Descaling a Keurig

[Dr.Faustus]

I have a Keurig at work that badly needed to be descaled. I brought in vinegar and did like it said and it worked great. for 3 days only. Then same problem. So I repeated the process and worked great again for another 3-4 days. We only use distilled water to brew at work. Well anyway the 3rd time it was plugged up and asking me to descale yet again (all in a month) I called the company (3rd party coffee program - I order supplies and machine is free) and they sent a new machine overnight and let me keep the old one.
So now this thing is in my garage and not wanting it to end up in a dump (yet anyway) Is there anything more permanent I can use to descale it? maybe the vinegar isn't strong enough?
I am really tempted to run some of my muriatic acid through this thing. I know it will descale it for sure but might also break it more. Any other ideas?

 

[BrotherBart]

Can't help. I buy the $19.99 ones at WalMart and toss them after two years.

Just drown the thing in vinegar for a few days. For sure you don't want to drink a cup when a hidden deposit of muriatic acid bubbles out in a couple of days.

But if you don't log in anymore we will know what happened.

 

[drz1050]

CLR will clean it out. Flush it well afterwards.

 

[jb6l6gc]

screw keurigs, I had two blow pumps in just over two years. Both out of warranty of course. Me and misses just went back to a regular coffee maker and haven't looked back. Even if i waste half a pot its still cheaper and more reliable, and makes good coffee anywho.

 

[Z33]

I would just run the vinegar through it quite a few times and just cycle back through after each run.

That being said something doesnt add up. If you are using nothing but distilled water there should be no minerals in the water to scale the machine up. Is it possible its some other intermittent problem?

 

[Highbeam]

How can there be scale with no minerals?

The coffee pot cleaner chemicals at the store are sodium carbonate. As in, not an acid. I use straight sodium carbonate which is "pH up" sold for pools and hot tubs. It cleans out all the nastiness from my coffee pot system.

Any idea why coffee cleaners are a base but vinegar is an acid when both are supposed to do the same thing?

 

[jeffesonm]

You need yourself one of these.... only a few parts, only one of which can really break (the glass), and is easily replaceable if it does. Cheaper to run and the coffee tastes way better.

 

[Dr.Faustus]

Some good replies. First, I already have a working Keurig in my own home. I use distilled only and it never plugs up and never has issues. This machine in question was acquired free from my medical facility. I order the distilled water, and I personally use that but I cant guarantee some of my staff isn't just filling it with tap water. That may explain the problems. I did tape a sign on the new one that says DISTILLED WATER ONLY. Hopefully they comply.

I have a French press, and I do love it and use it on occasion. But at 5 am Monday morning its a miracle I am even able to push the button on the Keurig and place the cup under it. lol.

I like the CLR idea, and I will try that first over the muriatic acid. If I wound up using the acid, I would run like 10 gallons of water after to be sure its all gone. plus this particular machine has a "drain" function which purges it of all liquids. so pretty safe on that front sort of having the acid dissolve the whole machine. Def. a project to do on the lawn vs the kitchen counter. love those projects!

thanks for CLR advice. will try this Saturday.

 

[jb6l6gc]

You need yourself one of these.... only a few parts, only one of which can really break (the glass), and is easily replaceable if it does. Cheaper to run and the coffee tastes way better.

View attachment 167305

Love my French press I find it makes the best coffee, and always love a fresh brew in a percolator as well

 

[woodgeek]

They sell stuff to descale coffeepots. It is 100% citric acid powder. Available on amazon. It works much better than vinegar, doesn't smell, and is obviously non-toxic (in small doses).

 

[browneyesvictim]

Add some TSP (trisodium phosphate). Start adding it to your dishwasher and laundry detergent as well. You will thank me later.

 

[semipro]

I'd suspect that whatever detects scaling (a flow sensor?) or pump is going bad and its just showing up as needing descaling.

 

[velvetfoot]

Is this a matter of putting a piece of electrical tape over the light, kind of like in my car?

 

[drizler]

Don't wait till it's fully stuffed to run the acid through it either or you will be in for a real headache. Vinegar works but not as well. Also keep a small bread tie handy or piece of safety wire. Many times grounds back flush up into the top and plug it. You need to stick the wire up the little water dingus as far as it will go and break it up. It's only a couple inches.

