20 Most Recent Cuisinart DCC-1200 Coffee Maker Questions & Answers

Set the function knob to CLOCK
Press and hold the HR button for a few seconds if the clock display time is not flashing
Once display time is flashing:
Press and release the HR button a few times for it to advance - it will say "PM" on the display if it is set for PM
Press and release the MIN button to set the mins

The DCC-1200 has only one element, that both heats the water for brewing and keeps the carafe warm. If you're brewing coffee then the element is fine and the suspect part is the Thermistor. Another forum suggested this was a Vishnay NTCLG100E22245B, available from DigiKey (their part # BC2467), connected to the control board with thin yellow wires. The same forum suggested that this thermistor should test at 220K ohms at room temperature, dropping to 20K at about 220F.

Mine just developed the same problem. Me being an engineer, I decided to take it apart and found the problem. There is an aluminum tube shaped like a "C" with a heating element inside of it. Water flows through this metal tube, is heated, and then pushed via steam pressure. There is a metal brace that holds this "C" piece securely to the bottom of the machine. This brace is sharp and overtightened, which caused a small hole to form in the metal, causing the leak (in my machine of course). I am currently researching how to patch aluminum so I can hopefully fix it.

spoke w/ Cuisinart. Unplug unit for 1 hr, then plug back in, reset clock & Auto Off setting. This resets the unit back to the factory settings.

I had this same problem and found that coffee grounds had somehow gotten in to the water reservoir and had been circulating thru the machine clogging the charcoal filter. This must have prevented the water from entering the heating chamber efficiently and therefore continued to gurgle until it all got thru. I flushed out the reservoir by holding the pot upside down and shooting water into the reservoir. It took some time to get all the grounds out. I took out the charcoal filter, flushed out that section and replaced it with a new filter. When finished, I ran thru a solution of white vinegar for good measure and bingo!! The coffee pot works perfectly.

Julie, I know EXACTLY what you mean. I hate getting screamed at in the morning "YOUR COFFEE'S READY!!!". Frig, i have small kitchen, you don't need to yell at me Cuis'. I couldn't even find the place where sound was coming from in order to cover it up. Did you find a quieter machine? If so, what was it?

The water hose on the bottom of the coffee maker is worn, due to the heat. It needs to be replaced. this is the second time for mine.

1. Purchase (1) a couple of feet of 3/8" ID by 5/8" OD temperature resistant silicone tubing from a beer/wine-making supplier, or online through Ebay, and (2) a couple of hose clamps big enough for the tubing.2. Unplug the coffee maker and turn it upside down on some old newspaper.3. Using a T10 Torx screwdriver, remove the 4 screws that attach the the bottom plate of the coffee-maker, and remove the bottom plate.4. Unclamp the two orange/red hoses from the C-shaped heater, and carefully pull/remove the other end of the two hoses. One hose is a water intake hose from the water tank to a C-shaped heater element, while the other hose is water outlet hose that goes from the C-shaped heater element to the sprinkler assembly. 5. Carefully remove the small plastic stop check valve from the water inlet hose end close to the C-shaped metal water heater; and take care to not drop/lose the little round plastic ball inside the plastic stop/check valve, while noting which way the stop-check valve is oriented in the hose.6. Cut two pieces of your food-grade / temperature resistant silicone tubing that are the same length as the old hoses.7. After reinstalling the stop-check valve in the new inlet hose/tubing, reinstall the two sections of hose/tubing, and use two hose clamps to attach the new tubing to the C-shaped water heater.N.B. Remember that the stop check valve s/b oriented such that hot water in the C-shaped heater element can't go back to the water tank.7. The ends of the hose that attach to the C-shaped metal water heater s/b clamped, while the other ends just push onto the water tank and sprinkler assembly with a with a little pushing and twisting. See http://www.cocosvariety.com/2011/11/fixing-cuisinart-coffee-maker-alternate.html , as that is the original information source for this posting and the image below. i.e. Credit goes to Coco's Variety !.Also, in the image below, the hose on the left is the water inlet hose, while the hose on the right is the water outlet hose.

