How to descale an electric kettle, the most effective methods. How to effectively and easily descale an electric kettle? Remove scale from an electric kettle with citric acid


On each modern kitchen I have a favorite teapot. Someone's electrical appliance, some have a regular enameled one. Over time, any of them needs proper cleaning. Plaque and scale inevitably accumulate on the walls of the vessel and it is not so easy to wash them off. Today we have prepared tips for you that are guaranteed to help you cope with this problem.

Cleaning methods

An electric kettle or a traditional metal one will eventually become covered with scale on the inside. The reason is simple. The fact is that water contains various salts, which form a hard coating on the walls, bottom, and also on the heating element. Lime deposits occur especially quickly from excessively hard tap water. However, filtered and bottled water only temporarily delays the appearance of scale. This means that serious cleaning of kitchen utensils is inevitable.

Each housewife has her own methods with which she copes with this kind of pollution. For example, someone is trying to get rid of scale detergents. We do not recommend that you do this. After such cleaning, during subsequent boilings, chemicals will be released into the water. Drinking such liquid is very harmful to health.

Under no circumstances should you use abrasives, hard sponges, scrapers or metal meshes.. They will hurt inner part products or heating element, after which it may be damaged. You can wash the kettle quickly and easily using citric acid.

Why do we recommend descaling? citric acid? Because this product is quite affordable, you don’t have to spend a lot of money on it. In addition, it is completely safe and will not harm your health in any way. There are several effective techniques. For old thick plaque, the so-called hot way. If the pollution is not too strong, then cold will do method. Now is the time to move on to the sequence of actions and description of proportions.

How to properly clean the inside?

If the scale layer on the inside is not too severe, you will need 50-60 grams of citric acid. Pour it into the kettle, fill it to the top very warm water, mix thoroughly. Leave for about an hour, or even better, two. After waiting the time, you just need to pour out the liquid and rinse the kettle with plenty of water. You will notice that the inside of the product has become much cleaner, the plaque has disappeared.

Such regular prevention, at least once or twice a month, will avoid the accumulation of stone deposits and preserve the dishes. The kettle will look like new for a long time.

By the way, upon completion of cleaning, after rinsing, we recommend boiling it in it for about five minutes clean water, and then be sure to drain. This is necessary so that the taste of citric acid is not felt in the drinks.

If there is a thick layer of scale and the above method does not help, you will have to use a more serious method - hot cleaning. To do this, you will again need the kettle itself, citric acid and water. Pour water to the top, add two tablespoons of citric acid and boil the water. Turn off the heat and leave to cool completely. Remember: after each procedure the water is drained.

If small traces of plaque remain on the walls or bottom, remove them with a soft sponge. Didn't help? You can safely repeat the procedure. After the second bath, the scale is guaranteed to disappear. Another recommendation regarding the hot method. Never add acid powder to boiling or very hot water.

Citric acid should be poured exclusively into cold or warm liquid. When interacting with boiling water, the acid will immediately begin to foam, which will disrupt correct process cleaning.

A little advice on getting rid of old scale. We recommend making this “paste” in the evening. Take equal parts baking soda, which you usually use for baking, and citric acid. Dilute with a small amount of water to end up with a thick paste. Apply it to problem areas and leave overnight. The next morning, you can use any of the cleaning methods we told you about.

Another proven method that will definitely help cope with even an annual layer of plaque is the use of a mixture table vinegar with citric acid. The combination of these two ingredients is well known to many housewives who regularly clean various kitchen utensils.

We warn you that the vinegar should not be “strong”. That is, 70% acid is absolutely not suitable. Take the vinegar that can be used in food: its percentage is much lower, but the effect will be amazing. Please note that using vinegar is absolutely not suitable for cleaning electrical appliances, as it can seriously damage the integrity and performance of the heating element.

If you decide to clean an enamel or iron teapot using this method, remember the recipe. So, to clean the kettle you will need citric acid and table vinegar. Per glass warm water you need to add 3-4 tablespoons of regular vinegar. The liquid should be poured into the kettle and left for about half an hour. Then add 2-3 tablespoons of citric acid and put the kettle to boil. If necessary, the procedure can be repeated.

After this cleaning, thoroughly rinse the inside of the product with baking soda. Work with a soft sponge. Then, after thoroughly rinsing the kettle, leave it with open lid at least for half an hour.

How to clean the outside?

