In December 2013, figures suggested the UK was growing as a nation of coffee drinkers, with coffee sales in High Street stores exceeding £1 billion, whilst tea sales were only £480 million. Lavazza also identified on average people drink 3 cups of coffee a day.

However, our love of coffee could be having an adverse affect on our energy bills with filter machines being left on continuously and wasting energy. In a bid to combat this, new legislation came into force on January 1^st 2015, as part of the European Union’s Ecodesign initiative

Under the new legislation, all new filter coffee machines are required to power down five minutes after they’ve finished percolating; new espresso machines must power down after half-an-hour, whilst functions keeping cups warm will be required to shut down after an hour.

However, using a coffee maker which conforms to the new legislation isn’t the only way we can ensure our machines are energy efficient. There are a number of steps which should be taken, no matter the age, make and model of your coffee machine.

These steps are:

Clean / Maintain:

Cleaning your coffee machine means more than emptying the filter from left over coffee, emptying the drip tray and wiping the steam nozzle after it has been used to ensure there’s no milk residue left. Cleaning your coffee machine also means taking preventative steps against the build up of limescale, which will reduce the performance of the appliance making it less energy efficient.

Limescale impacts on all appliances which rely on water, with those homes in hard water areas more likely to be affected. Thankfully there’s a simple way to tackle limescale – to use a specialist product, such as the DeLonghi EcoDecalk Universal Coffee Machine Descaler.

Such a descaler is not only eco-friendly, but it incorporates a superfast action to remove limescale in, helping to restore your coffee maker back to its former glory.

To get the most from the descaler, simply half fill the water reservoir before adding 3 capfuls of DeLonghi and switching the machine on to allow roughly half the solution to filter through. Once half the solution has been filtered, turn the coffee machine off and leave to stand for ten minutes.

After the time has elapsed, switch your coffee machine back on and allow the rest of the solution to filter through, before filtering through clean water. Such a task should be carried out on a regular basis to help prevent limescale from building up.

NB: Before carrying out any cleaning on your coffee machine, make sure that it has cooled down.

Repair:

Occasionally, various parts of your coffee machine can become worn or damaged, hindering the appliances effectiveness. But this doesn’t mean the end of the road for your appliance. Instead, it’s possible to bring your coffee machine back to its former glory, and at BuySpares we stock an extensive selection of spare parts and accessories which will help you get the most out of your coffee machine for longer.

Our range of spares and accessories includes filters (including small one-cup pod filters, two-cup filters, carbon filters which remove water impurities and paper espressivo filters), filter holders / sumps, steam nozzles and replacement coffee jugs.

By cleaning, maintaining and repairing your coffee machine and accessories, you’ll not only ensure your coffee machine is energy efficient; but you’ll also help your appliance run at its peak performance for years to come. So whenever you fancy a flat white, Americano, latte or mocha your coffee machine will be ready.

Tags: Coffee Maker Jugs, Coffee Maker Spare Parts