To never descale my kettle again.

[HappyHippy45]

Our kettle needed descaled for the first time ever. We live in Scotland so water is soft.
I googled and it came up with vinegar and boiling water as being a good option and cheaper than the "kits" you get in the shop.

Boiled water and vinegar mixture.

House now smells of vinegar. Dh and DS are going around tutting and sighing and saying "the house fucking stinks! Why did you have to do this?"

Dh and DS are complaining bitterly about the smell and are pissed off with me. Dh says his eyes and throat are burning.

He's dramatically gone round opening doors and windows and switching fans on.

I said maybe now isn't a good time to tell you that I ordered bleach to clean the grout in the shower you know that stinks too and is actually harmful

They are completely overreacting aren't they?

I've never descaled a kettle, most kettles have little filter things now. on the odd occasion I've had bits I've just rinced the kettle and knocked of loose bit with my fingers.

I often wondered about how smelly my house would be if I cleaned everything with vinegar. As it's seen as this wonder cleaner.

The brown stuff is limescale coloured by deposits of minerals like calcium and magnesium, also present in hard water.
It's totally normal.

Your house won't smell of vinegar once it's dried. We have a spray bottle of vinegar and water that is used on almost everything, the smell goes very quickly. It also doesn't make your clothes smell vinegary if using instead of fabric conditioner.

Citric acid is fantastic for descaling the kettle and doesn't smell!! Try that instead

I descale my kettle by half filling with white vinegar out in the garden. No need to boil the kettle. Just leave it outside overnight and pour the vinegar down the drain in the morning, rinse out and then bring back to kitchen. No smell in house!

You

I just wait til it breaks down and ignore the scale

Such as it is - also in Scotland 😎👍

HappyHippy45 You did use white vinegar not brown? You can also use citric acid or lemon juice, any edible acid will do.

I live in Scotland and have never had to descale my kettle. I’ve never had brown stuff in it either.

Water here definitely makes better tea than hard water. Limescale is rank and the tea in hard water areas has a scummy layer on top. Boak.

BMW6 you are totally missing the fun.
Ensure you have enough coffee to last an hour.
Half fill kettle (or more if not much limescale).
Boil.
Add vinegar.
Watch fizzing.
Leave until it's cold enough to be safe and limescale has been chomped. Use warm vinegar solution to descale sink and draining board (and anything else you fancy). Possible opportunities to watch fizzing if you don't do regularly.
Fill kettle at least twice with fish water and boil. Add this hot water to your sink of 'descaling solution'.
Fill kettle again and make tea. Enjoy the fact there is no scum on your herbal tea.

Yup used white vinegar malt vinegar for pickling onions

Offs! Just buy the propriety shit to do these jobs!
Descaling a kettle really should not result in such a drama!

The limescale in my kettle ( v hard water area - life is a constant battle against it) does look like a pale beige colour, unlike the white around taps etc. I assumed it was something to do with repeated boiling.

You really don't need 'propriety shit' to do these jobs! Totally unnecessary. You can get more than a year's worth of cleaning/descaling vinegar for £12 and not trash the planet (apart from the plastic gallon bottles).

Brown stuff?? I hope no old ladies boiled their knickers in there

No need to use vinegar nor to squeeze lemons. You can buy Citric acid if you don't want to buy stuff packaged as kettle descaler.
In Chinese food shops or ebay

If you live in a soft water area and get brown stains, I think it's iron.

Though in some areas it is peat.

Neither needs descaler.

I use lemon or lime.

Tea with soft water doesn’t get the scum on it and tastes so much better.
I actually got myself a little separate tap and undersink filter to have a soft water. Still need to descale, but now maybe once a month or so. I also use vinegar. My drama llamas DH and DS are constantly whining about it. Only 3 yo DD is happy to watch the fizzing.

I think I'll just not bother to remove whatever brown stuff was in the kettle from now on. I mean it only took 10 years to get in to this state.
I only did it because I was a bit horrified that the kettle looked disgusting inside and out. (I have a disability so not able to clean like I used to) so decided to do something about it.
My tea still tasted good from manky kettle. Hope it doesn't taste vinegary tomorrow.

According to the Scottish water guy I spoke to when my water turned brown it's sand microparticles something to do with the filtration system normally coats the main line but construction nearby can disturb it (hence brown water) but it's harmless

DH suspicious about clean kettle. He boiled a pan of water for his coffee this morning.

Maybe he'll have to buy a new one? Current one is falling to bits anyway and we've had for a very long time it's nice and clean though

You might have to fill with fresh water and boil it a few times to get rid of the vinegar.