Where to buy espresso machine descaler in Dublin city centre?

mrcheez

2 questions...

- Where to buy espresso machine descaler in Dublin city centre?

I checked Tesco in Jervis St and nada.

- When do you know your machine needs to be descaled?

Say I use mine every weekend as I usually get a coffee in work during the week.

okedoke

Aldi sell a descaler that I put into the water tank every couple of months and flush it through.

adrian522

I use Cafiza for general cleaning and Dezcal for descaling.

Cafiza you can get in coffee angel. Dezcal I usually need to buy online on ebay or somewhere like that.

mrcheez

okedoke wrote: »

Aldi sell a descaler that I put into the water tank every couple of months and flush it through.

Is that a regular item on sale, or only specials?

mrcheez

adrian522 wrote: »

Dezcal I usually need to buy online on ebay or somewhere like that.

I want to get it today or tomorrow. Of course you can get anything online if you are stuck, but I'd like to go to a B&M

mrcheez

btw my 2nd question was, how do you know when to descale?

Is the water visibly chalky?

Zagato

I suppose this depends on: How hard is your water?

From what I can see online, dezcal is predominantly citric acid, which you can buy pretty cheaply online and I use for descaling other things.

Clinker

I got Gaggia descaler in Brown Thomas a while back.

You won't see anything in the water: it's inside the machine where a layer of limestone is building up that you need to worry about. You get a good idea of how often you need to descale from your kettle: if you get loads of limescale in your kettle, then frequently, hardly any, then rarely.

Slaphead07

Clinker wrote: »

I got Gaggia descaler in Brown Thomas a while back.

Harold's Cross Electrical in, oddly enough, Harold's Cross, stock that too. Not exactly city centre but it might be handy for you.

mrcheez

Clinker wrote: »

I got Gaggia descaler in Brown Thomas a while back.

You won't see anything in the water: it's inside the machine where a layer of limestone is building up that you need to worry about. You get a good idea of how often you need to descale from your kettle: if you get loads of limescale in your kettle, then frequently, hardly any, then rarely.

Cool i'll check it out there tomorrow. I imagine it's overpriced but i've never been into BT so curious to see what it's like and get an earful of the accents royght

Checked my kettle. No scale whatsoever, also my water gets very sudsy when washing up so I imagine i've got soft water.

So assuming soft water, and using the machine a few times at weekends only are we talking of descaling approx once every 6 months?

mrcheez

This article recommends descaling after approx 300 uses. It's related to nespresso machines but i imagine it could be relevant as my machine takes both ground and nespresso capsules

https://www.hilinecoffee.com/blogs/news/2014/01/19/descaling-your-nespresso-machine/

So if that's the case 300 uses would be over a year for me

Glebee

Would citric acid mixed in water work??

mrcheez

Glebee wrote: »

Would citric acid mixed in water work??

Probably, but I'd prefer to play it safe and get the "purpose made" stuff.

Don't want to damage the thing!

Glebee

mrcheez wrote: »

Probably, but I'd prefer to play it safe and get the "purpose made" stuff.

Don't want to damage the thing!

Know what you mean, im going to chance the citric acid next time on mine, low dosage though. What can go wrong....(Famous last words)

keith_d99

Have an issue with a DeLonghi - in that the steamer doesn't work as well ... gone back under warranty, but they reckon it's limescale and needs to be cleaned - only 5 months old, and machine prompts you to descale which I did.

Read somewhere that putting water through a Brita jug will remove a lot of lime .. planning on doing that before filling the machine in future.

Can get DeLonghi descaler on Amazon.

adrian522

I do that but I very rarely change the Britta filter !

mrcheez

Lenehans (Capel St) sorted me out eventually

youngblood

Any known alternatives to the Nespresso descaler?

Cant see much online and the ones that are there have no measurements/quantities

James_R

mrcheez wrote: »

Lenehans (Capel St) sorted me out eventually

What they sell you? How much?

I've been using citric acid but I've read even small amounts can be harsh without the right buffer (included in the brand name specific descalers).

mrcheez

James_R wrote: »

What they sell you? How much?

I've been using citric acid but I've read even small amounts can be harsh without the right buffer (included in the brand name specific descalers).

It was around €6 but was out of stock last time I checked. Should be more in soon afaik.