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How to Clean A Coffee Maker Without Vinegar: 12 Different Ways

How to clean coffee maker without vinegar
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Every morning when you wake up, you rely on the coffee maker to catch your favorite a cup of joe!

Most of you used the coffee maker daily, but we overlooked the cleaning factor due to our busy and hectic schedule.

Cleaning of coffee maker is the most vital thing to remove the hard water deposits, oil, old coffee ground etc.

It is also breeding ground to mold and bacteria due to high moist level.

If regular cleaning has not been done, it will not only affect the taste of coffee but also leads to various health issues.

Lets get to know how to clean coffee maker without vinegar.

Most of the folks do not like the vinegar to clean the coffee maker as they dislike the smell of vinegar.

If vinegar is not available or you dislike the vinegar as a cleaning agent, So, here we are going to mention some easy remedies which are equally effective.

Why Is Cleaning Of Coffee Maker Important?

The National Science Foundation(NSF) found that highest concentration of household germs is found in the kitchen.

Your coffee maker could be one of the dirtiest appliances in your kitchen.

Due to moisture and warmth condition is it the perfect place for mold and bacterial growth.

There is need of cleaning of the coffee maker to remove the hard water deposits, mold, bacteria and, leftover coffee oil.

So, you need to clean out your coffee maker at regular interval for problem-free coffee brewing.

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Cleaning Of Coffee Maker with Vinegar

vinegar to clean coffeemaker

Vinegar is the one of the effective cleaners to clean various household things.

The Acetic acidic property makes it a great cleanser. It works effectively for removing dirt and grime around the home.

You can clean coffee maker with vinegar by following steps:

  1. 1.Fill the coffee maker reservoir with an equal amount of water and vinegar.
  2. Start brew cycle till it makes half empty.
  3. 3.Allow the coffee maker sit till one hour to clean out any mold in a coffee maker.
  4. 4.Turn on the coffee maker and run rest of the brew cycle.
  5. Run two brew cycles with clean water to clean out the vinegar from coffee maker wholly.

Drawbacks Of Cleaning With Vinegar

Many of you know vinegar as a good cleaning agent.

Though it is a great cleanser, it doesn’t work well for certain things.

Like degreasing range hood, cleaning mildew in the bathroom, descaling coffee maker etc.

Let’s get to know some drawbacks of using vinegar as cleaning agent:

It is highly acidic cleaning agent. So, this can affect the human health.

The most importantly, it cannot kill the germs completely. It is not registered with EPA as an effective disinfectant.

So, it doesn’t kill the 99.99% bacteria.

When you clean your coffee maker with vinegar, it left strong odor to a coffee maker. So, you need to rinse it repeatedly.

It doubles your job of cleaning. This also consumes a lot of time and water.

The flavor of vinegar cannot be gone just in the first rinse. You should rinse it more times to remove flavor completely.

If you are not ready to compromise with the flavor of coffee, you can use other cleaning products which are equally effective.

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How To Clean A Coffee Maker Without Vinegar: 12 Different Ways

1.Lemon Juice

Lemon juice for cleaning coffee maker

Lemon juice is a great alternative to vinegar as a cleaning agent. Lemon juice contains an equal level of acidity as vinegar.

You know the best part? It doesn’t leave the strong odor behind.

You can use manually squeezed lemon or you can buy prepackaged lemon juice for cleaning purpose.

Steps to use lemon to clean out your coffee maker:

  1. Run a cycle by filling only water to remove coffee residue if any. Turn it off when the cycle will complete.
  2. Mix a half cup of lemon juice with a half cup of water.
  3. Fill the water reservoir with a lemon-water solution. Allow it sit for 15 minutes.
  4. Put clean filter into the coffee maker and turn it on. Allow running the cycle with a lemon solution.
  5. Run the cycle once or twice with only using water to remove lemon residue.
  6. Wash the inside of coffee carafe and the basket with the sponge dabbed in lemon juice.
  7. Wash the detachable parts with soapy water.

