Solve an argument about kettle descaling please :-)

[ShinyAndNew]

Dh reckons his mum used to descale her kettle using ordinary vinegar (think Sarasons). |If she did use any sort of vinegar I'm thinking it would be white vinegar no?

Plus surely kettle descaler would work best anyhow?

We have none of the above things so a trip to the shop is in order anyway.

Any vinegar will do the job just as well as something sold as "descaler". Don't think white vinegar existed when I was a child, certainly never saw any in our house!

Just make sure you rinse it well.

We descale with white vinegar but imagine any binegar would be OK.

White vinegar for me, not descaler. If I don't rinse it properly, meh, I just get a trace of vinegar in my tea. But I haven't a clue what's in these rather pricey "Kettle descaler" products.

I use Sainsburys Basics Malt vinegar, 13p for 500mL, then boil clean water, add a bit of bicarb and leave it to soak for 5 mins before reboiling and rinsing out again with fresh water, the bicarb gets rid of any vinegar smell.

I would like to buy binegar though, I bet it smells nicer.

I use that Oust descaler stuff, needs doing fairly regularly (every 6 months or so as we live in a hrd water area) and I drink a LOT of coffee.................I'm still alive.

Mind you even that took 4 sachets of the stuff to clear the scale in the kettle I inherited when I moved in here.

I wouldn't have bothered normally (would ave just bought a new kettle) but it's a really lovely stainless steel rapid boil one which I adore

I have to do ours at least once a month which explains my interest in the cheapness of the vinegar... .

well I should really do it more often, but I cba...... takes too much time away from being able to boil the kettle to drink coffee

Try using lemonade - the value stuff is fine. Boil it and then leave in the kettle for 20mins or so, then reboil. Works really well and without the vinegar smell and taste. At worst you'll have slightly sweet tea!

god, i have never descaled a kettle in my life!!!

if I did however, I would use vinegar rather than a descaling product

what about lemon juice? would that work?

I have always used denture tablets left in overnight.

My MIL has a 30 year old kettle which has never been descaled and still has a shiny copper element (very soft water where she lives). Whereas I have to get a new kettle every other year despite all this faffing about .

We bought a Brita water filter and have to descale the kettle much less since using the filtered water.

When the cleaner I do descale the kettle I use vinegar.