Kettle descaler

[Sunny987654]

Hi all, can anyone please advise how you can descale a kettle without using chemicals?

I’ve read online to use vinegar, but I’m dubious as to whether that actually works?

TIA!

Vinegar works really well. You need to use the clear vinegar, known as white vinegar, not the brown malt stuff you put on chips.

Fill your kettle up enough to cover the scale, pour in a very generous amount of vinegar, leave for a few hours. You'll need to rinse out the kettle and fill up and boil it once or twice afterwards, pouring away the water.

You can repeat if it doesn't all come off the first time.

The brown vinegar works as well as the white. The cheap brown vinegar is just acetic acid 5% with a bit of colour in it.
Boil kettle with vinegar. Vinegar will fizz as it dissolves the limescale. When vinegar stops fizzing repeat. Until all the limescale has gone.
Critic acid also works well.

You can also do this with lemon juice

This is one of the things where vinegar is amazing.
It's not a case of putting vinegar on and then scrubbing and scrubbing.
You literally fill the kettle with vinegar,leave it a couple of hours, pour out the vinegar and it is like new. So satisfying!

I screw up some tin foil, add it to the kettle that I’ve filled with water and then boil.

Any line scale is then attaches to the foil and easy to dispose of.

I use one of these so I never need to descale it

www.yorkshiretrading.com/products/kettle-de-scaler?variant=34995971424406&currency=GBP&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=google+shopping&gclid=CjwKCAjwlcaRBhBYEiwAK341jVcwgc60P4ACwI3LrlbACW5A7gw9D52n62eqsJcWwC9fKxeSBOlhbRoCg7wQAvD_BwE

Vinegar is the best option without buying a chemical treatment but assume you have a reason for not wanting something more chemical. A lot are citric acid. Once it's clean pop in the ball. You can just rinse the ball under the tap every now and again, it lasts for years.

Is there a reason for not using citric acid? We live in a very hard water area and a spoonful of citric acid works far faster and better than any descaling product or vinegar.

I use Descaler bags with citric acid as we have very hard water . And I use a Britax filter for filling it up in the first place.

I use Kilrok…it’s just citric acid. I don’t think any descalers use petro chemicals. Natural stuff can still be strong/potentially harmful on skin!

Thanks all. Is citric acid a chemical, or natural? A quick google search showed that it comes from fruit and can be used in cooking?

I wanted something natural as I use the kettle to make up my baby’s formula, so don’t fancy using something with harsh chemicals, just in case there is any residue left over that could get into the milk. That’s why I was interested in trying vinegar as it’s something you can eat.

@CeeceeBloomingdale

I use one of these so I never need to descale it

www.yorkshiretrading.com/products/kettle-de-scaler?variant=34995971424406&currency=GBP&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=google+shopping&gclid=CjwKCAjwlcaRBhBYEiwAK341jVcwgc60P4ACwI3LrlbACW5A7gw9D52n62eqsJcWwC9fKxeSBOlhbRoCg7wQAvD_BwE

Vinegar is the best option without buying a chemical treatment but assume you have a reason for not wanting something more chemical. A lot are citric acid. Once it's clean pop in the ball. You can just rinse the ball under the tap every now and again, it lasts for years.

Thank you, I will order one of these, it looks great!

They recommend that you use citric acid to descale steam sterilisers for babies bottles, so I would think it was safe to descale a kettle. Just make sure you follow the instructions and rinse it well afterwards.

Vinegar works. I’ve never used descaler in my adult life.
Just put it in, you can boil it. Or not bother. Up to you.
Leave for a while, then pour the vinegar back in the bottle for next time.

I then rinse it out. I use that time to boil it 2/3 times full and put that water down the bathroom and kitchen sink to stop scum build up.

Small amount of vinegar ( any type it all works the same and smells the same ) into the kettle and boil it , works wonders but stinks of vinegar so if outside is an option if possible

Don’t forget even water is a chemical. Citric acid is used as a food additive so can be ingested. Once you’ve cleaned the kettle just boil plain water in it a few times to remove all residue, then one of the balls linked above in the kettle will stop the limescale building up again.

I'm really quite fussy about not using chemicals in the home, never use furniture polish, bleach , air fresheners of any sort etc etc.

Citric Acid is fine. It is a weak organic acid that is found in citrus fruits. Commonly used as as food additive. Just google it OP.

I boil about 1 litre of water in the kettle with approx 1 tablespoon of citric acid to get rid of limescale.

We have lactic acid based descaler which we use for our coffee machine and have found the liquid that comes out after the coffee machine rinse does a beautiful job of cleaning the kettle!