 

[Dr.Faustus]

ah yeah I read about trisodium phosphate and actually went to the local bbs to go pick some up. turns out the EPA got to them too and they have some phosphate free trisodium phosphate. I guess i'll have to go to amazon or some website to get it. wanted it for the dishwasher.

No, electrical tape on the light wont help, lights on do not bother me. In the winter I run snow tires on my car but they are on steel rims and I did not get TPMS sensors, so the low tire pressure light is on all winter. Its an amber light, kinda decorative. It reminds me that I have the snows on and to keep the speed down too.

LOL @ "water dingus"...

Tomorrow is the day I hit the machine with CLR. will post results. I got the ZEP version, which I've had better results with. I think CLR also got hit by the EPA because it doesn't work as good as it used to but ZEP does.

I wont wait until its fully stuffed up. Its been in my trunk all week. I'm hoping to fix it so that 1. it doesn't end up in a landfill, 2. as a backup machine in case mine breaks 3. Could use it for company as brewing 1 cup at a time stinks. I guess I could just brew a whole pot in the other machine.

 

[woodgeek]

Or you could try this for $3.50:

http://www.amazon.com/Tiger-Corporation-PKS-0120-Citric-Descaling/dp/B0056B2GPK

Citric acid has always cut all the scale off my coffee pots in seconds.

 

[Swedishchef]

I have had a Keurig at home for over 4 years with 0 issues. I have only cleaned it once and I use my tap water. I guess I am lucky!!

I am a big fan of CLR. Let us know how it works out! On the other hand, the scaling sensor may be busted....

Andrew

 

[jatoxico]

Lately mine has not finished cycling normally. Used to "flush" the cup forcefully then refill water. The flush has gotten weaker and once in a while it just stops. Have to turn it off and on so it will refill the water.

Think that's a clogging thing causing to much pressure for the pump or just getting old? Have had it since they first came out and have flushed it with vinegar periodically and always used filtered water.

Can anyone tell me more about cleaning the dingus?

 

[Husky]

I had this same problem with my pot. Try this, it has worked for me on three different machines. Run vinegar through several time recycling the vinegar back into the machine. Then unplug machine and leave it soak over night. Next morning run it again a couple of times and you should be good, I never believed the filters that come with the pot but they really cut down on the scale build up. I can go more than a year now without descaling. I would never use a Krieg without one. Good luck!

 

[maple1]

Why not just go buy the descaling stuff at Walmart? It's made for the job. I bought a pack here 3 years ago & still have half of it left after just descaling mine this weekend. Sometimes with home-brew solutions you get what you pay for.

Mine is a Tassimo though. It works great, but seems it's becoming the Betamax of coffee makers - pods at the pod stores are outnumbered by the K ones by like 10:1. Although pods of any kind are getting to be pretty lame - if I had a good place for one, I would likely have had a Breville Ubrew by now.

 

[woodgeek]

Why not just go buy the descaling stuff at Walmart? It's made for the job.

Because I get it from amazon instead!

 

[maple1]

Er, ya. Poor choice of words with the Walmart ref, maybe. Emphasis on descaler.

 

[Dustin92]

I actually got a Keurig for free about a year ago, having the same problems- would fill itself with water but wouldn't brew. Thanks to the power of Google, I googled "Keurig not pumping water" and came up with several results- Vinegar, which you've already tried, What did it for me was to turn it upside down over a sink and BEAT on the bottom of it, then turn it back over and stick a turkey baster up where the water comes out (the little needle) then push and pull with the suction of the turkey baster. I also used a bread tie up the needle, and after a few rounds of the above, it's been working perfectly for almost a year.

 

[Dr.Faustus]

Update - Filled the thing with CLR and ran it through 5 times. then let it soak a whole day and ran it through 2 more times.
Flushed it out with clean water many many times until i could no longer detect the clr smell. Seems to work perfectly. Its now in a closet for use as a backup when the "good" one breaks.

 

[jrems]

I use powdered brewery wash(pbw) you can get it at a Homebrew store or online. It's similar to the descalers you can buy but has tsp in it. It's not acidic it's caustic. Cleans really well.