Coffee machines are very easy to maintain. Follow my schedule below to keep your machine in great shape.
For all traditional home espresso machines
- Every session - flush the group, wipe the shower screen and flush the group again.
- This regular flushing prevents the build up of coffee oils and keeps your machine clean.
- DAILY - back flush the group.
- Insert a blind basket into your PF, add 1g o espresso cleaning powder insert the PF, start the pump, hold at full pressure for 3s, then stop the pump. Repeat 3 times.
- Repeat the steps above without cleaning powder, then flush the group to give it a good rinse.
- Weekly - Clean the shower screen, basket and portafilter
- Soak these overnight in a solution of water and coffee machine cleaning powder to remove coffee oil.
- Quarterly - flush the boiler/s.
- Flush water through the group and through the hot water wand to freshen up the water in the boiler/s.
- Annually - grinder cleaning (optional)
- There is no need to disassemble your coffee grinder to clean it. Simply run coffee grinder cleaning granules through your grinder and allow them to dislodge particles and oils from the burrs and the grinder chamber.
- As required - descaling
- To learn about water quality and descaling
- As required - servicing & repairs
- Squeaks, leaks and changes to performance are signs that your coffee machine may need a service or a repair.
- A qualified (electrical) for service or repair of your coffee machine.
What do I need to know about water filtration?
The main purpose of water filtration is to reduce mineral build up inside a coffee machine. This build up is called scale. Scale will build up on all parts of your machine that come into contact with hot water including boilers, heating elements, pumps and brew groups. Scale build up can cause a number of problems. Common problems are reduced boiler heating rate, reduced steam strength and reduced brew water flow rate. Of course, domestic coffee machine warranties do not cover any damage caused by scale.
Prevention is better than cure so consider filtering your tap water.
- Standard filtration with domestic drinking water filters removes particles and chemicals but does not removed the minerals that cause scale build up. This type of filtration is not a great solution, but it is certainly better than no filtration at all.
- To prevent scale, build up completely I recommend a professional water filtration system that removes particles, chemicals and minerals. To see my recommended water filtration systems.
Rainwater and bottled water are other options to consider for prevention of scale build up.
If you have high quality tap water, you may decide to go ahead and use it. In fact, most Coast people use unfiltered tap water so this means that most of use choose cure instead of prevention. High quality unfiltered tap water can be used in your coffee machine, but as all tap water contains minerals that cause scale, these machines will need to be descaled periodically.
If you decide on a DIY descale only use dedicated coffee machine descaling solution. I recommend cleaning products. Do not use citric acid. The reason for this is that dedicated descaling solution will gradually dissolve scale whereas citric acid will dislodge slithers of scale. These slithers can then get pumped through the machine and cause blockages. The risk of scale slithers is the reason that some coffee machine manufacturers do not recommend descaling.
Remember that coffee machine warranties do not cover damage caused by scale build up or damaged caused by scale dislodged during descaling. Descale at your own risk. There are risks to DIY descaling but if you follow my advice you will reduce this risk. If you decide to descale your machine here are the steps to follow.
- Turn the machine on and wait for it to heat up.
- Fill the water reservoir with descaling solution.
- Flush descaling water through the brew group.
- Single Boiler Coffee Machine: Draws descaling solution from the water reservoir into the boiler and the brew group.
- Heat Exchanger Coffee Machine: Draws descaling solution from the water reservoir into the heat exchanger and brew group.
- Dual Boiler Coffee Machine: Draws descaling solution from the water reservoir into the brew boiler and the brew group.
- Flush descaling water through the hot water wand.
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- Single Boiler Coffee Machine: Draws descaling solution from the water reservoir into the wand.
- Heat Exchanger Coffee Machine: Draws descaling solution from the water reservoir into the boiler.
- Dual Boiler Coffee Machine: Draws descaling solution from the water reservoir into the steam boiler.
- Leave for 60 minutes then repeat Steps 3-4.
- Fill the water reservoir with tap water.
- Flush tap water through the brew group.
- Single Boiler Coffee Machine: Draws tap water from the water reservoir into the boiler and the brew group.
- Heat Exchanger Coffee Machine: Draws tap water from the water reservoir into the heat exchanger and brew group.
- Dual Boiler Coffee Machine: Draws tap water from the water reservoir into the brew boiler and the brew group.
- Flush tap water through the hot water wand.
- Single Boiler Coffee Machine: Draws tap water from the water reservoir into the wand.
- Heat Exchanger Coffee Machine: Draws tap water from the water reservoir into the boiler.
- Dual Boiler Coffee Machine: Draws tap water from the water reservoir into the steam boiler.
- Dilute the descaling solution by repeating Steps 7-8 several times.
If you are uncomfortable with the risk of DIY descaling, you should first look at prevention. You can prevent scale build up by using filtered water, rainwater or bottled water. If you can’t prevent the scale from building up and you don’t want to try out DIY descaling, you can take your machine to a coffee machine technician periodically for professional descaling and servicing.
Descaling frequency will depend upon the quality of your tap water quality and the amount of water that runs through your machine.
