My $25 drip coffee maker died in 11 days, so I started descaling it with plain white vinegar and got almost 3 years out of the replacement

Christopher Lopez · 2026-09-24T16:50:04.94061+00:00

I picked up a cheap drip machine at a Target in Modesto back in 2022, and it quit on me in 11 days. The inside was caked with that chalky white scale, which I did not expect since I only ran tap water through it. A friend who fixes small appliances told me to run a cup of plain white vinegar through a brew cycle every month, then two full pots of clean water to rinse it out. I did that with the next one and it lasted just shy of 3 years before the heating element finally went. Does anyone here use citric acid powder instead, and does it work better than vinegar?

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My $25 drip coffee maker died in 11 days, so I started descaling it with plain white vinegar and got almost 3 years out of the replacement | Bought It, Broke It - nhfree.com