2.Baking Soda

Baking soda to clean coffeemaker

Baking soda is pure and natural cleaning agent which is non-toxic also.

Due to mild Alkali, it is a great grease and dirt removal.

  1. Detach the filter from a coffee maker and keep it aside.
  2. Fill the coffee pot with 1 cup of lukewarm water.
  3. Add ¼ cup of baking soda in coffee pot and stir it to dissolve the baking soda.
  4. Transfer the baking soda solution to water reservoir and replace the empty coffee carafe to its place.
  5. Turn on the coffee maker and allow it to run a brew cycle completely. It cleans the coffee maker and the baking soda solution return in coffee pot with dirt.
  6. Remove the dirty water from coffee pot.
  7. Fill the water reservoir with only water. Let run the cycle till it finishes. If water doesn’t come back clean, you will need to run one more cycle.

You can get baking soda to clean out your coffeemaker by clicking here.

3Bleach

bleach to clean coffeemaker

Yes, you can use bleach to clean your coffee maker but with some precautions.

It is highly corrosive, so don’t use it excessively otherwise it leads to damage to your coffee maker.

Make sure never directly use bleach into your automatic coffee maker.

To clean your coffee maker with bleach:

  1. Take 4 cups of water and mix 2 tablespoons of bleach.
  2. Place filter paper in a coffee maker.
  3. Transfer the bleach solution in the coffee maker and pour more water.
  4. Turn the coffee maker on and unplug it after few minutes.
  5. Wash the coffee maker with just only water quite a lot of times to remove the bleach residue.

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4.Cream of tartar

Did you know you have the ingredient in your spice pantry can clean your coffee maker?

Yes, it is cream of tartar.

It is a natural ingredient that you can use without any risk. The acid present in this ingredient helps to remove stains.

It can erode the limescale build up from your coffee maker just like vinegar does.

  1. Fill the coffee pot with water and pour 3 tablespoons of cream of tartar.
  2. Keep stirring solution until cream of tartar dissolved fully.
  3. Run water through coffee maker.
  4. When pot is getting full, allow the water to cool.
  5. Scrub the pot with sponge and rinse the pot thoroughly.

You can get cream of tartar By clicking here.

5. Hydrogen Peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide is chemically known as H2O2.

It is the ultra-cheap cleaner as a 16oz bottle of hydrogen peroxide only costs around a buck.

It is the most common disinfectant you may find at home.

You can use it to clean and disinfect your coffee maker with following steps:

  1. Pour 1 cup of hydrogen peroxide into your coffee carafe.
  2. Fill the coffee carafe with water and pour into the coffee maker.
  3. Place the coffee pot under the brew basket.
  4. Turn on the coffee maker and let the cycle finish.
  5. Repeat the cycle twice with only water to clean out hydrogen peroxide.

6. CLR

If lemon juice remedy doesn’t work for descaling your coffee maker, you can try CLR (Calcium, Lime and Rust remover).

It can remove the build-up of calcium and rust from hard water.

Following are the steps to use CLR to clean coffee maker:

  1. Run clean water through the coffee maker to remove residue from the last brew.
  2. Mix 1 part of CLR with 8 parts of water. Transfer the solution to the reservoir of coffee maker.
  3. Let run the brew cycle completely.
  4. Run the coffee maker with just adding water 3 or 4 times till all CLR smell has gone wholly.

Caution:

Don’t use CLR to clean coffee maker which hold water permanently.

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7. Denture tablets

You might not have heard of denture tablets to clean your coffee maker.

But, yes you can clean your coffee maker with denture tablets as they can remove easily stubborn deposits of minerals.

Let’s get to know how to clean coffee maker step by step:

  1. Fill the container with the warm water. Let drop only two denture tablets into it. And make sure all tablets are dissolved in water entirely.
  2. Run your coffee maker till cycle finishes.
  3. Run two or more brew cycles with clean water.

