Shutting down your coffee or water dispenser for a while

Closing the office for the holidays? You’ll probably want to leave your kitchen equipment off to save energy, especially if you’ll be closed for more than a couple of days. To help, we’ve made this handy guide for you. 

To keep your machine in the best possible condition for when you return, and to help you save energy, we’ve put together the handy guide below for closing your machine down.

Fresh-milk coffee machines

Carrying out the steps below will ensure that your machine is lovely and clean for when you return. 

It’s essential that you properly clean your fresh milk machine and fridge before powering it off. If milk is left in the system for periods of time, it can cause unpleasant odours, issues with taste, and prevent the machine from working properly (potentially resulting in a chargeable callout when you return to the office).

1. Carry out a daily and weekly clean on your machine. This will clean the milk system, coffee system and the milk frother unit, and will ensure no milk residue remains. If you’re unsure how to do this, you can check out our customer support area, where you’ll find cleaning guides and videos.
2. Make sure the drip tray and grounds bin are empty – give them a clean and dry before replacing them.
3. If your machine is hand-fill, then please remember to empty any water from the tank.
4. It’s no problem to leave coffee beans in the hoppers; however, after a week or two, they will start to stale and lose their aroma. So it’s best to remove them if you can, so you can start with lovely fresh coffee when you return to the office. If you know how to remove the hoppers from your machine then please do this, and take the time to clean and thoroughly dry the hoppers before replacing. If you’re unsure of how to remove the hoppers, then the easiest way to remove the beans is with a hoover!
5. Your coffee machine can now be powered down and switched off at the mains electric switch.

Your coffee machine’s fridge

1. If you have a fridge, empty the milk from the refrigerator, and thoroughly clean the milk container with soap and water. 
2. Switch your fridge off at the mains electric switch. Please ensure that the fridge door is left open while the machine is switched off, to avoid any unpleasant odours building up. 

Granulated-milk coffee machines

1. Carry out a full clean on your machine. If you’re unsure how to do this, you can check out our customer support area, where you’ll find cleaning guides.
2. Make sure the drip tray and grounds bin are empty – give them a clean and dry before replacing them.
3. If your machine is hand-fill, then please remember to empty any water from the tank.
4. It’s no problem to leave coffee beans in the hoppers; however, after a week or two, they will start to stale and lose their aroma. So it’s best to remove them if you can, so you can start with lovely fresh coffee when you return to the office. If you know how to remove the hoppers from your machine then please do this and take the time to clean and thoroughly dry the hoppers before replacing. If you’re unsure of how to remove the hoppers, then the easiest way to remove the beans is with a hoover!
5. Also remove the powdered milk and chocolate from the hoppers if possible, to ensure maximum freshness when you return to the office.
6. Your machine can now be powered down and switched off at the mains electric switch.

Filter coffee brewers

Simply ensure the machine is clean and free from grounds, before switching off at the mains electric switch.

Upon your return, it’s sensible to run a brew cycle without any coffee grounds, to ensure that the water is fresh for when you make your first batch of coffee.

Zip & Billi taps

These can be left switched on, or if you would like to save energy you may switch them off at the mains electric switch.

Upon your return to the office, we recommend you draw off five or six cups of water from the tap before dispensing water to drink. This is essential to flush your unit through with fresh water.

Please also bear in mind that, depending on how long the unit is switched off for, it may take longer than usual to heat up. The tap is ready to use when the lights are steady and no longer blinking.

Borg & Overström taps

These can be left switched on, or if you would like to save energy you may switch them off at the mains electric switch.

Upon your return to the office, we recommend you draw off five or six cups of water from the tap before dispensing water to drink. This is essential to flush your unit through with fresh water.

Please also bear in mind that, depending on how long the unit is switched off for, it may take longer than usual to chill down. 

Water coolers

These can be left switched on, or if you would like to save energy you may switch them off at the mains electric switch.

However, in either situation, when you return to the office, we recommend you draw off around 2L of water from the cooler before dispensing water to drink. This is very important, to ensure that the water in your unit’s tank has been flushed through with fresh water.

Please also note, that after you switch the unit back on after a period, it will take slightly longer than usual than chill.

Hot water boilers

It’s best to empty the boiler before switching off for an extended period. Simply draw off as much water as possible using the faucet and, once the unit is cool enough, pour the remaining water out of the top of the boiler over a sink. You may need to disconnect the unit from the water supply to do this – please see any of the hot water boiler videos in our customer support section to see how to do this.

Once the unit is empty, simply switch off at the mains electric switch (reconnect to the water supply if you disconnected it to drain). When switched back on upon your return, the boiler will fill and heat as usual.

Get in touch

If you have any questions at all regarding cleaning or shutting down your machine, please just give our friendly client care team a call or drop them an email.