Very often teapots, now we are not talking about electrical appliances, lose their appearance. Enameled or metal product becomes covered with grease stains, carbon deposits and even rust appear. What to do in this case? I would like all kitchen utensils to shine with their pristine shine and cleanliness, and not scare away with their terrible appearance.

Don't worry, there are tips for this case too. As before, you will need citric acid. Small oil stains and burnt fat can be removed with a lemon peel. Simply take a lemon peel or a citrus slice and rub onto the affected areas. Stains will come off easily, and you can easily wash the dishes with a soft sponge.

If the dirt on the surface is too serious, then prepare a special cleaning solution in a large container. You will need a large container that can completely immerse the kettle. Add 100-150 grams of citric acid to warm water, then immerse the kettle there. Leave for about an hour. It is important to remember here: the hotter the water, the more acid, the faster the cleaning process will take place.

Old stains that periodically appear after cooking can be easily removed using a “paste” of acid and baking soda. We talked about the preparation of the mixture and the consistency of the cleaning solution above.

The main thing is to make sure that both powders are completely dissolved, otherwise they may leave scratches on the surface.

Prevention methods

There are simple rules caring for the kettle, which should be followed:

  1. To ensure that the heating element and the inside of the product are not often covered with a layer of scale, use only clean water. You can use purified with a filter or buy bottled. If this is not possible, always allow time to settle before boiling. tap water. Only after this pour it into the bowl.
  2. Do not boil the same water several times. The best option- Replace with a fresh one each time.
  3. Clean the inside of the kettle before use. Make sure there are no white flakes in the water.
  4. If after each use or at least once a day, in the evening, you wipe your favorite kitchen utensils inside, scale will appear less frequently and the product will last you much longer.

Finally, we have prepared a few more useful tips that will help you keep the kettle in perfect condition:

  • If there is no citric acid in the house, then it is quite easy to replace it with regular citrus fruit. You can squeeze the juice from one lemon, or you can simply cut it into small pieces and use it in the methods for getting rid of plaque that were described above.
  • In some cases, for example, to clean an iron kettle, it is quite possible regular one will do baking soda, which can also cope with severe stains.
  • If you decide to use a mixture of citric acid and baking soda, but these powders are not in the house, then this is not a problem. They can be safely replaced with regular baking powder or baking powder. Their wonderful composition, which helps baked goods become more fluffy, already contains both soda and acid.
  • Fans of carbonated drinks, particularly lemonade, can use them as cleansers. You just need to pour the lemonade into a container and leave it there for two or three hours. Leave the lid open to allow all the gas to escape. Then you need to boil the drink in your favorite kettle and that’s it. The result will be pleasantly surprising. Try to use clear drinks, otherwise you risk staining the inside of the glassware a toxic color.
  • It will become easier to care for heat-resistant glassware if you wipe it twice a month with a slice of lemon on all sides: outside and inside. By the way, if you don’t have citrus at home, you can take the powder with lemon and dilute it in water. It is better to clean the contaminated surface with a soft sponge or sponge, moistening them in the solution.
  • The following product copes well with dark soot stains and smudges on metal products. Lemon juice and rubbing alcohol should be mixed in equal proportions, then apply the resulting mixture to the stains using a cotton pad and wipe the surface thoroughly. After half an hour, you can wash everything off. If the result is unsatisfactory, the whole process should be repeated.

5 minutes to read. Published 05/01/2019

An electric kettle is practically indispensable household appliance. With its help, you can boil water for making tea or coffee quickly and easily. There is no need to monitor it; after boiling, it will turn off on its own and will not waste electricity. But even the most modern electric kettle requires care and regular cleaning.

Causes of scale

The electric kettle seems to be a device that requires absolutely no maintenance. But if you don’t pay enough attention to the technology, over time it may begin to work less efficiently or even break down.

Most common cause failure is caused by the accumulation of excessive deposits. They cover the walls and heating element, reducing the rate of heating of the water.

Scale in an electric kettle is salts and compounds contained in water and precipitated when heated. It is impossible to completely get rid of this phenomenon. But a set of care measures will allow
using various means as rarely as possible.

It is important to understand that deposits on the bottom of the kettle are not only a cosmetic problem. They significantly reduce the rate of heating and, if ingested, can cause the formation of sand in the kidneys or aggravate an existing disease.

