it seems to simple to work! Here is my story, my parents stopped by one day to pick up my family to go on a trip, “let me brew some coffee for the road” I said, and suddenly “BEEEEPPPP”, my family curled into fetal positions on floor while I started to tear up, well I had to have coffee to travel, so me and my father sat on the floor with tools in hand and spent 3 hrs taking it completely apart which btw sounds like an easy task, holy cow, take 3 bolts out to find 3 more, repeat for hours. Well I got it back together (with only a few screws left) and suddenly it worked, I was ready to buy a new one instead of the trip but was happy to have it going again. Moving forward a month, I am a trauma medic in an ER, so I must have my coffee if I expect to help all the people others are trying to kill from their screaming Mr. Coffee. And as I am ready to leave back comes the “BEEEEPPPP”, and yes I had it by the front door getting ready to drive over the thing with my 4×4 but first though I would check online, at first I clicked alllll the complaints and figured great, days without coffee, and more money to spend on a new one and I was definitely NOT going to stay a Mr.Coffee customer. So i read this out load to my wife, we giggled but I still don’t believe, but before it meets Mr.Jacked up Dodge, might as well try it. Just poured in the vinegar and silence! Your kidding me right, that was it???!?
Funny stuff, Chris. Even crazier is that you don’t even have to use vinegar to make the beeping stop. Good old water will do the trick, too, if you’re in a really bad coffee panic and you don’t have vinegar in the house.
I too was trying to figure out this cleaning deal for my Mr. Coffee. The cleaning light came on for no obvious reason and I wanted to get it off. I downloaded the user guide and tried to follow the directions. It stopped in the middle of the cleaning cycle and beeped though not a high pitched beep as you described. I just added two cups of water and all is good.
Greatly appreciated.
George
Wow, what a story! And so helpful for the rest of us! In an effort to avoid all that hassle with the vinegar and the additional water, I researched other ways to clean and came across the Full Circle line of cleaners. They work on all different types of machines, are completely biodegradable, odorless and ultra-fast! Here’s a link for anyone looking to simplify their coffee-cleaning experience: http://bit.ly/qOWBDU
Thanks so much for your insightful and hilarious commentary on the BVMC-PSTX91. I just picked one up from a thrift store today and immediately wanted to send it through the clean cycle…but alas the ear piercing, screeching tone was enough to make me rip my eyeballs out! Without your blog I think I might have lost it trying to figure out how to make it stop. Now my machine is well on its way to getting clean.
Thanks again!
I wanted to put my head through the wall when i heard this noise from my coffee pot. I’m really glad that i stumbled across your post before i threw the thing across the room. I added the 2 cups and it stops. Who doesn’t figure this out while testing the products?!
Omgosh, thank you! I, too, almost killed somebody while I was cleaning this coffee maker! WHY don’t they properly explain the procedure??? BTW… is it just my machine that continues to indignantly scream even after I added the additional water? Is she holding a grudge against me for my mistake? If that sound doesn’t stop, she better grow wings….
Thank you! This happened to me today, that very annoying shrill! I followed your advice and all is good! So happy to have been able to google and find the solution.
I share all of this with you and know your pain! Adding a 3 year old to the mix that wanted to immitate said shrieking! I opened my handy dandy instruction manual and the index says “Cleaning and Maintaining your Coffee maker page 16” So I rushed right on over to page 16 as fast as I could… You can imagine my suprise when I am now finding myself trying to translate the spanish instructions amidst the shrieking coffee maker and now screaming 3 year old! So I too turned to “Google” to help me with the crisis now in hands and in fear that a neighbor was going to call the police thinking I am killing my screaming 3 year old with some kind of shrieking device. By the way english instructions are on page 11. Thank you for your instructions, they were much easier and the laugh has now relieved the headache caused by the coffee maker and screaming child! Cheers!
