Worked Great for 18+ Months, then a Good Cleaning Makes Good as New!

C. · 14 June 2020

I bought this single cup brewer for several important reasons:Small size/footprint— takes up very little countertop spaceLow power—800W allows me to plug in same 20A kitchen outlet as the 1200W microwave oven, which also shares the same circuit as the rice cooker and refrigerator. Once in a while the branch circuit breaker trips when the rice cooker and microwave oven are both running. But I have not had the problem when the Chilux and microwave are both running. Some more “powerful” coffee makers might brew your cup 30 seconds faster, but then I might have to go outside to reset the circuit breaker more often.Perfect for Travel—this little thing is light and compact. While it doesn’t have a water storage tank that traps water inside, I still place inside a plastic bag when packing into my bag just in case there’s a few drips.Low Price—the price for this little thing is fair. I wanted a small unit without any fancy features and it fit my needs perfectly.Now on to my long term review. Maybe I have had extremely good luck with my unit, but it has worked flawlessly for one year and about 9 months. For the price I could not ask for anything better. I have used it daily for a morning cup of coffee since my doctor advised me to cut back on caffeine when diagnosed with a heart arrhythmia condition. I don’t want or need a large coffee pot and the single use k-cups are perfect for me when brewed with 12-14 oz water and then poured into a vacuum insulated coffee mug to last all morning. I also have used it for single cup afternoon coffee either decaf or regular with an 8oz to 10oz water charge. I use a 2 cup Pyrex glass pitcher to fill water and then collect the brewed.I have only used tap water from the municipal water supply. This is great water I’ve been drinking for years. This might be one of the reasons I have not had to clean my unit for 1.75 years.Now the failure came over the course of a week recently. The coffee maker would dispense the brew more slowly than normal, and I noticed a little bit less volume when it reached end of brew cycle. Finally it would simply turn off after only half the water was dispensed. It seemed that the problems people reported in their reviews finally reached my unit.Ok, so I had never attempted to clean the unit in the whole time I’ve used it. So, I thought I should try the vinegar cleaning method. My box and cleaning instructions were long gone. Instead I poured standard white vinegar 6 oz into the reservoir and started a complete brew cycle with no coffee pod installed. I then added a few ice cubes to cool down the brewed output and poured it back Into the reservoir for another run. It did not do much good and I thought to myself that maybe I should have been cleaning regularly as recommended.So I stepped it up a notch by using CLR cleaner because that stuff does wonders for cleaning mineral deposits like calcium and lime and rust — hence the name CLR! I knew that the CLR product is non toxic and is recommended for cleaning coffee makers. I failed to read the fine print on the bottle that said to use 1 part CLR to 8’parts water for this task. Instead I used 6 oz straight poured into the intake, then I ran a brew cycle. The new cycle terminated early after only half the fluid had been transferred. So I hit the brew cycle button again for more action. After that I added ice cubes to cool the solution and dilute a little and I ran it again through the brewer. I did this several times until had about 12 ounces of working cleaning fluid. I poured the solution in the reservoir hit the brew button until the unit started to produce an output then I promptly hit the button again to stop the action. I came back an hour later and decided to continue running the cycle which seemed to be much improved! The cleaning actually worked great!Now the problem was flushing out the coffeemaker with clean water.... running the CLR straight meant higher concentration and it took about 10 cycles of running 12 to 16 oz clean water each time to clean the unit. I let the water sit in the unit for an hour between cycles and it eventually reduced the residual CLR cleaner smell to levels my sensitive nose could no longer detect.Looking back I should have first followed the directions of using 1 part vinegar to 1 part water, poured into the unit and start then stop the brewing cycle to let it sit and clean the unit for an hour. I plan to do this next time the performance degrades — either the brew flow slows down and/or the volume out does not equal the volume in. I don’t think I need to do this every 2 weeks since my water seems to not cause buildup problems for about 18 to 21 months. Maybe every 6 months would be good.I bought a second Chulux unit a few days ago when my first stopped working, but then after cleaning my original is back running good as new! ! !I’m keeping the second unit anyway since it arrived today. I almost feel like buying a third unit to keep as a spare for 10 years down the road when you probably cannot buy them anymore. I think eventually the electronics or mechanical parts, hoses, etc may fail. But until then I will keep using and cleaning this little champ every day!

Runs on 1100 watt inverter

K.V.B. · 28 June 2024

I specifically bought this coffee maker for my RV. We dry camp a lot, and although I have sufficient solar I only have a 1100 watt inverter. At 800 watts, this unit seems to run well on my 1100 watt inverter. For 12 ounces of water, I figure the brew time is more like 5 minutes than 3 as advertised, which I calculate to use about 5.5 amp-hours total from the batteries. My solar can easily make that up in 20 minutes in good sun. It is way more convenient than boiling water with gas every time I want a cup of coffee or tea. As for the product itself, it is easy to use and doesn't take much space on the counter top, which is also a concern in an RV. My only complaint would be that tall travel mugs do not fit even with the drip tray out, so you might have to pour your coffee from a shorter mug into the travel mug. But other than that this product is ideal for RV use. I specifically bought it rather than a Keurig Mini because the Keurig, although quicker and able to hold a taller travel mug, draws 1425 watts when heating, which is a lot unless you have a large battery/inverter system.

Work perfectly and only uses 800w

P. · 24 June 2024

Got this to use with my 1000w solar generator. Had a Keurig but those are power hungry using 1500-1800 watts. Takes a little longer to make a cup which is expected. Give it time it cycles the heat for some time before brewing not like a keurig.

J’adore

M.B. · 16 January 2025

Je l’ai acheté pour le camping étant donné qu’il n’y a pas beaucoup de rangement. Fonctionne très bien et très heureuse. Petite efficace

Not bad; it lasts longer than an actual Keurig!

j. · 17 May 2025

For the price and the quality, it’s not bad at all. This is actually my second one; the first one lasted me about 3 years before it went kaput. I tried replacing it with a regular Keurig machine, and guess what, the real brand name device didn’t even last me 3 months! Not only that, it was a real pain to clean, and when I did try to descale and clean it, it stopped functioning altogether. At least with this Chulux off-brand, it’s compact, durable, and actually works and lasts a while. The only complaint I have about it is that it takes a little bit longer to brew the coffee versus a Keurig machine, since it takes a little bit of time to heat up the water. But you’re never leaving any water in the machine anyway, since it’s meant for a single serving only. So you never have to worry about stagnant, moldy water that hasn’t been used in a while like in a Keurig reservoir. You can even use reusable K-cups to make your own favorite coffee, too.