Routine care

Proper daily care of the electric kettle will allow global cleaning to be carried out very rarely. To keep salt deposits to a minimum, it is important to follow the following instructions:

  1. The container should be cleaned regularly, preferably every evening. Simply drain the water and wash the inner surface with a sponge.
  2. Do not boil more water than necessary. Salts from the liquid remaining after heating in the kettle will thicken the layer.
  3. Use purified water. This will protect your equipment and is healthier.

To ensure that maintenance is not too labor-intensive, and that your household appliance lasts as long as possible, it is important not only to know how to remove scale from an electric kettle, but also to do it regularly. A thin layer of deposits is much easier to attack and you don’t have to use it to remove it. special means.

Almost any acid-containing products effectively remove deposits. To clean electric kettles, you can use both industrial compounds and improvised means.

Special means

Ready-made compounds that can be purchased in the store in the household chemicals department help fight scale on the walls and heating elements of electric kettles. It’s quite easy to recognize them; the manufacturer puts an image of the equipment on the packaging, the name usually corresponds to: “Anti-scale” and the like.

They should be used in strict accordance with the manufacturer's instructions, do not exceed the dosage and exposure time.

Usually the scheme is simple: the product needs to be dissolved in water in a certain proportion, poured into a kettle, boiled and left for a while. After this, wash the equipment and use it as usual.

Industrial products contain several types of acids and auxiliary substances that successfully combat salt deposits. It is important to know how to clean an electric kettle so as not to harm the health of your family. You can also use improvised means that are found in every home.

Citric acid

As part of special means
is an integral component. It can be used to clean equipment quickly and efficiently. And what’s especially nice is that such care will not be expensive at all.

For one treatment you will need 1 sachet of acid containing 25 g of the substance.

You should proceed according to the following scheme:

  1. Fill a kettle full of water and add the contents of 1 sachet.
  2. Bring the water to a boil and turn off the appliance. Be careful; when boiling, the solution may begin to foam.
  3. Leave for 30 minutes to act. Then drain the composition.

The effect is based on the chemical reaction of converting citric acid into acetic acid.

After cleaning, thoroughly wash the equipment and boil clean water in it. This will help get rid of the smell. If necessary, repeat all manipulations.

Food vinegar

Food vinegar, which is found in every kitchen, is acetic acid diluted to a safe concentration. With its help you can clean the kettle quickly and effectively.

Pour a vinegar solution into the kettle (1 part 9% vinegar to 2 parts water). Bring the mixture to a boil and turn off the device. Leave until completely cool. After draining the active composition, wash the container thoroughly with a moderately hard sponge.

The acid will soften the scale and make it easy to remove.

After cleaning, the equipment should be thoroughly washed and clean water boiled several times. This will help get rid of the specific smell of the acidic composition.

Baking soda

Soda - quite active substance, which can remove even a large layer of scale. It is worth turning to it if a softer influence does not bear fruit.

Pour water into the kettle and add a tablespoon of soda to it. Boil and leave the composition to act for several hours. The alkaline solution will soften the deposits and they can be removed with a sponge.

If this action is not enough, you can repeat the procedure or add citric acid to the water instead of soda at the rate of 1 sachet per 1.5 liters of water. Boil the solution and leave for an hour.

After this, traditionally clean the surface with a sponge.

Carbonated drinks

Most carbonated drinks contain citric acid. This is what will help you deal with scale in the kettle. The method of removing deposits using drinks is passed on by word of mouth and is considered effective, but it also has its own characteristics:

  1. You should choose colorless drinks. Dyes, especially bright ones, can leave stains that are more difficult to clean than salt deposits.
  2. Before use, partially remove gas from the liquid. Otherwise, during the boiling process, the drink will foam, flooding everything around.
  3. The drink should be poured into a kettle, boiled and left to act. Literally in an hour the scale will begin to come off in layers and can be removed mechanically.

Before you clean electric kettle, it is important to warn all family members about this. Liquids and compositions used for such work are colorless and can be confused with plain water. A few sips of citric acid solution will not cause significant harm, but negative emotions are guaranteed.

So that the electric kettle remains an indispensable assistant, it should be cleaned regularly, avoiding the formation of a significant layer of scale. It is enough to boil the acid composition once every few weeks, and the heating elements of the equipment will shine clean.

