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Mar 10th, '10, 20:00
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What is the best way to clean a kettle?

by ndw76 » Mar 10th, '10, 20:00

When I make my tea I use an electric kettle, or jug to boil the water. It's the type with a flat element in the bottom. Because it is used by the whole family it can get caked with sediment.

What would be the best way of cleaning this so that I can enjoy my tea without worrying about bits of sediment breaking off?

Occasionally in the past I have tried boiling vinegar to remove this sediment but then it takes a while to get rid of the vinegar smell.

Does anyone have a better way of cleaning kettles?

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Mar 10th, '10, 20:15
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Re: What is the best way to clean a kettle?

by IPT » Mar 10th, '10, 20:15

It sounds like you are using tap water. If you use bottled water, there shouldn't be a build up of sediment. I've been using my kettle for daily for 5 years and as of yet haven't had a buildup. I used to use tap water and had the buildup problem. I would suggest getting a seperate kettle to use exclusively for your tea and use better water. Then you will not have this problem.

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Mar 10th, '10, 20:19
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Re: What is the best way to clean a kettle?

by wyardley » Mar 10th, '10, 20:19

I would use a mixture of distilled vinegar and water, but just let it sit in the kettle rather than boiling it. Then do a bunch of rinses and a few rounds of boiled water. There are some descaling tablets which you could also use, which won't have quite as strong a smell (I think they usually contain citric acid, but I could be wrong). Personally, I usually just use vinegar, but I also don't tend to have to descale my kettles very often.

Filtering your water or using water with a lower mineral content might also help.

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Mar 10th, '10, 22:27
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Re: What is the best way to clean a kettle?

by beachape » Mar 10th, '10, 22:27

I descale my kettle all the time because it builds up fast. Easiest way is to pour a little bit of white vinegar in the kettle and boil it (I usually fill about an inch or so). You can let it sit for a while, but usually it will knock the scale off real quick. Don't take a big wiff of the boiling vinegar though. Parental supervision required.

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Mar 11th, '10, 00:29
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Re: What is the best way to clean a kettle?

by Chip » Mar 11th, '10, 00:29

Easiest way to rid that kettle of nasty scale, is to never have scale in the first place. I used to have to descale once a week or two w/o fail. Really hard "well" water here. To descale, I just put vinegar in and let it sit a while, slosh it around, pour the same vinegar into the next thing to be descaled ... and rinse at least several times.

In order to avoid ever having to descale, get a GraviTea water purifier or similar. Since I began using this, I have not had to descale anything for the last 14 months ... life is good w/o having to descale!!! :mrgreen:

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Mar 11th, '10, 00:45
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Re: What is the best way to clean a kettle?

by ndw76 » Mar 11th, '10, 00:45

I think the vinegar and water will be the way to go. I only use filtered water for making tea, but I live in a house with my wife and her family. Thirteen people in one house. So I can't have my own special kettle and be sure that they won't touch it. I guess I'm just going to have to add descaling to my list of monthly chores.

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Mar 11th, '10, 01:17
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Re: What is the best way to clean a kettle?

by beachape » Mar 11th, '10, 01:17

Ha you're lucky that you only have to descale your kettle. I also have to regularly descale my yuzamushi(sp?) water cooler. Otherwise it turns more white than dark brown. The vinegar also does wonders for tea stained white porcelain gaiwan, cups, etc.

Oh, and the best way to get rid of the vinegar smell is to boil some water after you boil the vinegar. When i do this the first boil gets rid of all of the vinegar flavor. You may need to "swish" the kettle around with the water to make sure you get the side surfaces, but make sure you don't spill boiling water all over yourself.

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Mar 12th, '10, 19:10
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Re: What is the best way to clean a kettle?

by msurads06 » Mar 12th, '10, 19:10

I use filtered water, but even so i end up with scale build up. I just mix white vinegar and water and let it sit, usually about an hour, sometimes more if i forget. Rinse several times with water and allow to air out before using (usually do this at night so it can air all night). I have never had a problem with residual vinegar smell. I usually do this every other week depending on how much build up there is, i prefer to catch it before it gets too bad.

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Mar 15th, '10, 15:23
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Re: What is the best way to clean a kettle?

by teaisme » Mar 15th, '10, 15:23

if you dread the smell of vinegar you can always use lemon or lime juice (citric acid-the descaling ingredient)

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