How to descale Senseo coffee maker
How can you descale a Senseo?
Anyone who has a Senseo coffee machine knows that such a thing needs to be descaled occasionally. That is also what Philips itself states. Once every three months should be fine. You can of course descale using the original Senseomanier. But you can also use some home-made simple remedies. Let’s see how to descale Senseo coffee maker.
How do you know when to descale?
Descaling is perhaps the most important part of your coffee maker proper maintenance. So Philips recommends that you descale your coffee maker every three months, but it may also be necessary more often.
For example, if you live in an area that has a high mineral content in the water.
It is also possible that the mineral indicator on your Senseo lights up before three months have passed, even then it is time to descale.
It may also be the case that you experience problems with your coffee maker. For example, the coffee isn’t hot enough, half cups of coffee or there is no foam layer on the coffee. The advice is then to descale the device, this often solves a lot of problems.
Why is it so important to descale your Senseo?
Why is it so important to descale your coffee maker?
By descaling your Senseo coffee machine regularly, you keep it in top condition.
Also, many small problems with the machine indicate that you do not descale regularly.
When you descale regularly, your appliance will last longer. You will also get maximum taste from your cup of coffee and at a good temperature.
The appliance will also make less noise during the brewing process and malfunctions are less likely to occur.
Regular descaling of Senseo coffee machine
I suggest you descaling your Senseo coffee maker regularly.
Senseo sells descaling solutions itself to clean the machine. These cost about three to ten dollars. But how does that descaling actually work?
Below you may watch the video on how to descale your Senseo® Original Coffee pad machine
- Fill a large container (about one and a half liters) with a liter of water.
- Add about fifty milliliters of the descaling agent.
- Now put this mixture in the water reservoir of your Senseo device.
- Turn on the device. You probably recognize the red light that indicates whether or not the water is warm.
- Wait for the light to come on steadily.
- Now insert the pad holder for one pad into the Senseo. Also put a used pad in here. This is very important, because the used pad works as a kind of “filter” for the mineral residues.
- Now you close the coffee maker.
- Place the large container with water (which you also mixed in) under the appliance.
- Press the button for two cups of coffee and repeat until all the mixture has drained from the water tank.
- Rinse the water tank. Now fill it again with clean water and let the Senseo run again. This is to prevent mineral particles from getting into your coffee.
The pad holder also has to be cleaned. You can do this by hand, but you can also turn it in the dishwasher for a turn.
Descale Senseo Twist
Descaling a Senseo Twist is almost the same as descaling the Senseo Original and Viva Café. Still, many people find it difficult, while it is actually a matter of holding down slightly different buttons.
Senseo Twist descaling video
- You mix a liter of water with fifty grams of the Senseo descaling powder in a large container. Make sure that the container is large, because later when you are going to rinse the device you have to collect the mixture again. You may have a model with a BRITA or MAXTRA filter, which you must remove before pouring the mixture into the water tank.
- Turn on the Twist. The on / off button will now flash slowly to indicate that the mixture is being heated.
- Use the pad holder for a cup with a used pad in it (!). This stops the mineral residues.
- Now place the bowl under the appliance. When the on / off button is constantly lit, you can switch on the appliance to start descaling.
- With a Senseo Twist you start descaling by pressing both buttons for both one and two cups of coffee for at least three seconds. You will hear a beep and the light for CALC will light up. Your Twist will now flush itself differently. You should never turn off the device!
- When you run out of water, you basically descaled the Twist. But now you have to flush it. Rinse the reservoir several times and fill it with clean water. Again press the buttons for one and two cups of coffee for at least three seconds. Now the Senseo flushes itself again.
- Repeat this again with a refill of clean water. After this, the CALC light will likely stop burning, indicating that the descaling procedure has been successfully completed.
How to descale Senseo coffee maker – Home-made remedies
If you really want to descale but don’t have descaling agent at home
It may be that you have a birthday on a Sunday, just want to make coffee for all your guests to which that red light starts flashing as a sign that the machine needs to be descaled. Of course you do not have a descaling agent in your house. Yet you really want to descale the coffee maker. What can you do then?
Lemon juice. You can also use lemon juice instead of descaling powder. You just follow all the instructions for descaling your Senseo machine, but only use lemon juice. This is fine because a lot of descaling material also contain lemon particles.
Natural vinegar. Real vinegar is not good for your device, but natural vinegar is possible. If you flush your device with vinegar it will not break immediately, it just isn’t very good. So if you are in real need, you can always consider this cleaning solution.
Pay attention if you are going to descale yourself!
If you are going to descale yourself with a descaler that is not specially made for Senseo, please note that some acids are not compatible with the coffee maker. This concerns inorganic acid such as acetic acid, sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid. These acids can permanently damage the machine. So pay close attention and if in doubt use only the recommended means.