The water line could be broke or clogged and putting the hot water back into the reservoir.

Does anyone know where the check valve is? We’ve taken the machine apart to try and figure why it’s steaming. We’ve checked the hoses and the filter assembly to no avail.

why question to all of this is with a "self clean" button, why doesn't it every tell you to clean it..... ??

It has a short. Mine did the same. If under 3 years old cuisinart will replace for $10 shipping charge. If out of warranty, cheaper to buy a new one, than have that one fixed. Call 1-800-726-0190

Hi - As the coffee maker i have grind and brew just started leaking- I started to take it apart - what i found as of now the screws on the bottom that holds the metal plate has a Allen or torx head as some call it- on mine the inside center of the screw head as some sort of guide pin sticking up in the middle of the head- its small but its there-the correct tool for mine you need for easy removal is a allen wrench with the hole or indent in the middle of it to sit correctly inside the screw head - I got two of them out with an allen; but the other two had to be drilled out - I am assuming they put this style screw in to not allow or make it somewhat difficult for the average person to take out - if they made it easy they would not be able to sell more coffee machines - anyways got the plate off and the hoses were not cracked or had come loose that I could fine - I re-adjusted the hoses farther up onto tubes they attached too and tried again with some water - its still leaking - so there is another possibility that the water tube the hoses are connected to have a pin hole some where in it - apparently it has been leaking for some time now due to all the corrosion and rust I found on the metal plate- i used only distill water and also change out filter inside coffee machine- before I give up on it - I am going to try and work on the inside of the machine- take it completely apart- but before that happens I will wok on doing a cleaning of the coffee pot screw lid and the baskets that catches the grind. That's my two cent worth.

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To remove the faceplate:



You will need a tiny standard screwdriver (I used one from an eyeglass repair kit) and a smallish philips screwdriver. Begin by removing the carafe, the basket (and permanent filter, if you have one), the water filter, and the insert on the underside of the flip-up lid. With the lid open, you will notice two round screw covers towards the front of the coffeemaker to either side of the filter basket. Remove these with the small standard screwdriver. This is impossible to do without damaging them somewhat. Remove the two philips screws underneath .



There are nine clips that need to be released to remove the plastic top of your coffee maker. First, press in on and release the two located on the back just below the lid hinge. With the small standard screwdriver, gently release the six clips along the top edge of the casing. These are located two in back, near the corners and two along each side. You will have to get up underneath the plastic bezel, be gentle so that you do not bend the stainless steel housing (if you do, gently bend it back into place before you put everything back together). Lay the coffeemaker on its back. The final clip is located in the carafe “nook” to the back of the drip outlet. The upper plastic portion should now lift straight up out of the coffeemaker.



With the coffeemaker upright, remove the four philips screws holding the faceplate in place. Remove the faceplate by pulling it straight out towards you.

can the carafe of the stainless steel coffee maker go in the dishwasher?

DCC-1200 shuts off: How to fix it


A couple of weeks ago my DCC-1200 began shutting off in the middle of the brew cycle, a problem commonly reported here. I love my DCC-1200, and it ran like a top for the 8 years I've had it. Luckily I have a backup coffee maker, so I was able to take the time to find a fix rather than having to drop another hundred bucks on a new one. I hope this helps some of you.


Behavior: The coffee maker began shutting off during the brew cycle. The whole machine would go dead, including the LCD display. Changing outlets did not solve the problem. Unplugging it and plugging it back in sometimes helped, sometimes not. Left plugged in, sometimes the power would restore and it would work for a time. This got progressively more frequent, though right before it quit working all together I was able to turn it on by pressing the self clean button. Pressure on the faceplate right above that button would shut it down again. I discovered this while following norm49629's advice on cleaning the machine. After removing the faceplate, I could see that any pressure on certain areas of the circuit board would restore or cut power to the entire unit. These experiences led me to conclude that there was an issue with the circuit board. Please be reasonably sure this is the same problem you're having before beginning this repair. My coffeemaker was out of warranty and I had nothing to lose.


