How often should you descale a coffee machine?
Every one to three months, depending on the water and how much coffee you drink. Hard water and two cups a day means monthly; soft water and the weekend only can stretch to three.
What you notice first
The coffee cools faster, because scale insulates the heating element and the water leaves the machine below temperature. Then it starts tasting flat and slightly sour, the pump gets louder, and the flow slows. Most people blame the beans long before they blame the machine.
How often, by machine
- Espresso machines and bean-to-cup: every one to two months. They use pressure, and scale narrows the path the water takes.
- Pod machines: every two to three months, or whenever the light comes on, whichever is first.
- Filter machines: every two to three months. Cheapest to descale, most ignored.
- Anything with a water tank you refill daily: at the shorter end.
Do not wait for the light
Descaling indicators count cups, not scale, so they assume average water. In a hard-water area the machine is furred long before the light appears; in a soft-water one you descale more than you need to. The water matters more than the counter.
How to do it
Use the descaler the manufacturer sells or plain citric acid, and follow the machine's programme. Vinegar works in a kettle, but in a machine with rubber seals and an aluminium boiler it can do damage and always leaves a smell. Run two tanks of clean water afterwards.
How to do it less often
A filtered water jug, or the filter cartridge made for the machine, cuts the scale noticeably. Empty the tank if you are away for a week, because standing water leaves deposits and tastes stale.
Stop keeping this in your head
RoofRoutine remembers rhythms like this one for your home, and tells whichever of you is meant to do it. Your partner needs no account.
See how it works