After a long search, I finally got this shiny, powerful, and, most importantly, cool super duper bar-style Italian coffee machine, and nobody was happier than me looking at its shinin’ pipes and thinking, “Wow! Proper espresso coffee in my house!”
Until I realized the presence of my enemy: limescale. The water here in sunny Newcastle is very, very hard and I am now not using my new coffee-making toy for fear of blocking its small piping with limescale deposits.
In addition to that, now that I was aware of the enemy, I noticed small, yucky limescale stains and deposits on my dishes and pots that are washed and dried. Limescale is an oppressive enemy indeed.
So, dear Dopers, I look for your advice and opinions in subduing the calcium carbonated enemy: I’m looking for some suggestion to remove limescale from the water I’d be using for my coffee machine, and some idea to avoid those disgusting deposits on my dishes.
I found out some chemicals that remove limescale, but they are toxic, and I don’t feel it’s a good idea to use them in the coffee machine itself: I’d be worried that some of that could remain in.
There’s a product called Dip It that you can find in grocery stores that’s made to clean coffee makers. You run the chemical through it and then run it a few more times with just water. I’ve used it a few times with coffee pots and metal thermoses and lived to tell the tale.
Acids will convert the calcium carbonate to a soluble salt and pretty much all lime removers work this way. As Annie-Xmas vinegar (acetic acid) works well and is safe when used as directed.
Once you’ve cleared out the piping on your coffee machine, you could start buying bottled water to use solely for making coffee. Vinager works to get rid of the limescale in coffee makers, though I’m not sure I’d use it for an espresso machine because it makes steam, and that would be even stinkier than running vinager through a drip coffee maker is. :eek:
A tiny bit more dangerous, but still the residue is 100% safe- boiling vinegar.
I wouldn’t trust other chemicals on food items.
I agree with Annie-Xmass excellent advice- Vinegar is your household cleaning fiend- along with baking soda, you can clean your house with out harsh chemicals. (Yes, I know both of them are “chemicals”, but they are relatively safe and benign)
Cleaning your coffee maker - use whatever the manufacturer recommends. I don’t know what make yours is, but Gaggia sell a branded tartaric-acid based cleaner and I assume other brands to the same.
Keeping it clean - I would go with a Britta water filter jug or similar, or else a bottled water that is low in dissolved minerals
Destroying all other filthy treacherous politically unreliable limescale scummy stuff - there is only one solution that is appropriate. Viakal will leave all your surfaces glistening and freshly scented. I have no idea what’s in it, but judging by the results it’s probably genetically modified nuclear waste mixed with elbow grease and boiled pixies. Returns student bathrooms to showroom condition in 10 minutes flat :eek:
Dim memories of a childhood wasted watching too much TV suggests that a product called CLR is very effective at removing limescales. Do they still make that?
Wow, so it would remove (or at least reduce) the dissolved minerals? Cheaper than mieral wate, definitely, I’ll have to look into it.
The have Viakal in this this country??? I was never able to find it, I wonder where they hide it. My mom swears by it, with the same enthusiasm you have. Not sure I’m going to use in the coffee machine, imagine drinking Viakal-flavoured coffee!
Britta is apparently an ion-exchange system, so it will remove the calcium and replace it with sodium - this means less limescale but a tiny bit more salt. Don’t forget that they are quite expensive. If you have tasty tap water and don’t drink much coffe, you might find a six-pack of highland spring 2-litre every month cheaper.
Viakal can be found in those little hardware/general supply stores where they sell chain by the foot, cutlery by the piece, plungers, door wedges, washing machine hoses and so forth. It’s normally next to the drain unblocking napalm, carpet bleach and other hardcore cleaning products. I have only ever seen it in a blue bottle, not the spray P&G claim to sell. For when you absolutely, positively HAVE to kill every last bit of limescale in the room. Cannot be beaten for kitchen/bathroom cleaning.
Do not under ANY circumstances WHATSOEVER put it in anything plastic that your food/drink will go into, or into your coffee machine unless you are 300% the insides are all metal and can be rinsed throughly (like with 15L of water). I mentally class it with Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner as a product I couldn’t live without but wouldn’t want anywhere in my body. Having said that, it’s not actively noxious - it stings like a bugger if you get it in a paper cut but does no damage.