If this is your problem, you will be baking the circuit board to repair micro-fissures in the circuitry which are interfering with its operation. These fissures are caused over time by the repeated heating up and cooling down of the coffeemaker when you brew. To do this repair you will need to remove the faceplate, so I am including instructions for that based on my experience with this issue as there were none to be found on Fixya when I looked.


To remove the faceplate:


You will need a tiny standard screwdriver (I used one from an eyeglass repair kit) and a smallish philips screwdriver. Begin by removing the carafe, the basket (and permanent filter, if you have one), the water filter, and the insert on the underside of the flip-up lid. With the lid open, you will notice two round screw covers towards the front of the coffeemaker to either side of the filter basket. Remove these with the small standard screwdriver. This is impossible to do without damaging them somewhat. Remove the two philips screws underneath.



There are nine clips that need to be released to remove the plastic top of your coffee maker. First, press in on and release the two located on the back just below the lid hinge. With the small standard screwdriver, gently release the six clips along the top edge of the casing. These are located two in back, near the corners and two along each side. You will have to get up underneath the plastic bezel, be gentle so that you do not bend the stainless steel housing (if you do, gently bend it back into place before you put everything back together). Lay the coffeemaker on its back. The final clip is located in the carafe “nook” to the back of the drip outlet. The upper plastic portion should now lift straight up out of the coffeemaker.


With the coffeemaker upright, remove the four philips screws holding the faceplate in place. Remove the faceplate by pulling it straight out towards you. Unplug the circuit board. Remove the three screws holding the circuit board I to the faceplate, being careful not to lose the three clear plastic washers. Remove the clear plastic switch (for the function knob) by releasing the clips.


These baking instructions are based in part on the many tutorials to be found online for repairing video and graphics cards. Preheat your oven on its lowest setting, preferably 170˚. Place a piece of aluminum foil on a cookie sheet. Tear off some extra and make three small balls of foil to place the circuit board on. With the circuit board LCD up, position the balls under the upper corners and the center bottom, away from anything important.


Bake at 170˚ for 10 minutes. Allow to cool and put your coffeemaker back together. Brew a nice fresh cup for your efforts.


Clean any scale off the parts you removed before you put things back together. To test your repair before reassembly, reinstall the circuit board and plug in your coffeemaker. Test all the buttons, switches, and functions. Be careful baking, if your oven doesn't bake as low as 170˚, ask around. My “self clean” button didn't seem to work, so I re-baked for 10 minutes at 180˚. I don't recommend doing this. At that temperature the LCD screen turned black and the glue melted and spread out. Luckily upon cooling the screen returned to its normal color, the glue hardened, and everything turned out fine. I would recommend a longer 15 or 20 minute bake at 170˚ rather than a higher temperature, should you need.


YMMV. Good luck!



P.S. Self clean works fine, full functionality was restored with this fix.

Unplug the coffeemaker for one full hour, and the self-cleaning light will go off.

this is what happened to me, I didn't have the filter basket all the way down so the pot lid didn't open the valve that lets coffee flow so the coffee and grounds ran into the water resevior and plugged the filter, so I did the worst thing possible and took the filter out so the grounds got into the check valve that keeps the hot water going in the right direction. that makes it spit and sputter and brew slow.
after trying to flush it out forever I tore the metal plate on the bottom off and unhooked the rubber hoses (don't do this unless you have a needle nose pliers, you'll never get them back on) one should go to the brew head and the other is the water inlet, this has the check valve. you can tell which is which by blowing through them and seeing which one goes to the brew head. if you can blow through the other one the check valve is stuck open, I blew air into it with an air compresor and this forced the check valve shut and now it works fine. I know this is the same symptons as calcium deposits but I had cleaned it twice.
try flushing it with water first but sometimes it takes extreme measures