Oh man, that's smart. I got tricked by a coffee maker that way. All the old reviews talked about it lasting for years, but the new ones from the last six months were full of people saying the heating element just stops. I had to return mine after two weeks.

Florida for 30 years? That man earned his wisdom the hard way. Never would have thought cold water could make that big a difference. Gonna try that next time it's a scorcher out. Always just suffered through it drying up too fast.