Are you regularly cleaning and descaling your coffee machine at home in this lockdown period?
If not, then kindly read this article from ConsumerAffair.com and you will know that your coffee maker is susceptible to mildew, bacteria, calcium and lime buildup if not cleaned and descaled every month.
I know most coffee maker owners use Vinegar to clean their machines.
It is one of the most popular and widely used coffee maker cleaning solutions in the market.
Recently I researched a lot about Dezcal coffee maker descaler solution from Urnex.
After reading several customer reviews, I now strongly believe that Dezcal is a much better cleaning and descaling solution than vinegar.
Today, I will compare Dezcal vs Vinegar and will point out the main pros and cons of both the cleaning solutions.
So, let’s get to it.
Table of Contents
- 10 Major Differences Between Dezcal vs Vinegar
- Most Frequently Asked Questions About Vinegar and Dezcal
- Wrapping Up
10 Major Differences Between Dezcal vs Vinegar
| Dezcal | Vinegar |
| 1. Contains Citric Acid as a prime component | 1. Mainly contains Acetic Acid as a prime ingredient |
| 2. It is more concentrated and needs little quantity to descale coffee makers | 2. Usually not as much concentrated as Dezcal |
| 3. Mainly used to descale Commerical coffee makers as well as home coffee makers | 3. Can be used to descale single serve and home coffee makers too but not commercial coffee makers |
| 4. Does not leave any residue smell after descaling coffee machine | 4. Leaves unwanted nasty residual smell after descaling the machine |
| 5. Highly recommended for coffee machines that have plastic and rubber internal parts | 5. Not recommended for coffee makers that have mostly plastic and rubber internal parts |
| 6. Dezcal comes in powder or tablet format which is more cost effective than vinegar | 6. Vinegar is not cost effective as you need to buy more quantity |
| 7. More effective in removing old lime and coffee oil deposits | 7. Less efficient in removing coffee oils and does not descale as effectively as Dezcal |
| 8. Made from safe, non-toxic and bio-degradable elements | 8. Vinegar solution could be harmful for your health and coffee makers if used excessively |
| 9. Works less effective for few keurig coffee machines | 9. Works great for cleaning almost all Keurig coffee makers |
| 10. Gives you much better tasting coffee after descaling | 10. Offers you bad smelling coffee due to residue smell |
Now that you know these 10 key differences between Dezcal and vinegar descalers; its time to answer some of your most important doubts about these popular coffee maker descaling solutions.
Most Frequently Asked Questions About Vinegar and Dezcal
Is Descaling Solution Better Than Vinegar?
Many people use vinegar to clean and descale their coffee machines at home.
Because it is very a cheap home remedy and provides decent results without damaging any of your coffee machine parts.
But still as mentioned above there are few important side effects of using vinegar as a descaler which we can’t afford to ignore.
The first major disadvantage of using vinegar to descale your machine is its residual smell.
It leaves bad odour once your clean and descale your machine with vinegar.
This results in foul smelling coffee whenever you brew one from your machine.
Plus, it could damage the internal plastic and rubber parts of your machine due to its acetic acid content.
Another most important thing to remember is its less efficiency in removing old coffee oils, grimes and lime scale deposits of your machine.
Vinegar can not completely remove all the internal old coffee stains and lime or calcium deposits which sits on the internal parts of your machine.
This is why, it is important to think about using more professional and dedicated coffee maker descaler solutions that are available in the market.
These professional descaler solutions such as Dezcal, CLR, Cafiza work extremely well when it comes to completely clean and descale the professional as well as home coffee makers.
So, basically the answer of this question is definite “Yes”.
Yes, a professional descaler solution is certainly a much better option than just using cheap vinegar solution.
What Other Descaling Solutions Can I use Instead of Vinegar?
As mentioned in the above question, there are several popular and more professional coffee maker descaling solutions present in the market today.
I highly recommend Dezcal to clean and descale your old and new coffee machines at home.
Other than Dezcal, you can try CLR, Cafiza, Puly Caff Plus, Urnex Tabz, Full Circle, and Durgol.
For more information about best descaling solutions, check out my article on 11 Cafiza alternatives.
What is the Best Coffee Machine Descaler (Vinegar or Dezcal)?
If you check out my above 10 key differences between vinegar and Dezcal, then you have already understood which product I am going to recommend the most.
Yes, Dezcal is the clear winner as per my research and it wins by a huge margin when compared with the overall descaling results produced by vinegar solution.
Dezcal is completely harmless for your coffee machines, it does not leave any after cleaning smell and helps in brewing much better tasting coffee flavour in comparison with the vinegar solution.
Plus, it is made from safe, non-toxic and easily bio-degradable elements.
This means it is eco friendly and safe to use for your coffee machines.
It can also be used to clean and descale other home equipments such as shower heads, faucets, milk systems, pod machines, capsule machines, garmet steamers, domestic irons, etc.
Because of its safe multi-purpose usage and no side effects, I give 9/10 to Dezcal and 7/10 to Vinegar solution.
Click Here to Get Dezcal Descaler to Descale Your Coffee Maker.
How to Use Dezcal Descaler Solution?
It is actually very easy to descale your coffee machine with Dezcal at home.
The actual procedure is as follows.
What You Will Need:
Clean Lukewarm Water
And Your Coffee Machine obviously!
Actual Descaling Procedure:
1. First, you will need to buy Dezcal descaling powder.
You can get it online or can buy from your local store too.
2. You will just need 1 packet of Dezcal powder. It is about 28 gm in quantity.
3. You will also need 32 ounce or 1 litre of clean lukewarm water.
Take a pot and mix Dezcal powder in the water properly.
4. Once mixed well, pour that solution in the water reservoir of your coffee machine.
5. Now press the power button and let the whole brew cycle run.
This brewing cycle will descale your machine in the right way.
6. Once this brewing cycle is done, throw out the whole dirty liquid solution in the kitchen sink.
7. Now pour another 1 litre of clean water in the water tank of the machine and let the brew cycle run.
You can repeat this water brewing cycle for 3-4 times if you want.
This will make sure that no residue liquid remains in the system.
That’s it. You are done with the whole descaling procedure.
You can clean and descale your coffee maker for once or twice in a month depending on the frequency of coffee making.
Wrapping Up
If you ask me what kind of descaling solution I would like to use for my coffee makers, then my answer would be a professional descaler like Dezcal.
I will surely not recommend to use vinegar solution even though many people use it on a regular basis.
Even many popular coffee maker brands don’t recommend the use of vinegar as it can severely affect the inner plastic and rubber parts of the machine.
Plus, it leaves an unwanted residue smell in the system which badly impacts the flavour and taste of your coffee.
This is the reason, I will always go with Dezcal descaler solution which is completely safe to use and leaves no residue smell in your coffee.
Click Here to Check Out The Real Opinion of Users About Dezcal Descaler.
References:
https://urnex.com/dezcal-descaling-powder
https://www.home-barista.com/espresso-machines/urnex-to-descale-am-i-making-mistake-t10173.html