It is imperative that you keep your commercial coffee machine clean to ensure it runs smoothly and you prevent any further issues. The time you spend on maintaining your coffee machine will save you money on service calls and reduce its downtime to stop you from missing out on sales! When cleaned regularly and correctly, you can increase your machine's life by years.
Whether you have a traditional, bean-to-cup, or instant, fresh or powdered milk coffee machine, maintenance is just as important. At Coffee Seller, our service engineers are always there to help keep your coffee machine in good working condition and can solve any issues you may have. By ensuring you care for your machine, you will reduce the number of service calls you need and therefore save yourself time and money!
There are a few ways to keep your coffee machine running smoothly, so we have put together a guide on how to do just that...
Dealing With Limescale In Coffee Machines
What is limescale? It is a hard white substance consisting of calcium carbonate, deposited by water on the inside of pipes. When water turns to steam, the lime molecules are separated from the water and are left behind; it can quickly build up if it is not prevented.
If you are based in an area with 'hard water', limescale buildup is very common in machines that heat up water up. This is related to any type of coffee machine that is connected to your mains water. Coffee Seller's sales reps have expert knowledge in things like this, so if you're unsure whether this would apply to your area, don't hesitate to contact us for some advice!
The issue with limescale is that when it builds up over time, it can block pipes which disrupts the way the coffee machine works. In addition to causing these issues, it will affect the taste of the drinks it produces too.
Preventing limescale from the beginning is the best solution - you do not want to wait until it is too late. To do this, you can install a water filter. This way the water from the mains will go through the filter first before going through the coffee machine. Depending on the type and brand of coffee machine you have will depend on the type of water filter you need. For any advice, our sales reps can assist you in choosing the correct one and we will install it at the same time as installing your coffee machine!
Because our reps have extensive knowledge about how coffee machines work and how is best to care for them, they will always give correct and accurate advice about whether you need a filter too. We also advise in the service contract that your water filter is replaced every 12 months to maximize the effectiveness and prevent any limescale related issues regularly.
Not only will your coffee machine run smoothly for longer but it will be producing delicious coffee every time!
In addition to a water filter, you can deep clean your coffee machine using the built-in cleaning program (this process will differ between brands and types of machines). This will clean through the pipes and unblock any scaling that has already built up inside.
Cleaning Your Fresh Milk Coffee Machine
Fresh milk bean-to-cup coffee machines are a very popular choice in all kinds of businesses. It is important to note that these types of coffee machines need to be cleaned regularly and more care needs to go into owning them due to the live ingredients used. Neglect can lead to issues with the taste of the hot drinks, how the machine runs and odor from the build up of milk in the pipes.
Keeping your fresh milk coffee machine clean sounds like a bigger and more time consuming task than it really is. Here's a guide on how you can schedule you machine maintenance to ensure it runs smoothly for as long as possible and you prevent further issues.
Daily
At the end of every day you should complete a milk flush program. This will be built in to your machine and can be done at the push of a button so it is super simple for any member of staff to do. This program flushes the pipes through to unclog any left over milk and then again with hot water. If the milk does not get cleaned out of the pipes it will go stale and leave off a terrible smell.
This simple task will take 5 minutes and it is very effective; the member of staff who is last to leave the workplace can do this to ensure the machine is ready to run smoothly the next day.
Weekly
At least once a week, you should run an internal system clean. This will flush through the machine and get rid of any ingredients residue, with the help of the recommended cleaning tablet for your machine. Giving your coffee machine a deep clean takes 20-30 minutes of your time once a week and it will add years on it's life time.
Monthly
Finally, completing a de-scale program using a de-scaling agent should be done once a month. This will remove any possible limescale build up (which should be a small amount if you've got a water filter) to prevent blockages and ensure you are serving freshly tasting drinks every time. As this is a more intense cleaning program, this will take around 45 minutes depending on the machine but it is definitely worth doing if you want to look after it properly!
Not only is it important to care for your coffee machine correctly so it works properly with little to no issues, it is also the law. All coffee machines must be inspected at least every 14 months in the UK.
When we install your coffee machine, our engineer will give you free training on cleaning it properly and caring for it correctly. If you ever have any issues with using or cleaning your coffee machine, we are just a phone call away where our sales reps and engineers are happy to guide you through the process!