THANK YOU so MUCH for your blog! Not only did it solve our problem of the screaming meeny (which our 12 yo deaf German Shepherd actually alerted to!), but your humor aided my husband and I to regain inner peace. I find it humorous also that your blog was the first thing that popped up when I googled “Mr. Coffee high pitch sound during cleaning”
OH MY GOSH, you are a saint. I was about 15 minutes into the ungodly beeping and I thought I was going to throw my lifeline (aka coffee maker) through the window if it didn’t stop
Bless you and yours forever!
OMG was I so happy to have found your blog when I typed into Google – how to make my Mr. Coffee stop the high-pitched noise during cleaning! I must say – we only listened to it for 3 minutes before I was furiously typing – since you can find the answer to absolutely anything on Google. I read your post out loud to my husband who almost fell over laughing. THANK YOU SO MUCH for taking the time to save all of us Mr. Coffee cleaners!!! You ROCK! Libby R. – San Antonio, TX
You saved me from the insanity plea. Thank you very much. Why on earth Mr. Coffee doesn’t provide a link to your blog is beyond me. You are the MAN.!!!!!!
Thanks, Mickey! I also think that Mr. Coffee should link to my blog (and pay me for customer support).
ha! this happened to me today but not the first time i tried to clean it – glad i could find your post
Thanks! You are the only person on-line with the answer to this problem!
You’re welcome.
Thank you so much!!!!!! I was about ready to chuck the thing out the window. Thank you, thank you.
No problem. Glad I could help!
Exact same thing just happened to me. Thank you so much for posting your story.
You’re welcome. 🙂
I was just about to slit my wrists! Thanks so much.
🙂 Funny blog. Funny comments. 🙂
So I guess the four cups of vinegar means four measured measuring cups and not four coffee-cup sized cups.
You may be right. (I may be crazy.) *Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Too bad the manual doesn’t just say it as clearly as you did!
Thank you! For the info and the laughs this morning. Our coffeemaker just started blinking “clean me” this morning and now I can hopefully avoid the screeching and assorted homicidal/suicidal tendencies that apparently accompany it!
So glad I could help you out!
Second best blog post I’ve stumbled on… The first was a trick with 3×5″ index cards to get my GE oven to stop throwing error codes whenever I roasted something with a high moisture content. The internet, a great place to find solutions to life’s small by PITA problems!
I’m more than happy to be in your top 2!
Thank you so much! I called the Mr. Coffee hotline and of course they were closed. Thank you! To date Mr. Coffee doesn’t mention a darn thing about this constant beeeeeeep sound in the manual so your blog post should be helpful for years to come.
Wow! You’d think by now they’d have added something to their site. Glad I could help!
Thank you all for your posts but unfortunately I tried said solution and it didn’t work. I ran the first cycle and the dog whistling beep started, so I read the posts and tried adding more water but wouldn’t you know it it did it again. I gave up, dumped the vinegar, and cleaned the pot with a water cycle only to find the clean light was still on….
To be clear, the manual calls for 4 cups, but you need to add 2 more cups to those 4. Don’t add them during the clean cycle – add them at the beginning. So you’re putting 6 cups of vinegar or water in and then pushing clean.
Hope that helps!
Thank you so much! There is still nothing on the Mr. Coffee website about this problem, and I almost smashed it to smithereens while my poor dog whined and tried his best to cover his ears while cowering in the corner. Thankfully I unplugged it and googled and was led to you.
You’re welcome. I figured by now there would at least be a link from their site to this one. 😀
You are life a saver. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get the help I needed and I certainly wasn’t expecting it to be hilarious at the same time. Kudos.
Glad it all worked out for you!
Nanas Coffee Maker Cleaner is a NAtural solution with no Vinegar Harsh Vinegar Odor and No Chemicals they are 100% natural Ingredients might want to check them out I use for my k cup pot http://www.nanascoffeecleaner.com I would like your opinion on them PAul
Well, send me a sample and I’ll give you an opinion.