Lime in the kettle worries every housewife. It not only spoils the appearance of the device, prevents the water from boiling faster, but also leads to breakdown. Scale is also extremely dangerous for the body, as it interferes with the normal functioning of the kidneys and excretory system.

By using filtered water, you will postpone the problem for a while, but someday scale will still form and you will have to remove it. Therefore, tips on how to do this without damaging the heating element will always come in handy.

Rules for using an electric kettle

But first, let's talk about what will prevent it from forming quickly and will extend the life of your kettle:

  • do not boil the same water several times, this is harmful to your health;
  • do not let the device heat up if it is less than half full;
  • make sure the lid is tightly closed;
  • don't get hit various items inside the kettle;
  • Do not clean it with harsh abrasives or metal sponges;
  • do not touch the heating surface, do not try to clean it mechanically;
  • Do not clean the electric kettle with soda, it will stain the walls;
  • Descale at least once every two weeks.

If you didn’t know about the rules for using a kettle before, now remember them and follow them. Then it will serve you much longer than its service life.

In stores household chemicals You may be offered special products to help clean the insides of the device from deposits, but do not rush to purchase them. Such powders contain a lot of chemicals that are hazardous to health if they come into contact with the skin and the body. You better try traditional methods, which are also effective, but also safe.

Table vinegar
The most popular method is to use vinegar. Dilute it with water 1 to 10 and pour it into the kettle halfway. Let it boil and leave for 15 minutes. Then repeat the procedure two or three more times and rinse the kettle well. If there are scale particles left on its walls or heating element, then fill new water with vinegar and do the whole process again. But next time, don’t bring him to this state.

When cleaning is complete, fill with plain water and boil the kettle. Pour it out, fill it with a new one and let it warm up again. The water poured for the third time can be drunk without fear that the vinegar remains in the kettle.

Citric acid
Another cleaning method is to use citric acid. Dissolve 20 gr. powder in a liter of warm water and pour into the device. Let sit for 4 hours and then drain. After this, evaluate how clean your kettle is. If there are traces of scale left on it, then fill it again with diluted citric acid.

In the case where the scale layer is several millimeters, this method will not work. We'll have to do things differently. Pour in the solution and heat it several times. After citric acid, it is enough to boil the kettle with clean water only once.

Cleaning with vinegar and citric acid
If you have never cleaned your kettle before and a decent layer of scale has accumulated on it, then try the method described below. Pour a solution of vinegar and water into the device, boil it and leave until it cools. Then drain and fill with diluted citric acid. Bring to a boil again and wait until the water becomes cold. Alternate these techniques three times, and then, if all the scale is not removed, gently scrape it off with a sponge.

Instead of these solutions, you can use strained cucumber brine. It also contains vinegar and citric acid. Just pour it into the kettle and boil. Then rinse well inner side appliance and boil the water once.

Soda
You can clean an electric kettle using soda. To do this, boil water in it, and then add 3 teaspoons of soda to it and mix well. After half an hour, drain the solution and repeat the whole process. After cleaning, do not forget to boil the water once without additives and drain it. This will help get rid of any remaining baking soda on the walls.

Do not try to scrub off scale with undiluted soda powder; it has harsh abrasive properties and will scratch the surface of the heating device. If boiling does not help, add one tablespoon of acetic acid in addition to it. When the soda begins to extinguish, it will dissolve even hardened scale.

The imagination of housewives knows no bounds, and they resort to new tricks to get rid of the hated plaque quickly and without extra costs. Do not repeat their mistakes and do not waste your time on useless activities; in this case, it is better to purchase an anti-scale agent.

Coca-Cola or Sprite
This method may seem effective to some, but do not indulge yourself in illusions. Citric acid, which is contained in each of these drinks, helps to cope with plaque. Only its pure powder is several times cheaper than sweet water and has no dyes or harmful preservatives.

Peels and peels

Another example of the reckless use of food for household purposes. Some housewives suggest throwing peelings of apples, pears and even potatoes into the kettle. But for electrical appliances this method is not only useless, but also harmful.

The fact is that the main substance that dissolves scale is again acid, but it is contained in a minimal amount, which does not affect the result. Moreover, if foreign object gets on the heating surface, it will damage it.

Take care of your kettle, clean it promptly using the methods described above, do not leave water on overnight, use only filtered water, and then it will last a long time. Don't forget that clean kitchen appliances are the key to your health.

