Ninja Coffeemaker Clean Light: What to Do?

The "clean" light came on on my Ninja- what should I do?

Today the "Clean" light on my Nija coffeemaker came on.  At first I wondered if this meant that my coffeemaker was clean, but I quickly realized that the "Clean" light means that the coffeemaker has a problem and needs to be cleaned.

I went to the Ninja website to find out what to do.  It turns out that the Ninja has a sensor to detect calcium build-up.  That is what makes the clean light turn on.  Calcium deposits can restrict the flow of water in the Ninja and make brewing less effective.

Calcium build-up can form if you are using hard water for brewing.  I used my coffeemaker for about 3 months before the clean light came on for the first time.

So how do you clean your coffeemaker and make the "clean" light turn off?  Fortunately this is pretty easy.  You can run descaling solution or white vinegar through your coffeemaker and this will dissolve calcium deposits.

My grocery store didn't have descaling solution, so I picked up some white vinegar instead.  I filled the reservoir up to the cup line (11 oz), and filled the reservoir with water up to the max clean fill mark (30 oz).

Use White Vinegar of Descaling Solution to Fix the Clean Light on your Ninja Coffeemaker

If you use descaling solution instead of vinegar, follow the directions on the package and fill up to, but not exceeding the Clean Cycle Max Fill line (30 oz).

With the reservoir filled with the vinegar and water mixture, I pressed the "clean" button to run a cleaning cycle.  This is the same one that is lit up when the coffeemaker needs cleaning.

Note: You'll need to set the brew size selection switch to the full pot size before the clean cycle will run.

It takes about 8 minutes to run a clean cycle, heating up the solution and running it through the coffee maker.  At the end of this clean cycle, I was happy to see that the clean light turned off!  I rinsed out the carafe, filter basket, and reservoir since they all smelled like vinegar now.  I also filled the reservoir with water and brewed a cycle with only water to clean out all of the vinegar.

When the Clean light on your Ninja comes on, be sure to run a clean cycle right away with either vinegar or descaling solution.  This will keep your coffeemaker running smoothly.

Copyright © 2017 Dr. Penny Pincher. All Rights Reserved. Coffee Maker Journal