How to Empty a Keurig Coffee Maker for Storage?

How to Empty a Keurig Coffee Maker for Storage?

Now that you own one of the best coffee makers, a Keurig coffee maker, you ought to know how to drain it for storage. Especially when you want to clean it deep or travel with it, you obviously can’t leave the water in it. Or if someone accidentally put milk in the reservoir, you need to know how to empty your Keurig coffee maker to fix it. This article will guide you on the different ways you can empty a Keurig coffee maker.

Why shouldn’t you leave Water too long in your Keurig Coffee Maker?

If you haven’t used your Keurig coffee maker in a while, it is not advisable to leave water in it. Why? Because stagnant water is the main breeding ground for bacteria, especially when the water is warm. Bacteria formation is inevitable when you leave water standing in your Keurig coffee maker for a few days. And when you drink coffee from such a coffee maker, it will make you sick.

Bacteria thrive the most in a warm, damp environment, and the Keurig coffee maker provides them with this ambiance. However, it may also interest you to know that bacteria can’t survive at a temperature over 170 degrees Fahrenheit. Hence it is safe to drink even stagnant water when it is at this temperature. But as we’d have it, not everyone leaves their Keurig coffee maker on and heating for days sometimes. Hence, it is best to avoid keeping water sitting anyway.

The safest and easiest way to avoid bacteria buildup is to ensure you constantly refill your Keurig coffee maker with fresh, filtered water at least once every day. And if you make a lot of coffee in a day, you have nothing to worry about since you are probably refilling the coffee maker frequently. But if you make only a cup or two cups of coffee a day and you have a large to average reservoir, then you should ensure you empty it at the end of each day.

What to do when Water sits too long in your Keurig Coffee Maker?

While you may be very mindful by frequently emptying and refilling your Keurig coffee maker, you may sometimes forget to empty the water in the storage. It can happen to anybody as we all have busy schedules, or you could have gone on a week-long vacation and forgot to empty the Keurig before you left. In such a case, what would be the ideal solution for you?

In such a case, you can start by running the brew cycle a few times without actually putting a pod. This will help get the water boiling, hence killing the bacteria that may have grown in your Keurig. It’s important to sterilize your Keurig coffee maker after using it to help make it safe to use again. And if you want to be extra safe, you can take this opportunity as liberty to perform a deeper clean.

Descaling solution with vinegar is a great trick every coffee maker needs now and then to keep your Keurig coffee maker safe to use. Minerals in the water over time will build up to a layer of scale in your coffee maker, hence changing the taste of your coffee. Or worse, it could clog your machine.

How to Empty a Keurig Coffee Maker for Storage:

In this section of this article, we will be looking at simple steps you can use to empty a Keurig coffee maker with or without disassembling your machine.

Tools needed:

Ultimately, you need two main tools to empty the water from a Keurig coffee maker. These include:

  • Flathead screwdriver
  • Pitcher

How to Empty a Keurig Coffee Maker without Disassembling?

Note a Keurig coffee maker is designed with an internal and an external tank. The outer tank is where you fill water in, while the inner tank is stored for hot water whenever you need to brew. You can quickly empty the Keurig coffee maker internal tank without disassembling it.

  1. First, remove the external tank and empty the water in it
  2. Next, replace the external tank that you emptied onto your Keurig coffee maker, then reach down to the little plastic disc
  3. Trace the little plastic disc by pulling it along its path till you reach the top of the track near the top of the tank
  4. Use your fingers to hold it in place, or use some tape to have it in place. Note that the disc floats up as water fills the tank. This is how the Keurig coffee maker tell how much water is in the unit
  5. With or without the K-Cup, brew the largest size of coffee
  6. The machine will then brew from the internal water tank, hence emptying it for you
  7. When all the water is drained, you can unplug the machine and put it away for storage.

How to Empty a Keurig Coffee Maker and Fully Open the Internal Tank?

On the other hand, if you intend to clear out the tiny tank in your coffee maker, you will have to take a different approach. For this procedure, you’d need two tools, the flat head screwdriver and a pitcher. When you have these in place, follow the steps below.

  1. Please turn off your Keurig coffee maker and wait for about 30 minutes for it to cool down fully.
  2. Lift the lid of the water tank and pull the water tank straight and right of the brewer to empty the remaining water from the tank
  3. With the screwdriver, open the small thumbscrew at the back of the machine to get access to lift the rear panel. On removing the access panel, you will see the tube with a plug at the end; pull it from the plastic clip holder.
  4. On the back of the brewer, but the large pitcher. Hold the end of the tube over the pitcher and lift the plug from the tube. Allow water to flow into the pitcher.
  5. When the water stops draining from the water tank, press the back of the water tank and the plug back into its end position in the tube, then discard the water in the pitcher. Replace the tube in its original position in the plastic clip holder. Reinstall the access panel and secure it with the thumbscrew, and you are all done.

Bottom line:

To sum things up, always remember that the right way to store a Keurig coffee maker is by emptying all the water from the external and internal tanks. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment in the comment section. We would be more than glad to hear from you as well as help resolve your concerns.