What non-toxic material is best to fix a coffee pot?

December 1, 2010 7:29 AM

I have a leak in my coffee pot's water tank, and upon examination, I cant see where the leak is coming from (meaning that the whole bottom generally gets too wet to detect the crack). I was thinking I would run a thin bead of some kind of material around the bottom of the tank to attempt to seal it back up. My question is: what kind of material would you recommend that would not pose any toxin problem in case the tank water comes into contact with it? It would also have to be generally heat tolerant as the coffee pot heats up under there.
posted by howa2396 to Technology (5 answers total)

Best answer: RTV is generally very heat resistant and inert.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 7:32 AM on December 1, 2010

That is to say, RTV silicone.
posted by grizzled at 7:35 AM on December 1, 2010

Best answer: RTV comes in food grade, too.
posted by TedW at 7:44 AM on December 1, 2010

Is this a countertop coffee-maker? These can have a tendency to leak by inappropriate condensation if they are not cleaned regularly by running vinegar through a cycle. If you can't see a crack, I would suspect it's just malfunctioning rather than actually leaking. At least -- you can try this first pretty easily.
posted by dhartung at 11:01 PM on December 1, 2010

Consider replacing coffee pot.
FOAF heard that coffee pots harbor bacteria/mold colonies because of constant damp.
posted by ohshenandoah at 8:22 AM on December 3, 2010