Descaler for De-Scaling espresso and coffee machines.

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Running an espresso coffee machine is a bit like running a car.
There's a lot of heat and pressure inside your coffee machine and while you may not think it judging by the look from the outside, your machines internal parts need looking after and protecting from the damage that may be caused by the introduction of lime scale.

There are many who think that because they live in a soft water area and their kettle does not show much sign of scaling, they will be ok to ignore the threat of scale. Coffee machines are more prone to collecting and storing scale than kettles, due to the pressure and intensity of heat which is produced inside what is a relatively small space.

Water companies add Calcium to your water supply for health reasons, Calcium is very helpful in building and maintaining healthy bones and teeth, Calcium is also the primary cause of limescale, more commonly referred to as scale.

It is well worth noting that nearly all filtered or pure spring water such as Evian, also contains calcium.

Based on our own research and from information gathered over a six year period, we feel it is fair to say that around 90% of problems we encounter with espresso machines are caused by the build up of scale and a lack of attention paid to water filtration or descaling.

What can happen when you don't use a descaler on your coffee machine ?

These pictures show what we found when we opened up a machine that had not been used with a water filter, or descaled. As you can see the inside of the boiler is completely clogged with scale.

When a machine is used without a filter scale grows on the inside of the boiler and inside the copper pipes which connect to it. In the picture above you can see that the scale has peeled, the pieces of scale resemble leaves from a tree.

In the next picture you get a better idea of what is occuring inside the boiler as a whole. If the owner of this espresso machine had used a water filter and changed it regularly this would not have happened.

The same thing happens on domestic coffee machines too, which is why using an changing an external CTU water fiter is very important on a commercial coffee machine and using a descaler and a water tank dom filter where possible, is very important with a domestic machine.

The machine still worked, the only reason the boiler end plate was taken off was because it had sprung a leak and needed a new boiler end plate gasket. The boiler was removed from the machine along with all connecting pipes and de-scaled with Calcinet descaler.

It was then re-assembled and worked well for a number of months before failing.

The engineer found the failure was down to damage previously caused by a build up of scale, the machine was old and parts were no longer avilable for it, the machine was then scrapped. The owner now has a new machine, which is run on a CTU water filter (calcium treatment unit) which is changed every year without fail.

Descaler and water filters
What to use for a descale on your coffee machine.

We use and supply Puly Cleaner descaling powder sachets for domestic coffee machines and tubs of calcinet descaler for heavier duty commercial machines. There are many descalers on the market, few of them work as well as these ones do, they are the fastest dissolving descalers on earth and are specifically formulated for use on coffee machines.

We suggest that you descale domestic coffee machine every 4 weeks with a sachet of Pulybaby Cleaner, following the instructions on the packet, this would work well for a Gaggia Classic or a Rancilio Silvia for instance, a Domfilter should also be used in the water tank of the machine and changed after every 100 litres of use, a Brita filter jug is also a good idea for using to fill the machine with.

Commercial machines should really be descaled according to your engineers advice, it all depends on whether the machine has a currently effective water filter plumbed in, how old it is and the machines maintenance history. As a rule of thumb it is not recommended that a commercial machine is de-scaled whilst in situ, that is the boiler should be removed for it to be de-scaled.

This is because scale on a commercial machine can find itself moved on around the system, only to clog another part of the machine up like the solenoid valve or the group head gauze. Some machines, like the Iberital commercial machines have a boiler drain out tap, some owners will feed descaling solution into the boiler, leave it for a while and then cool the machine right down, then release the descaler from the drain out tap.

Another way to remove scale from a boiler on a commercial espresso machine is to take the boiler end plate off and back it out by hand, in cases shown simialar to those in the images on this pages, it can help a lot and is often worth doing.

If you decide to do this be sure to check that the boiler end plate gasket is still available as a spare before you start, as you will need to replace it without doubt.

You should always run an external CTU water filter on your commercial machines and change them yearly, or when the maximum throughput level has been achieved, which ever comes first, this is the best form of protection.

As mentioned we find that 90% of espresso machine failure is related, in one way or another, to scale problems, it's rarely too late to act and take some preventative measures, please click the link at the top of the page to go to our shop.

Thank you for reading this article, we hope you found the information helpful.