None of these solutions worked. I have shaken, burped, paperclipped, and vinegared to zero avail. My favorite bit of adding insult to injury was the answer to “simply remove the bottom tray with a screwdriver” when two of the screws require a weird hexagonal tool that normal people don’t have. Ridiculous. Anyways, I’m kind of relieved that we can go back to using our old coffee pot. It makes way better coffee anyway.