Every year? Good lord what do you do to those things. I've lived in hard water areas my whole life and have never experienced people churning through coffee machines that fast.

> They'd likely last longer if we cleaned them more often

So yeah, just put some vinegar through them every now and then and they'll be fine and last a decade. Take care of it and it'll last you a long time. If they're burning out and not incredibly scaled up, there's potentially something wrong with your home's wiring.