# Citric acid as a descaler



## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

Can someone suggest how much citric acid to mix to descale my sons Sage DB please? And does the strength dictate how long to leave it in for.


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## the_partisan (Feb 29, 2016)

I use about 2% (20g to 1L ) solution for my electric kettle with very hard water here, and it's usually descaled in about 10 minutes. It goes much faster at higher temperatures, so if you can keep the temp high constantly it will go faster.


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

the_partisan said:


> I use about 2% (20g to 1L ) solution for my electric kettle with very hard water here, and it's usually descaled in about 10 minutes. It goes much faster at higher temperatures, so if you can keep the temp high constantly it will go faster.


Many thanks.....that sounds a good solution (sic!)


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## the_partisan (Feb 29, 2016)

BTW I think Citric acid is quite weak, probably even 10% solution will not be so aggressive.. If you want quicker results you can try 5%. It should be safe on copper/steel, but I'm not sure about aluminium, as aluminium + acid don't seem to mix very well. I would check up on that..


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## dwalsh1 (Mar 3, 2010)

https://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?19739&p=228152#post228152


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

actually it can be quite strong..I once did a 10% (100g citric acid, 900g water) solution when de-scaling miss Silvia and got it accidentally on my skin.. a rather unpleasant experience, wouldn't want to get it in my eyes


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## dwalsh1 (Mar 3, 2010)

maybe but we are talking about descaling a coffee machine not your hands or eyes


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

thanks all, just realised I have a box of sage descaler


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## jimbojohn55 (Jan 15, 2016)

tartric acid is safer and less harsh but wont always shift the scale dependant on mineral content


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## Craig-R872 (Apr 4, 2016)

A post I made when I descaled mine.

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcoffeeforums%2Eco%2Euk%2Fshowthread%2Ephp%3Ft%3D38652&share_tid=38652&share_fid=6813&share_type=t

Descaling the Dual Boiler.


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## JohnPrime (Nov 2, 2014)

When I refurbed my machine I used heated citric and recirculated it with a pump. The results were very good, although a chisel and a big hammer were involved


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