8. Dish-washing liquid

Dish washing liquid to clean coffeemaker

Cleaning your coffee maker with mild dishwashing liquid is the easiest and fastest way to clean.

You only need to separate all the detachable parts of the coffee maker.

Rinse and clean the parts with Dishwashing liquid. And you have done the job!!

9.Alcohol/Vodka

How to clean coffee maker with alcohol

This method is one of the cheapest way to clean out your coffee maker. Vodka has no smell or taste which makes it perfect to clean out your coffee maker.

Alcohol is powerful detergent to remove the coffee residue. If you make tea in your coffee maker and if your next coffee tastes different.

You can run cycle of coffee maker with vodka. Alcohol also helps in case of your coffee maker tastes and smells like plastic due to plastic water reservoir.

You just need to wipe down the inside of coffee maker with substantial amount of vodka or alcohol.

In fact, you need to clean the all parts which comes into contact with water.

  1. You can clean your coffee maker by mixing Vodka or alcohol 25% with water.
  2. Run through the coffee maker.
  3. Then run clear water twice through the coffee maker.

10. Muriatic Acid

Muriatic acid is also known as Hydrochloric acid. It is a solution of Hydrogen Chloride in water. It is commonly used for removing stubborn stains.

You can clean coffee maker with this muriatic acid with following steps:

  1. Take out all detachable parts of coffee maker.
  2. Mix four parts of water with 1 part of muriatic acid. In a bucket take water first always then add muriatic acid.
  3. Fill another bucket with water and pour baking soda in it.
  4. Soak the parts in muriatic acid for 5-7 minutes.
  5. Dip the parts in a bucket filled with baking soda and water solution. Now chemical reaction occurs, so be careful! Here baking soda neutralizes the muriatic acid and removes the scale completely with ease.
  6. Rinse the parts using a lot of water.

Precaution:

Muriatic acid does an amazing job to remove scaling from your coffee maker. But always keep in mind your safety first.

It has highly corrosive properties, so it should be diluted with water for cleaning purpose.

Always transfer acid into water, not water into acid. Use safety gears like hand gloves, safety glasses while cleaning.

11.Borax

Borax to clean coffeemaker

The Borax is the multipurpose household cleaner which can be used to clean floor, sink, fridge, coffee maker etc.

It doesn’t leave any chemical film after cleaning. So, it is a great cleaner to clean every part of your home.

  1. Add the water in water reservoir of coffee maker.
  2. Then add 2 tablespoons of Borax in the water reservoir of coffee maker.
  3. Run coffee maker till cycle finishes.
  4. Then run clean water through coffee maker with 3 to 4 times.

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 12. Alka Seltzer

 Alka Seltzer is also known as antacid tablets. It is a safe and inexpensive product which you can use to clean out your coffee maker.

When you suffer from heartburn or indigestion this Alka seltzer tablet helps to get the relief.

It highly contains citric acid, baking soda, and aspirin. These ingredients are not only used for medical purpose but also for cleaning.

It can solve many of issues around your house.

How to use Alka Seltzer tablet to clean your coffee maker?

  1. Put the 2 tablets of Alka Seltzer in coffee maker’s water reservoir and 2 tablets in filter container.
  2. Allow the fizzing action which takes 15 minutes.
  3. Fill the coffee pot with cold water at maximum level.
  4. Then turn on the coffee maker and let run the brew cycle till it finishes.
  5. Run once or twice more cycle with just clear water to get rid of leftover Alka seltzer.
  6. Wipe-out with damp towel ensure that partially dissolved Alka seltzer is removed completely.

So, now you know how to clean coffee maker without vinegar.

You can try any of these from 12 easy remedies to clean your coffee maker.

It will definitely help out to get rid of mold as well as descale your coffee maker. Clean out your coffee maker regularly that makes your coffee brewing hassle-free.