Hey Paul can you send me an email with your shipping address I will send you a sample for the Keurig Type Pots
I don’t have a Keurig, or even a Keurig type. Mine’s a 10-cup coffeemaker just like the one I wrote about in the post. Thanks for the offer, though!
Nana’s can be used in Conventional Pots also 2 cups and fill your reserve up half way with warm water and brew Nanas you then can see and taste the differnce in your fresh pot of coffee
Many thanks from me too, Paul. It took me most of an afternoon to finally find this site, but it was worth all the searching. This morning I was a poor sap close to needing restraints, and this evening I’m a calm contented person looking forward to my morning coffee.
The interesting part to me is that fifteen minutes later the beep started again and didn’t stop till I put another cup or so of vinegar in the hopper. Then it finished the run and has been behaving ever since. I ran two four-cup cycles and it appears to be happy. I wonder if the sensor that detects a cleaning is necessary is the culprit; if it still detects there is still a blockage after a normal run, the only solution is more cleaner so it beeps for more.
That would seem quite reasonable to me if it had been mentioned anywhere in the manual or on the website. Ha ha.
It’s Christmas morning and I get up at 5 a.m. to start cooking. The coffee pot clean light is on so I decided to clean it. Of course I lost the manual that came with the coffee maker. I’m a man so who needs it anyway? I’ll make it work. Yeah right not this coffee maker! After 30 minutes on the internet I finally find the instruction manual. I followed the detailed instructions perfectly. After it brewed 3 cups of undiluted white vinegar. The clean light starts to flash. I can’t hear the high pitched noise the coffee makers making because I listened to way to much Led Zeppelin, Aero Smith and Rolling Stones in high school. But my wife can hear it. She comes into the kitchen and says “What is that noise?” It’s the coffee maker. Oh no Houston we got a problem. Nothing is in the instruction manual “Trouble Shooting your Mr. Coffee Coffeemaker” section about this problem. Nothing on the Mr. Coffee internet site. Nothing! Notta! I’m lost in coffee maker technical problem hell!!! I look at my wife and I’m not kidding she has on ear plugs. The noise is driving her crazy. Finally I find your blog about this problem and life gets better. Thank you for posting the solution and Marry Christmas!
Thanks for the comment and the great Christmas laugh! Glad you got it fixed.
Thanks so much for this post. This isn’t the first time I have tried to clean my coffee maker but this time, it did exactly as yours did. It was the middle of the afternoon and being that I normally make coffee at 4 am while my two girls both under 2 years old sleep, I was glad to deal with the screach while they were awake… I somehow managed to cease the screech and even make my husband a pot of coffee(I had used water not vinegar) but had this happened at 4 am… this coffee maker would have been in the dumpster. I am excited to finally successfully cleab my coffee maker tomorrow and have the clean light go off… all thanks to your advice.
Also… I agree, there is no snack better than all things gummy!
Glad I could help out! Nice to meet a new gummy believer!!
God bless you, kind sir!
Thank you very much! The first time I cleaned it, this awful sound did not happen, but today it did. Just added extra water to the reservoir and it was silenced. I appreciate your post.
It’s good to see that I am not the only person that cannot translate that awfully terrible noise into, “May I have a bit more water?”
Just got one of these today and experienced the exact same thing. I was bumming pretty hard then hit good ol’ google and found your blog. Thanks so much for putting this out there!
Add one more to the list of satisfied customers.
Glad to help!
you’re a life saver, thanks!
You all seem like a nice group. Going to buy one if these just to join your fun at some future date! By the way, is the “Coffee’s done!” setting optional? Hate being beeped at in the morning….
Mr. Coffee should pay you a “retainer” fee, Paul. Not only are you helping them retain happy customers but you are also gaining them new ones!
