Has anyone ever looked into using a coffee maker as a water filter/purifier? Granted it requires electricity, but it boils water in a hurry and I'd think you would get some level of filtration, albeit as the last step and not the first. Any thoughts?

A coffee maker does not boil water. It simply makes it warm, granted, warm enough to burn yourself sometimes, but it does not get water to a rolling boil.

You're right.
Besides in order to effectively kill the bactiria etc. it's recommended to boil for at least 20 minutes. I don't think a coffee maker will get it hot enough, long enough.

Oooh!! Make sure the master of the equipped.org empire doesnt hear that!! <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Save some fuel - the latest findings range from "bring to a full rolling boil" to "1 minute at a full rolling boil".

How hot does it get? 80°C should be enough to kill just about everything, albeit you would need to hold that temperature for a while. Boiling is a way to ensure (a) it has reached over 80°C, if you don't have a thermometer, (b) all of the water is at temperature rather than just a few localised hotspots, and (b) it is at or above that temperature for the few minutes it takes to heat up to 100°C and then cool back down, which gives the time necessary.

I don't have a coffee maker but I suspect it could work. You'd need to check more carefully than I have done for this post, though.

I just came across this link which advocates low-temperature pasturisation.

The way most home automatic coffee makers work is to boil a very small bit of water in a tube....water above that bubble is then lifted up into the brew basket....repeat. So in each bubble lift there is steam and warm water. The overall water temp is generally around 150-190 degrees depending on the maker.

This will probably kill lots of stuff, but it is really not going to be the same as boiling a pot of water for 1 minute.

Commercial brewers (most of them) have a large tank of water that is held at 190-200 degrees....this would probably be much more effective than the typical home automatic makers.

Old percolators eventually boil the whole brew....generally for quite a long time and should be quite effective.

Bunn home units(at least the one we had) also work that way...
That way you do not have to wait for the water to heat up...
You pour in new water and the hot water comes out right then...
You can get two or three pots that way...
If you want to make more than that, I think it said to pour hot water in rather than cold, because it could heat it up faster...

> The overall water temp is generally around 150-190 degrees depending on the maker.
>
> This will probably kill lots of stuff, but it is really not going to be the same as boiling a pot of
> water for 1 minute.

As far as I can tell, 190 degrees for a few minutes will kill everything that matters. 150 wouldn't.