Any help identifying this coffee machine?

[MrCase]

Hi folks, I just inherited an industrial style coffee machine, pretty old. It's a Silex (from before the Proctor-Silex merge, I called them and they have no knowledge of these) and predates their records. I'm trying to determine if it is broken, or how it works. The "ready" light never comes on, but the upper and lower warmers both work. Pouring water in the top hatch doesn't actually cause it to start percolating, so I'm not quite sure how to get it going. I'd like to start using it to brew my coffee since I drink quite a bit during the days.

I have attached some images of it to possibly help identification. Again, Proctor-Silex couldn't help me out, so I'm kind of at a loss. Please excuse the crappy cameraphone images.





Thanks for the help!

 

[CCafe]

The simple truth is you can go to Sams Club and buy a new commercial grade coffee brewer cheaper with a 1 year warranty then you can trying to figure out what to repair and how to use that brewer.

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/produ ... ction=push

There are a lot of people out there who have produced equipment and have long since gotten out of the market, yet their equipment lingers on. There are only a handful of manufactures that I would even suggest trying to find parts for and Silex isn't one of them.

Honestly Bunn invented the fluted coffee filter back in 1957 and came out with their first coffee brewer in 1963. They have been producing brewers for almost 50 years. I think you'll find that one at Sams to be very affordable and it will be supported long after were both dead.

 

[topher]

Mr Case....personally I would play with your new toy before throwing in the towel. You said you poured water in the top but it didn't do anything. Here is my suggestion. Put a pot under the brew basket and pour more water in the top and continue to(slowly) till water starts to come through the basket. After you have "primed" your brewer plug it in and wait about a half hour. Then pour another pot of water through...if it isn't hot or starting to get hot your element might be shot. Check the back for an on off switch...let us know what happens... :wink:

 

[MrCase]

CCafe, thank you for the advice, but there is a little bit of sentimentality attached to this machine, along with the character it has. I really don't want to get another - in fact, I don't even really need a coffee machine here, but I'd like to get it working anyways.

Topher: Thanks for the advice. I'll give that a whirl today and see what happens!