Fixing a broken Bialetti Moka Express Pot can be as easy as bending its funnel back into shape — if this specific problem ails you.
For a moka pot producing only steam, the problem is likely a gap between the top edge of the water reservoir and the top lip of the funnel.
That gap shouldn’t be there. These three pieces should touch: Top lip of water reservoir, top lip of the funnel, and the rubber gasket.
Before and after: the lip of the funnel should sit on top of the base. Bending back the lip of the funnel is the fix.
Recreate the air seal by reshaping the funnel’s top lip. Pliers or a similar tool can be used to bend the top edge of the funnel to rest on the lid of the water reservoir — as it’s intended.
Bend the aluminum so the funnel lip is 90-degrees angled to the vertical walls of the funnel.
Bend the lip of your pot back to 90 degrees.
This might take a few tries. You’re bending the funnel’s top lip back to its original shape — or, at least, close enough to the original shape that it sits flush with the water bottom chamber.
If you’ve overdone it and the funnel sits on top of the bottom chamber, screw on the top chamber and crank it tight in an attempt to flatten the funnel lip.
Why were you seeing only steam?
A warped funnel breaks the air seal that creates air pressure in the bottom chamber and push up water through the funnel and into the coffee beans.
If those three pieces don’t touch, air escapes from the lower chamber around the lips of the funnel as the water boils. That’s why — with the broken seal — the water boils but is never be pushed up the funnel. The moka pot can’t work without built-up air pressure in the bottom chamber.
Why the pot likely broke?
The funnel’s top lip is thin aluminum and wears out with use. Over-tightening the pot may also wear out the funnel’s top lip — breaking the air seal and letting air escape past the side of the funnel.
My moka pot was broken for six months before I tinkered around enough to figure out the solution. Internet forums weren’t much help either, as you may have noticed.
The ironic thing is that over-tightening the top and bottom chambers together — which is what I did several times as I tried possible solutions — probably bent the funnel lip further, worsening the problem.
Did this work for you? Tell me at ddstruett@gmail.com
The water reservoir AND the funnel need to sit flush with the rubber seal.
David Struett | Writer from Chicago 