# How to descale, and is this why my dev unit started beeping constantly? **URL:** \ **Category:** Anova Support\ **Created:** [October 20, 2014, 8:12pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/how-to-descale-and-is-this-why-my-dev-unit-started-beeping-constantly/69 "2014-10-20T20:12:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bcapaldo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@bcapaldo](https://community.anovaculinary.com/u/bcapaldo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 8:12pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/how-to-descale-and-is-this-why-my-dev-unit-started-beeping-constantly/69/1 "2014-10-20T20:12:12Z")
My dev unit began beeping constantly. Unplugging and plugging it back in do not cease the beeping. Upon disassembly of the unit, I noticed some scale buuldup, not excessive, but still there. Why is my unit beeping and how should I descale the unit? ---
**Author:** ![markc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@markc](https://community.anovaculinary.com/u/markc)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/how-to-descale-and-is-this-why-my-dev-unit-started-beeping-constantly/69/2 "2014-10-20T20:23:09Z")
Don’t know why it’s beeping. Vinegar will descale it easily. Put some in the water and run the unit. You have hard water. You can use distilled water , or charcoal filtered water , or vinegar once in awhile. Mine does the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![bcapaldo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@bcapaldo](https://community.anovaculinary.com/u/bcapaldo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 8:24pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/how-to-descale-and-is-this-why-my-dev-unit-started-beeping-constantly/69/3 "2014-10-20T20:24:46Z")
How much vinegar? ---
**Author:** ![plarpco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/0ea827/32.png) [@plarpco](https://community.anovaculinary.com/u/plarpco)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/how-to-descale-and-is-this-why-my-dev-unit-started-beeping-constantly/69/4 "2014-10-20T21:53:53Z")
It seems unlikely that the unit could detect scale buildup. The beeping must be from something else. How about posting a photo of the scale buildup? I’d be curious where it is and what it looks like. You can just get a soft brush (old toothbrush) and dip it in vinegar and try to remove the scale that way. Then rinse with clean water. ---
**Author:** ![markc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@markc](https://community.anovaculinary.com/u/markc)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 1:13am UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/how-to-descale-and-is-this-why-my-dev-unit-started-beeping-constantly/69/5 "2014-10-21T01:13:30Z")
You can either stick the unit in a tall narrow container and fill with vinegar then let it soak or fill a small pot with water and dump a quart or so of vinegar in then turn on the unit . Distilled white vinegar is cheap. About two bucks per gallon. The toothbrush wouldn’t work so well. It takes a while for the weak acetic acid to break down the calcium carbonate. Let it sit for a while. Works really well. ---
**Author:** ![vtemkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@vtemkin](https://community.anovaculinary.com/u/vtemkin)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 1:52am UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/how-to-descale-and-is-this-why-my-dev-unit-started-beeping-constantly/69/6 "2014-10-21T01:52:11Z")
Is it beeping when you are running updated demo app, or without any bluetooth? ---
**Author:** ![bcapaldo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@bcapaldo](https://community.anovaculinary.com/u/bcapaldo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 12:21pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/how-to-descale-and-is-this-why-my-dev-unit-started-beeping-constantly/69/7 "2014-10-22T12:21:20Z")
So I managed to descale it (just added a some white vinegar to my bath, and ran the unit at 60 C for about an hour), but the unit stopped beeping of its own accord. I was not running the app, the unit was in the middle of a cook for 85 C, and it started beeping about an hour into the cook. The impellar was working fine, but the heating element shut off for some reason. My guess is that it was a low temperature alarm, but I still don’t know for sure what happened. The water level was not too low, and nothing except scale was on the heating element. ---
**Author:** ![markc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@markc](https://community.anovaculinary.com/u/markc)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/how-to-descale-and-is-this-why-my-dev-unit-started-beeping-constantly/69/8 "2014-10-22T17:47:40Z")
I think I remember that happening to my version1 months ago. Same beeping scenario before and after descaling. Forgot about that. I think what is happening is that the scale ( calcium carbonate ) buildup is decreasing the heat transfer rate from the heating coil to the water and the unit is overheating and shutting off. Thermal conductivity ( rate of heat transfer ) is about 15 times less in calcium carbonate than stainless steel. The specific heat of calcium carbonate ( amount of heat it can absorb ) is about 18 times less than that of water. So, therefore, the scale is acting as an insulator not letting the heat from the coil get to the water as fast. The coil heats up and the unit protects itself by shutting down. I would bet that we would hear the same beeping and experience the same shut down if we let the water get too low and the coil heated up… I’m not going to try it. ---
**Author:** ![BobRoss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/53a042/32.png) [@BobRoss](https://community.anovaculinary.com/u/BobRoss)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 8:09pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/how-to-descale-and-is-this-why-my-dev-unit-started-beeping-constantly/69/9 "2020-01-25T20:09:30Z")
Descaling does not work. [Here is how you fix it.](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/long-beep-permanent-low-water-alarm-fix-how-to/24929)