Limescale build-up on the coffee machine heating element can make the device inefficient and potentially fail to heat the water.
Hard Water
Hard water causes scale build-up on heating elements. You already know if you are in a hard water area, and just look in your kettle for a build-up of a hard white scale inside. That’s due to the minerals in the local water supply.
Maintenance
The bean-to-cup machine manufacturers know the problems of hard water scale damaging their machines. Enough so that the machine will refuse even to produce a single cup of coffee until the maintenance has been done.
This is not a fault in itself, and the machine is protecting the internal working from a build-up of the scale. You will get a warning that a descale is required, and even more helpful is a countdown to the impending interruption of coffee production. A pre-warning is valuable enough to get the products needed to perform the descaling program.
Descale Program
Every bean-to-cup coffee machine has some form of descale program. Some are more automatic than others, but all have a program. Using the descaling program is essential as it has been designed to get the most benefit from the product used. This will also remove the used product and the dissolved limescale from the internal pipework. Removing all traces of the product is essential because it taints the taste of the coffee and is not for human consumption.
Follow the descale program instructions on the bean-to-cup machine screen. It will indicate what you have to do step-by-step.
Products
Using the correct descale product for your bean-to-cup-coffee machine is also essential. The manufacturer of the machine will specify which product to use. This is important because not all descale products are compatible with the seals, plastics, metals and pipes that make up the complicated bean-to-cup machine workings. Using the wrong, incompatible product may increase the rate of breakdown of an internal part.
Advice
The best advice for which descaling product to use is to follow the manufacturer’s advice. You can find information about which descale products are approved for your bean-to-cup coffee machine in the user manual. If the user manual is unavailable, then the manufacturer’s website will often have a list of approved descale products that can be used safely on their machines.
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