Descale needed · Sage / Breville Barista Pro
Sage / Breville Barista Pro: DESCALE alert on the screen
A descaling cycle is required.
- Which light
- Icon on the display screen
- Colour
- Colour not named by the maker
- Steady or flashing
- Steady
What Sage / Breville says to do
- Empty the drip tray, take the water filter out of the tank, fill the tank to the DESCALE line and add the descaling agent.
- Press MENU, turn the GRIND AMOUNT dial to DESCALE and press it; press 1 CUP to start. It descales in 3 stages — coffee, hot water, steam — beeping after each, and you turn the STEAM dial when the screen says.
- Then empty the drip tray and the rest of the solution, fill the tank to MAX and press 1 CUP for the 3-stage rinse. It beeps and returns to READY when finished; rinse and dry the tray and tank.
From the Barista Pro™ — Instruction Book: First use cycle, Functions, Flush cleaning cycle, Descaling, Error mode and Troubleshooting and the Barista Pro™ BES878 / SES878 — User Guide: Functions, Care & Cleaning, Error mode and Troubleshooting. This is the Barista Pro’s pattern; another Sage / Breville machine may use the same light for something else — check the manual for your model.
Other Sage / Breville Barista Pro lights
Descale needed on other machines
The same need shows up as a different light on each machine — which is why a light cannot be read without the machine.
Sources
Every line on this page comes from Sage / Breville’s own documents, read on the date shown. Nothing is taken from third-party manual sites.
- Breville: the Barista Pro™ — Instruction Book: First use cycle, Functions, Flush cleaning cycle, Descaling, Error mode and Troubleshooting — Barista Pro BES878, US and Canada instruction book (K22 edition). assets.breville.com Checked 2026-09-29.
- Sage: the Barista Pro™ BES878 / SES878 — User Guide: Functions, Care & Cleaning, Error mode and Troubleshooting — Barista Pro SES878, UK user guide (UG2 A25 edition). assets.sageappliances.com Checked 2026-09-29.