# Miele CM 5100 bean to cup



## Norvin (Sep 10, 2014)

Sometimes you just get lucky.

I thought people may be interested in this tale.

Just because I like to fiddle with mechanical things, I occasionally buy items listed as spares or repairs on ebay and try to fix them.

This Miele bean to cup machine was listed fairly locally as faulty (no description of fault), so I put a bid of £10 on. My reasoning was that even if I couldn't fix it, I would have £10 worth of play and perhaps may even get a few universal spares out of it. It used to be advertised as being built of components designed to last 20 years and I was curious to have a look inside. My bid was successful, being the only bidder, so I picked it up on my way to a walking weekend in the Peak District. It was well packaged in its original box. In the box was a recent letter from Miele saying that their technician had had a look at it and it couldn't be fixed (no reason given), and that'll be £120 please for the callout.

When I got it home I put beans and water in their respective containers and gingerly switched it on, expecting it to be dead, make weird noises, smoke to emanate, all the house lights to go off etc. Well, nothing serious happened, it started up and is working perfectly! Apart from a missing hose and its fitting to the milk frother, easily made on the lathe, it is complete and working. I have run it through cleaning and descaling cycles. All working fine - so far. Whatever fault it had hopefully seems to have fixed itself, that's German engineering for you.









It's an impressive piece of kit. You can adjust temperature, amount of coffee ground, volume dispensed, has a timer to switch on in the morning, cup warmer, automatic rinsing etc. etc.

It's not going to replace my Rocket Evo but this one's a keeper. I am thinking of using it as a travelling machine for when we stay with friends and family. Meanwhile, I am thinking of keeping it by the side of the bed so that I can have a morning espresso before getting up - have to run that past the wife first&#8230;


----------



## grumpydaddy (Oct 20, 2014)

Are these traditional boilers? Have you had a poke around inside? Are there any recognisable universal parts?


----------



## Norvin (Sep 10, 2014)

grumpydaddy said:


> Are these traditional boilers? Have you had a poke around inside? Are there any recognisable universal parts?


I haven't had a look yet, knowing me it won't be long, I haven't found a parts diagram yet. Judging by the speed of warm up, it's probably a thermoblock, I can hear a vibe pump inside.


----------



## Soll (Nov 10, 2013)

I had a secondhand Jura once F70 I think, which developed a fault and my wife's nephew took it apart much like yourself Norvin, he likes to tinker. In the end it just needed a clean because of my love for the darker roasts and grinding too fine on the setting, it got a bit should we say, clogged up.

It looks though you found a bargain Norvin and with your talent to Tinker it should last you a good while...


----------



## espressotechno (Apr 11, 2011)

The Miele has thermoblocks for steam & coffee water.

May well have been made by Jura for Miele (looks Jura'ish)


----------



## grumpydaddy (Oct 20, 2014)

Thinking along the lines of which has what and in view of the fact that diagrams for such machines are like rocking horse $h1t......

@espressotechno If I were looking for a cheap source of a smallish (say 2l) boiler, can you think of any likely source machines that might provide such??

I see WMF, Franke, carimali even shaerer machines cropping up a lot as "for parts" on ebay fairly cheap?

I don't like to pay a lot when trying ideas out...... I paid £1.00 for my last purchase


----------



## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

wow you've got lucky!

reminds me of how I repaired a friend's gps unit for pentax camera just by putting it on mine and turning on - saved him 200 euro


----------



## Norvin (Sep 10, 2014)

grumpydaddy said:


> I don't like to pay a lot when trying ideas out...... I paid £1.00 for my last purchase


I picked up a faulty Gaggia Syncrony Compact bean to cup for £1 once. Got it going too. The thermoblock and pump were full of scale. It doesn't take much scale to stop up a thermoblock. Once cleaned up and run through a descaling cycle, it worked.


----------