Video: how to descale a kettle in 3 minutes

The modern variety of teapots is amazing. It’s hard to keep up with innovations: manufacturers are experimenting with materials, technologies, shapes and colors. To ensure that the kettle lasts a long time, it is recommended to use spring, filtered or bottled water. And if this is not possible, let the tap water stand for 24 hours.

Why does plaque appear?

Over time, scale will appear in any kettle. But increased water hardness will shorten these times many times and cause many problems. Firstly, scale is dangerous for the heating element. Spiral or metal disk, covered with plaque, quickly overheat, lose heat transfer and eventually burn out. Secondly, for boiling you will need additional costs electricity. Well, it is clear that water only from clean dishes will give coffee or tea a good taste.

Hard water contains excess amounts of calcium and magnesium salts. A hardness of 3 to 6 mEq/L is considered normal. White and dark spots on faucets, sink or toilet, clogged holes in the shower tube, whitish spots on washed dishes, constant lime deposits in the kettle are sure signs of high water hardness (from 6 to 9 mEq/l).

Many people believe that installing a filter (jug, flow or reverse osmosis) will completely eliminate the problem of scale. In fact, it will reduce plaque formation, but only slightly. The action of most filters is not aimed at softening water, but at its mechanical cleaning from heavy metals and bleach.

How to descale a kettle: special chemistry

How to wash an aluminum kettle and remove rust? Before descaling a kettle, you need to remember: it is impossible to mechanically remove scale that has already formed. If you start scrubbing or scratching it with your own hands, you will ruin the device. Therefore, in our time, many chemicals to combat scale. Basically, these are liquid or powdered preparations based on soda ash.

They all have an identical principle of operation: pour the indicated dosage into the kettle, fill the device with water to the maximum mark and boil. After this, rinse thoroughly, boil fresh water again and drain.

Do not use cleaning gels and powders with large abrasive granules. They will scratch the surface, and the scale will stick even more firmly to the bottom and walls of the kettle.

The main disadvantage of industrial products is that chemicals can enter the stomach. So it's not harmless. Yes, and not all formulations give the desired effect.

The old fashioned way

You can rest assured: time-tested folk recipes guarantee 100% positive results. Ordinary soda, vinegar and lemon juice are recognized leaders among descalers in a kettle. To successfully get rid of solid deposits, you will need knowledge about dosages, stages of cleansing and rules of use in different types devices. You can also boil it to remove contaminants.

For a regular enamel teapot

Such specimens are increasingly rare in modern kitchen interior. But, of course, people continue to buy them, because they are much cheaper than their electric counterpart. look after enamel teapot easy enough. The main thing is to do everything in a timely manner.

Vinegar

  1. Fill the kettle with a solution of two parts water and one part vinegar. Bring to a boil and cool naturally.
  2. Then drain the water and rinse the dishes thoroughly.
  3. If the sediment has not completely disappeared, repeat the procedure.

To boil a kettle from scale with vinegar and avoid getting poisoned by the caustic steam, during operation you need to open the windows and put on a protective gauze mask. And before using the kettle, you should once again boil clean water “idle” to eliminate the specific vinegar aroma.

Citric acid

  1. Fill the kettle with lemon water at the rate of 10 g of lemon per liter of water.
  2. Boil.
  3. Leave the hot solution for several hours.
  4. Pour and thoroughly rinse off the lime grains.

You can replace the store-bought product with lemon: cut it into pieces and boil for ten minutes.

Soda

  1. Boil in a kettle soda solution, diluted in the following proportion: two tablespoons of baking soda per liter of water.
  2. Wait until it cools down and remove soft deposits with a sponge.
  3. If the quality of descaling is not satisfactory, repeat twice.
  4. This procedure can also be used to precede vinegar cleaning.

For electrical appliance

The electric kettle is very easy to use. Heats water quickly and almost silently, looks very aesthetically pleasing and modern. The impeccable appearance of such a teapot also requires internal cleanliness. Regular maintenance is especially necessary for heating elements. It is more convenient to clean a kettle with a disk heater than with a spiral one, reminiscent of a Soviet-era boiler. In addition, the first one is more durable and heats water faster. How to effectively descale an electric kettle? Which methods are suitable for devices made of different materials?

Made from glass

  1. Boil water with a couple of tablespoons of citric acid and the same amount of soda powder.
  2. Let it sit for up to 20 minutes.
  3. Wash off the natural acid-base composition.