Thank God for blogging. This is the second day. It happened yesterday but somehow when we decided to rinse the sound stopped. But the light never went off. My husband makes the coffee and this morning it tasted of vinegar so I decided that “not enough corrosion is gone” so began anew as has the buzzing. Did the manual, online manual and then google. And I found you. So thankful that I am tolerating the buzzing while I send thanks for the answer before I add the water, but this is all the time I can spare because it is still a long wait till this finishes and I get a cup of coffee from the first carafe I have had in years that does not drip when I pour it. No longer to clean the floor or pour only over that sink. Who knew a cup of coffee could be so complicated and painful. Loved your post
Thank you for tip my wife Wendy was also in the fetal position begging for the sounds to stop :0)
You are my hero! I’ve never laughed so hard while on the verge of tears from the noise. Our dog thanks you as well.
OMG Thank you thank you thank you!!!! I was losing my mind with this darn coffee maker!! My child and our pets thank you as well!!
You are so welcome!!!
Thanks! After, likewise, searching the instruction problem section to no avail, I searched with the same question you had and came across this post. I am cleaning the pot for the first time following instructions to try to get rid of the terrible tasting coffee after only a few uses. I have dumped a lot of coffee already. Oddly enough, as I was reading your post, the whistling stopped, but so did the process and now no lights are on and there is still water in the reservoir. I am going to add more water and push the button again. When and if the noise starts, I will just add more water this time and see what happens. If the cleaning process does not clear the taste problem up-good bye Mr. Coffee. On a weird positive note, my ears have had that clogged feeling for the past week or so following a bad head cold plus airplane flight. I think the whistling coffeepot just re-pressurized my eardrums as I just noticed when the whistling stopped, my ear stuffy feeling was gone for the first time in days!
Oh my goodness. Your post was like reading exactly what has transpired in my house this morning. I’ve cleaned my machine before without this problem, so was shocked at the loud, continuous beep. Thank you!
My cat just pooped on the counter top next to the screaming coffee pot
The coffee “cup” measurements are actually only 6 oz while a measuring cup is truly 8oz. So 3 coffee “cups” (as measured by the marks on the side of your reservoir) is only 18oz while 3 measuring cups is 24oz. The instructions are probably for measuring cups. Very funny story. I laughed, I cried, I gassed, and passed the the story around for everyone else to read.
Just wanted to say thanks for the info (and humor) – you just saved our office!
THANKS. I added the extra vinegar …it worked for about a minute because it took the extra back down to 1 cup (left in the reservoir.) and then BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.
So I did it again, with water…. same thing.
Mr. Coffee, who in my case did sound like a man but not like Juan, said there is nothing I can do to stop the torture tone.
thanks for your blog. much fun.
You saved my sanity… I have had this machine for 3 years and this is the first time all of my cats were galloping wildly shaking their heads, knocking over small items, and praying that something or someone would make it stop. I kept trying to empty the remaining liquid but it was still “squeeeeee” and such but after I read this I kept adding liquid 2 cups at a time until finally Mr. Coffee, where ever he/she lives, decided to spare the felines from something that I guess at my age isn’t as horrific to me as to them. What a terrible thing! You’d think you could add a blinking light that says “add a couple more cups of liquid”. I thank you again for this post and hope your lovely wife has recovered. The cats are now sleeping so I think we are ok here.
I am so glad that I lost the manual and looked online for it. I came across your blog and avoided all that headache! Thanks again for the info poured out in an easy and fun serving.
Thank you for saving my sanity on Sunday night!!! So glad that you have posted this and google answered my question with your blog!
I bought this for the same reasons you did primarily for the thermos type decanter. Previous Thermos types by another company brewed very slow after awhile and cleaning did not help. I went for this one and even measured the temperature it heated the water to and the numbers they claimed were right on. It is supposed to make it faster and better tasting.
The first one I returned to Target for exchange within 90 days because it died. This one has been great after a year of continual usage. The only problem was a spring came out of the bottom of the holder for the filter. It worked OK because the part had not disappeared but was a bit of a pain to position it every day.
I too called the company and they were great. Sent out the new basket and all is well.
I saw your article after not finding my paper manual and add that 4 real cups using a measuring cup is not the same as the markings on the water reservoir, as a previous post said.
Great story.
