You wake up one morning and begin the routine of making your coffee. While making your coffee, you notice there are tiny black dots running everywhere and they’re climbing out of your coffee maker.
You open the coffee maker to get a closer look inside and notice more tiny black dots madly dash out for safety.
After your initial shock, you finally realize those tiny black dots are ants!
Angry and disgusted you shout, “Why are there ants in my coffee maker?”
Great, there’s no morning coffee for you and now you have to clean up a mess. Such a wonderful way to start your day!
Now you’re wondering, how did these ants get into the coffee maker and how to clean the coffee maker out?
Maybe this never happened to you before until you got a coffee maker. For some reason, coffee makers are notorious for attracting ants. I’m not sure why on this, maybe they love the fanciness of it.
But, If you’re stuck in the situation of having ants in your coffee maker then continue reading this post.
Why Are There Ants in Your Coffee Maker?
Coffee makers are breathing grounds for ants to live in. The warmth and water provide the perfect environment for ants to thrive in. They also gain nutrients from the coffee grounds. If in there long enough they may start to build a nest. I’m sure you don’t want this happening.
Since coffee makers have many cracks, ants can crawl into them. The smell of the coffee grounds attract them making them find their way inside. It’s also a good idea to stop leaving old coffee grounds inside the coffee maker. This way you’re less likely to attract ants and fruit flies to your coffee maker.
How to I Clean My Coffee Maker?
Finding ants in your coffee maker is disgusting and luckily not hard to clean up.
Step One
The first step is to remove the coffee maker from the area and get rid of the trail of ants.
Then place the coffee maker into the sink or an area to keep it away from the ants. To kill the ants try using a natural spray around the area. Have a spray bottle with a mixture of vinegar and water to keep the ants away. You can also try using peppermint oil, cinnamon, lemon juice, cayenne, and black pepper in the mixture. These are all-natural ingredients ants hate to be around.
I suggest staying away from the usual ant sprays since the chemicals are harmful and the odor is overpowering.
Step Two
Next, disassemble the coffee maker as much as you can and clean each compartment of it. You should wash it in warm water and dish liquid. If you like you can also add white vinegar or apple cider vinegar to clean your coffee maker.
Step Three
After you resemble the coffee maker include 50/50 solution of water and vinegar. Again you can use white or apple cider vinegar. Let the coffee maker run all the way through. This will give your coffee maker a nice maintenance check and clean out the leftover gunk.
Step Four
Take the time to add more water and let your coffee maker run again. This will fully clean out the coffee maker and rinse it out from the vinegar. There you go, a nice clean coffee maker free of ants!
Related: How to Descale Coffee Maker
Conclusion
You should honestly take the time to clean up your coffee maker often. This will help keep away any kind of bugs that are attracted to the coffee maker. You’ll be surprised at how many little creatures enjoy coffee as much as humans do. Not only do ants enjoy the smell of coffee grounds but so do fruit flies and roaches.
Now I know you do not want to wake up one morning and see roaches crawling around in your coffee maker. It’s bad enough to experience it with ants and seeing it with roaches will give you a heart attack.
So, take the time to do these steps in cleaning out your coffee maker, and be sure to keep the surrounding area clean too.