Vinegar will help to successfully remove scale from a glass electric kettle. Everything is extremely simple: open the window, boil water and only after turning off the electrical appliance, pour two or three tablespoons of food vinegar into the boiling water, cover kitchen towel until completely cooled. Make sure that the shiny metal surface of the heater does not darken. Rinse thoroughly with running water.

Made of stainless steel

  1. Pour a full kettle of water (standard capacity - 1.7 liters).
  2. Add a couple of tablespoons of baking soda and boil.
  3. After cooling, remove the white flakes with a soft washcloth.
  4. Rinse thoroughly.

A stainless steel kettle is less susceptible to the formation of limescale deposits. Nevertheless, a few more tips on how to quickly get rid of scale in a kettle made of this material will be useful. So, you can boil the brine from pickled cucumbers or tomatoes in a container. Cleaning with apple or grape vinegar is also recommended - pour a glass of the product into a boiled liter of water and leave for half an hour.


Made of ceramics

Beautiful painted ceramic teapots, although very durable, require careful and careful handling. There are no special recommendations for cleaning plaque, so choose one of the recipes suggested above.

Remember safety precautions when working with boiling water and cleansing folk remedies. This is important because, according to reviews, ceramic teapots They are quite heavy, retain heat for a very long time and have rather uncomfortable handles that get very hot.

Made of plastic

Such an electrical appliance is the cheapest, lightest and most unpretentious. It will be as good as new if you clean it with any product you have at hand. You can also try and evaluate a unique method: boil water with apple peelings in a saucepan, let it brew for a while and pour it into an electric kettle. After a couple of hours, pour the compote into the sink and rinse the cleaned dishes with water.

Advanced cases, if the plaque does not go away

You don't know how to remove heavy scale from your kettle? Advanced cases will be “cured” by the following method, consisting of six simple steps.

  1. Add three tablespoons of soda to a kettle of boiling water.
  2. After half an hour, boil again and pour out immediately.
  3. Take fresh water and now add a couple of tablespoons of vinegar.
  4. Boil the solution again and pour it out after half an hour.
  5. Remove the resulting loose mass with a soft sponge.
  6. Rinse well so that no vinegar smell remains.

Does the Coca-Cola method work?

Salt deposits of calcium and magnesium dissolve under the influence of citric, acetic, orthophosphoric acids. The latter - H3PO4 - is part of the popular drink Coca-Cola. To descale a kettle with Coca-Cola, you just need to pour 0.5 liters of the drink into the appliance (this is enough to completely cover the heater). In 15 minutes, soda will remove light deposits without boiling. You can consolidate the effect by boiling this sweet aromatic liquid in a kettle and at the end simply rinsing it well with water.

This unusual way Suitable for glass teapot. And for plastic, stainless steel and ceramics, avoid drinks with dyes, they can pigment the walls of the electrical appliance. Try boiling regular sparkling water.

Practice shows that best way to delete lime deposits- This means descaling the kettle with citric acid by boiling water with a couple of spoons of lemon juice. It turns out cleaner and cheaper than using Coca-Cola, and also without the pungent odor, as is the case with vinegar.

"Options" for scale

Interestingly, there are ways not only to remove scale from a kettle, but also how to prevent its occurrence. To do this, you just need to select a device with additional “options”. Some models (though they are more expensive) have cleaning cartridges installed inside them that filter and heat the water at the same time. There are also teapots with gold-plated spirals, the function of which is to protect the part from hard deposits and corrosion. But the most “advanced” users recommend installing an electromagnetic water converter at home. So in one fell swoop you can solve all problems with increased water hardness and protect not only the kettle from scale, but also washing machine along with a water heating tank.

Every housewife should know how to descale a kettle. Unfortunately, we have not yet invented enough effective ways warnings of the appearance limescale on the walls and heating element of the functional apparatus. By filtering the water, as well as regularly rinsing the container with a weak solution of soda or citric acid, you can only slightly reduce the rate of scale formation. Fortunately, there are many cleaning methods that allow you to restore the device even at home. Before you replace your old device with a new one, you should try one of them.


Causes and consequences of scale formation

Limescale deposits form equally actively in teapots of all types and designs. Only if it is an electrical appliance, a layer of scale mainly covers the heating element. In a stainless steel container or its enameled equivalent, sediment covers the bottom and walls to the level to which water is poured. The harder the water is used (high salt content), and the more often it is boiled, the faster problem becomes obvious.