You my friend, are my hero.
Thank you, Paul. I was looking for assistance on how to clean my brewer, but I have found a new bookmark in my Favourites list! Keep up the good work!
Glad to have you as a reader!
Lol that is so funny but I fill your pain. My huby got up made a pot and said it was gross so he put the vinegar in pushed the clean button and then all the crap started. He has a concussion so the sound is Rilly getting him. But we have cleaned this one all day and the clean lite is still on. What the crap. And I can’t find my book on it. That I put in a good place so I would know where it is.lol.
Thank goodness for you!! You just made me chuckle instead of going fetal. Trying this now…
Awesome. Hope it works for you!
My wife was nearly apoplectic while I calmly read this post. Once I got to the denouement, I laughed out loud and then proceeded to empty a glass of water into the reservoir.
THANK YOU!! It was driving me crazy.
It can do that!
Why oh why do I feel compelled to try to outwit the other comments? Thanks for this info and now I like my alternative “old school” french press and IKEA top of stove (similar to the ones sold in Italy) espresso makers even more than Mr. Coffee?
I hate to admit it but I still like this coffee maker but cannot understand why Mr. Coffee apparently relies on blogs to fix their issues. Maybe Mr. Coffee likes to know that we have come together to continue using their product – little do they know that when it stops working that we will be looking for a different brand (or going to the old school types that you wash by hand and don’t use electricity).
your help with this mr. coffee problem engaged me so much that i am going to buy one to see if mine will screech too. thank you
Ha! Hope you enjoy it (and you should make it screech at least once to join the club!).
You sir, are awesome!
Thanks!
THANK YOU……for restoring sanity in my household!
Sanity is such a good thing!
Wow, nice tips! Very easy. Thanks for sharing this tips. I would like to try it personally!I usually hate cleaning my coffee maker, but you make it sound so easy that I’ll have to give it a try.
Best regards! Rush Green Carpet Cleaners Ltd.
Thank you for saving me from having to buy another coffee pot. After having this coffee maker for almost a year – which means at LEAST a dozen cleaning cycles – it did the same exact thing to me this morning. I Googled and looked at Mr Coffee’s troubleshooter in the manual all to no avail. I am now in process of running the clean water through my pot and thankfully have kept $70 in my bank account all because I clicked one more link. 😉 Besides being grateful for a solution, I thoroughly enjoyed your story!!
Glad I could help (and glad you get to keep $70 in your account!!).
You know Me Coffee should pay you for helping them! I did everything to stop that noise, including unplugging it for the day. Plugged it back in and still screaming at me. Thank you so much for helping me!
I love you more than life itself. For reasons that don’t need to be discussed in this blog, I pulled an all-nighter tonight and decided to clean my coffee maker while getting some work done. I removed the shot-gun from my temple at 4:45am when I found this information. Just in the nick of time before my wife and both kids woke up and found me with a hole in my head. People like you who take the time to put things like this on the interweb are what make life beautiful.
Best. Comment. Ever.
Glad I could help.
I see that 133 people thanked you for your advice……I will be another THANK YOU ….I was about to throw the coffee maker out the back door. Followed your simple instructions and all is good again.
Thank you for the info and the funny story. My kids were walking around with headphones on to drowned out the squeal. I love this coffee maker but was thinking it had to go after 1 month.
Glad I could help. Of course, your kids may still walk around with headphones on, but that’s kids nowadays!
Loved this post! Very entertaining reading. Our “clean” light came on & we didn’t know why. I still don’t see in the instructions anywhere if the light should come on by itself (to tell you to clean the darn thing, finally) we figured we just hit it accidentally. But I see others referring to it “coming on”. Anyway, I don’t know where the manual is so I Googled for info on how to clean it, and your post was in the results. I did read the online manual as well, but I also thought I had to read the blog post with the reference to wanting to kill somebody during the cleaning cycle- I needed to know if I was in for some sort of trouble! So, the process has begun, but if a nails-on-the-chalkboard screech starts, we’ll know what to do right away! As someone else said already, thanks for the info AND thanks for the laughs!
