How to descale a kettle

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Scale-flavored tea will not warm you on cold winter evenings. Soda, lemon, cola, or potato peels are all it takes to fix the situation.

Scale appears due to impurities contained in poor-quality water. During boiling, they settle on the walls of the kettle and spoil the taste of hot drinks. Scale also does not conduct heat well, so a dirty kettle will boil longer.

How to clean a kettle with vinegar

The method is suitable for very dirty teapots made of plastic, glass, stainless steel.

Not suitable for enamelled and aluminum teapots.

You will need:

• ½ liter of water;
• 1 cup 9% vinegar or 2 tablespoons 70% vinegar essence.

Heat water in a kettle, and then pour in vinegar or vinegar essence and leave the solution for an hour. During this time, the scale will soften. Rinse the inside of the kettle with a sponge, boil clean water again and drain it.

How to clean a kettle with lemon or citric acid

The method is suitable for electric kettles made of stainless steel, plastic or glass with a moderate scale layer.

Not suitable for enamelled and aluminum teapots.

You will need:

• ½ liter of water;
• ¼ lemon or 2 tablespoons of citric acid.

Heat water in a kettle and put a slice of lemon or citric acid in boiling water. Leave the scale to soak for 1–2 hours. Clean the kettle with a sponge and rinse thoroughly. After the first boil, the water will need to be drained.

How to clean a kettle with baking soda

The method is suitable for any teapots.

You will need:

• ½ liter of water;
• 1 tablespoon of baking soda

Stir the baking soda well in a glass of water to dissolve it completely. Pour the resulting liquid into a kettle, add the rest of the water and boil it. Wait half an hour or an hour and reheat the kettle.

Now you can wash the kettle and boil clean water in it. True, after it you have to pour it out.

How to clean a kettle with soda

The method is suitable for stainless steel kettles heated on a kitchen stove.

Not suitable for aluminum, enamelled and electric kettles.

You will need a bottle of any lemonade. The most famous option is cola, but it is better to use a colorless drink (it is important that the composition contains citric acid).

Let the open bottle of lemonade sit for 2–3 hours for the gas bubbles to disappear. The rest is simple: pour the drink into the kettle and bring to a boil. Then thoroughly wash and rinse everything.

How to peel a kettle

The method is suitable for enamel and metal teapots with a weak limescale layer.

Not suitable for electric kettles.

You will need:

• ½ liter of water;
• skin of 2-3 potatoes, apples or pears.

Rinse out the dirt and sand cleaners, put them in the kettle and fill them with water. Boil the liquid and leave to infuse for one to two hours. A light layer of limescale will go away on its own, rub stubborn dirt with a dishwashing sponge. After rinsing, the kettle will shine like new.

If you have a particularly capacious kettle, and scale has accumulated on the walls, take more water than indicated in the recipes. The liquid must completely cover the dirt.

How to keep your kettle clean for a long time

1. Pour soft water into the kettle. If you are not buying bottled, use a filter. Or at least stand the tap water for a few hours to allow the impurities to precipitate.
2. Boil the water in the kettle no more than once. Better fill in fresh.
3. Rinse the inside of the kettle at least once a day. Ideally, before each use.
4. For the sake of prevention, once a month, boil a filled kettle with one tablespoon of citric acid.