If you do not try to wash the container, you will very soon have to face the following consequences:

  1. An electrical device can become unusable from such exposure. This is due to the fact that plaque blocks contact of the heater with water and the steel is constantly heated to prohibitive temperatures. In the end, the element simply burns out
  2. The lime composition, entering the human body, begins to cause negative reactions. If you do not remove the scale in the kettle in a timely manner, you can provoke the development of a disease of the excretory system.
  3. Under the influence high temperatures in the composition of scale constantly occur chemical reactions, due to which the taste and smell of boiled water deteriorates over time.

Tip: Regardless of what cleaning product was used for the kettle, after carrying out manipulations in the container, you need to boil clean water at least twice. Only then will it be possible to use the device for its intended purpose without the risk of spoiling the taste of the drink or causing an upset stomach.

Of course, to get rid of scale in a kettle, you can purchase special chemical products that are offered in household goods stores today. And yet, practice shows that the problem can be solved using folk remedies. Moreover, the result will be no less high-quality, and the risk of unpleasant consequences will be minimal.

Simple but effective ways to remove scale

Preparing to work with lemon or acetic acid, baking soda and other popular reagents, you need to take into account the type of material from which the kettle is made. Among the most gentle options for exposure at home, approaches based on the use of such products are especially popular:

  • Use of citric acid. This product can be used when working with any materials, even plastic. We dilute 1-2 teaspoons of the reagent in 1 liter of water. For larger containers the same proportions apply. Fill the kettle with the resulting solution and turn it on. The composition should be boiled no more than 1-2 times. During this time, the plaque will come off and the surfaces of the product will be renewed.

  • Cleansing with Coca-Cola and other carbonated drinks. This method known to many, but not everyone follows the subtleties of the manipulation. First of all, the container with the drink must be opened so that most of the gases are released. Then fill the kettle with Coca-Cola to about halfway (traces of scale should be completely covered) and bring the contents to a boil. All that remains is to wash the walls with a soft sponge. It is worth considering that such exposure may cause the electric kettle to break. And to clean light-colored products, you should not use Coca-Cola or Fanta, they can stain the metal.

  • Treatment with soda. The best option for processing enameled and metal containers. Simply fill the kettle with water, add a tablespoon of baking soda and bring to a boil. The mixture must be boiled for another half hour using very low heat. Then the device should be removed from the stove and cooled in a natural way. All that remains is to drain the liquid and clean the container manually. You can do no more than 3 approaches. If the procedure does not help, other treatment options are used.

  • Using brine. A simple and accessible method. To remove scale from a kettle, you need to fill it with brine from pickled tomatoes or cucumbers and boil the contents.

  • Purification based product. For lung removal For whitish deposits, apple or pear peelings should be used, and for denser deposits, potato peelings should be used. We put them in a container, fill them with water and boil them, then remove them from the stove (unplug them) and let them sit for two hours.

The above methods are considered the most gentle at home. But they should only be used if absolutely necessary. It’s better to just regularly wash the device inside and out with a citric acid solution (1 sachet per 1 liter of water). There is no need to boil the liquid!

Aggressive methods for removing limescale

In cases where the recipes described above do not help, you have to use more drastic methods to solve the problem. Before you descale the kettle with vinegar, it is worth considering that if it has a plastic or glass body, the consequences can be very unpredictable. It’s better not to take risks and use such approaches only when working with metal products.

  • Cleaning with vinegar. For 1 liter of water, take half a glass of vinegar, pour the solution into a kettle and bring to a boil over low heat. After this, we evaluate the degree of plaque removal and, if necessary, extend the manipulation for another quarter of an hour.

  • Using vinegar, baking soda and citric acid. If you have run out of methods, and removing the plaque has not led to anything, you need to do the following. Alternately boil water in a kettle with soda (a tablespoon per liter), citric acid (a tablespoon per liter) and vinegar (0.5 cups per liter). The exposure time in each case is half an hour. Treating with soda, lemon juice and vinegar will at least soften the scale, allowing you to scrub it off with a sponge.

There are as many housewives as there are recipes for cleaning teapots. Some are ready to clean the product with the help of Whiteness, after which they spend a lot of time eliminating the persistent chlorine odor. The approach is, of course, effective, but can lead to permanent damage to the material.