Thank you for this. Found it via google when my husband was loosing his mind during our first attempted clean of the coffee maker. Bless you 🙂
So glad we saved your husband’s mind!!
Bless you Paul,
I thank you and so does Mr Coffee. If I had not found your blog there would have been a laying on of hands in an unholy manner.
Glad to help!
Let me add myself and my entire office to the list of lives you’ve saved by your post! Thank you thank you thank you!
Glad I could help out!
I know this is an old post, but I found it helpful. Stupid F’ing coffee maker!
Oh my goodness. This just happened to us. Totally out of the blue. Alarmed us out of a relaxing Sunday evening. We scrambled unsuccessfully for the manual. Found a manual online. Things still didn’t make sense and my ears were starting to bleed. I found your story after googling “ear piercing Mr. Coffee cleaning noise.” Thank you. Thank you. #thestruggleisreal
Thanks for the post. After all these years, Mr. Coffee should have updated the manual. Did not have a problem the first year, but today it did it for the first time.
I still can’t believe that this fix is relevant all this time later! Glad it helped.
Thank you!
You bet!
Still relvent. I got up and I thought I was going crazy and had this horrible pitching ringing in my ears. I stopped and listened to every Appliance on my way to the kitchen to see what was going on. I asked my husband why my ears were ringing he told me. I tried to get him to go to the store and buy me a cup of coffee but he wouldn’t. The only suggestion he found on Google was to throw the thing out so I decided it was time for me to do the Googling. Your blog was the first to come up hubby said he saw that but didn’t read it sure glad I did but by the time I got to the solution our mr.coffee shut up but now we know for next time.
Crazy, right? Glad it still helps!
Thank you Paul, another year has gone by and still your advice is on point. I bought this coffee maker a few months ago and got this result on the first cleaning cycle. They did update the manual to reflect 6 cups, which we put in, however I suspect they are referring to 8 oz measured cups, not the 6 oz coffee cup volume they use for their measurements on the tank. Hence 6 cups on the tank still do not equal 6 measured cups of 8 oz each and because I was 12 oz short, it triggered the alarm. I appreciate your posting this all those years ago and my wife and I got a good chuckle out of your experience.
I never would have thought that a post about a noisy coffee maker would end up being my most commented on blog post. Glad it helped and provided some laughs!
hi Paul
How is your day
I love you
from
Laney
You saved some lives with the one! Thanks, Paul!
Saving lives is a good thing!
Boy, your note was heaven sent! That high pitch was rattling my brain and disrupting my innards! I’ve cleaned the coffee maker previously and never experienced the high pitch (it always worked perfectly). Not sure why it didn’t work this time. However, adding the extra two cups solved the problem.
Thank you so much!
Glad to help!
Just bought a new Apple Watch and the Anxiety App went off when I tried to clean my coffee pot. Thanks for this helpful blog…. (hold on… I have to add more vinegar.)
So glad it helped, Kevin. Enjoy the new Apple Watch!
Thank you so much…. OMG. The screeching… I’ve used so much vinegar now that the maker should be amazing afterward. Have a great day!
So glad this was helpful! You have a great day, too.
Paul-
For starters, your blog post was amazing and hilarious. It was so relate-able and we simultaneously had tears of joy and laughter rolling down our cheeks while we were reading it.
I tried everything to get the awful high pitched beep to stop. I unplugged, restarted it, drained, refilled, etc only to have it start again.
I was halfway thru your post when it started yet again and it started that beeping again. I yelled “Don’t. Touch. It!! I think I may have the answer and ran into the kitchen, grabbed a two cup measuring cup, filled it and fed that beast. The beeping STOPPED!!!
A perfect “hallelujah” moment!!
I thank you and I’m positive that my 7 dogs also thank you!
That’s fantastic! So glad this was still relevant (and sorry that it had to be)! Now give those dogs a bone!