diff --git a/grib_processor/utils.py b/grib_processor/utils.py
index 07eaf3eec2b6e728f288bf335bdc13ed8eb4f584..4ca30d3d58881770c0f7ec89e0ca52646df57d34 100644
--- a/grib_processor/utils.py
+++ b/grib_processor/utils.py
@@ -189,6 +189,7 @@ def realtime(file_iter: Iterable[str]) -> Generator[GribPayload, None, None]:
         if time.time() - last_clean_time > CACHE_CLEAN_INTERVAL:
             LOG.info("realtime - time to clean the cache")
             _clean_caches(cache)
+            last_clean_time = time.time()
 
 
 def grib_filter(change: Change, path: str) -> bool: