Would you have a drink from this kettle?

[Birkinbag]

Went to my sister in laws for a coffee this morning and she asked to me fill the kettle while she was sorting the dog. I took the lid off to put under the tap and noticed how black and scaly the bottom of the kettle was, like it had never been descaled.

I had a coffee but definitely didn’t enjoy it after seeing the state of the kettle! Do you descale your kettles or is it normal for residue to build up and just live there for the duration of the kettles life?

pic?

Ew gross. The best and easiest descale is to boil half a kettle, put a fair bit of lemon juice in there. Wait a minimum of 2 hours and then rinse. Super clean descaled kettle. Do it one day for her and don't tell her if you think she'll get funny.

We live in a very hard water area and I should probably descale the kettle more often than I do, my tea and coffee taste ok though.

I know for fact some of the hot water machines at work have insides like this. I try not to think about it. It's only calcium.

I wouldn’t drink from that! I descale my kettle regularly. Ewwwww 🤢

Never descaled a kettle in my life

Never descaled a kettle but I have very soft water so we don’t have limescale. I always wondered why my mum checked the kettle before using it when we went on holiday to England.

Regardless of the ick factor the tea must taste like shit.

It's just deposits from hard water. It's not going to poison you or make the tea taste any different if that's what you're used to.

I have much stronger teeth than my husband. His dental hygiene is perfect but he has crumbly teeth. He puts it down to growing up in a soft water area where as I'm used to fur in the kettle. I don't know if that's true so I just smile. BTW it's not furry. It's bloody hard.

Do you live in a hard water area? I moved from a hard water area to a soft water area, taking my limescale-caked kettle. Within a couple of months it had descaled itself!

It’s not yucky it’s just minerals from the water - they’re actually good for you. It’s only an issue when shards fall out into your drink or pasta (they are sharp!)

I've never descaled a kettle either.
I noticed my kettle looked like it needed descaled but I'm not bothered and not put off by it?
It's regularly boiled so it's not like it's Gona be breeding germs!

Where’s the black? If you live in a hard water area limescale builds up quite quickly. I would obviously descale a kettle but I wouldn’t fuss about drinks either

I was the same until I left Scotland in my 30s. Soon learned about dishwasher salt and how to descale a kettle by almost boiling it with vinegar. Hadn't realised how lucky we are with soft water. See also using half as much washing detergent.

But OP it's fine, not actually dirty or toxic in anyway, just gives a horrid looking scum on your cuppa.

When I descaled my last kettle, it started to leak. Turns out the limescale was holding it together.

Not sure why it was black as limescale is usually light in colour?

I descale mine regularly and have been thinking of doing the one we have at work too because I hate a scaly kettle 😅

I'm in Midlands. Not really hard water area. I get brown smooth and brittle bits in bottom of kettle. I just descale at end of each month and every morning rinse it out before refilling.

I'd not give it a second thought. It's just scale. Harmless

According to Google I live in a soft water area so maybe that has something to do with it. Never seen limescale in my kettle.

I’ve never descaled a kettle in my life and I’m practically middle aged. So long as there’s not bits actively floating in it I’m game. Not much can survive being boiled to 100 degrees.

Its limescale not the plague. Its not dirty or yukky - its just calcium deposits from hard water which are being boiled clean every time the kettle runs.

I descale things regularly as I'm in a hard water area and calcium deposits in kettles make them more costly to run/shorten their life, not because they make people ill.

Hard water does have the plus point of being better for teeth and bones, just annoying for limescale.

I descale mine a few times a year using citric acid so no funny aftertaste or smell.

I fill mine up from the fridge with filtered water and tastes so much better and doesn't scale as much. Plus re-boiled tastes the same so saves on water.

No way would I drink from a heavy scaled kettle now. I descale mine once a month, mostly as the wife and in-laws fill up from the kitchen tap as "too much hassle" as it is a slower stream so takes a minute longer.

If you drink the water from it, you're drinking the calcium anyway. Whether the kettle has calcium deposits in it or not.

Yes, you'd know if you lived in a hard water area - your kettle would look like @lljkk 's . Before I lived in a soft water area I assumed all kettles got limescale; I was astonished when my limescale vanished and never came back. Weirdly, my local supermarkets sell 'Calgon' and similar limescale removal products, when there is no lime at all in our water that I can detect.