Hard water and making tea :(

BigMummaF

We live in a hard water area--most comes from the chalky Downs--& it plays havoc with me muvva's favourite hot beverage. She has tried so many teapots but they all end up caked in dark, slate-like covering within a few days even though we rinse every time, & the kettle has one of those metal balls in it. The tea often has bits floating on top of the cup, varying between 'tea bag dust' to 'slate flakes'...doesn't particularly bother me but drives muvva to the edge of madness! There's also white coatings inside the kettle, again, returning after a day or two when its been vinegared.

I think a new kettle is the solution so I'm after some recommendations please. Do we look at kettles with built in filters, use a jug water filter, not bother because it won't make any difference..all views are welcome

MallyGirl

I live in a very hard water area. We have a water softener for the house and I use a water filter for filling the kettle. We have still killed a series of kettles but have been lucky that they have died at 2yrs 11mths of a 3 yr guarantee a couple of times.

bossymoo

Something like http://www.scaleguard.co.uk might help?

HappyMJ

BigMummaF wrote: »

We live in a hard water area--most comes from the chalky Downs--& it plays havoc with me muvva's favourite hot beverage. She has tried so many teapots but they all end up caked in dark, slate-like covering within a few days even though we rinse every time, & the kettle has one of those metal balls in it. The tea often has bits floating on top of the cup, varying between 'tea bag dust' to 'slate flakes'...doesn't particularly bother me but drives muvva to the edge of madness! There's also white coatings inside the kettle, again, returning after a day or two when its been vinegared.

I think a new kettle is the solution so I'm after some recommendations please. Do we look at kettles with built in filters, use a jug water filter, not bother because it won't make any difference..all views are welcome

Buy bottled water. You can buy large 2 litre bottles of water from about 8 to 10 pence a litre. That's enough water for 8 cups of tea and your mum won't be driven to the edge of madness. Having a cup of tea is supposed to be relaxing. I think spending 10 pence a day for enough bottled water for 8 cups of tea is a worthwhile price to pay.

Nargleblast

Yorkshire Tea do a blend for hard water areas, other manufacturers might also.

maman

Nargleblast wrote: »

Yorkshire Tea do a blend for hard water areas, other manufacturers might also.

We live in a hard water area and Sainsbury's own brand Red Label is fine for making good, strong tea.


We put the teapot through the dishwasher regularly to get rid of the film and like mallygirl said, getting through kettles is par for the course but we too have exchanged them regularly because of leaks or won't switch themselves off.


My DH likes to pour off/away a small amount of tea before adding to the cups. I'm not sure it helps but it keeps him happy;).

ravilious_fan

We live in a hard water area (we're also near the Downs!) and our kettle got so scaled up it actually tripped the electrics :eek: and we had to replace it.

I have found that using a water filter jug helps a lot, but the best thing, according to our plumber, is to fit a water softener gadget in the pipe beneath the kitchen sink.

bossymoo

ravilious_fan wrote: »

We live in a hard water area (we're also near the Downs!) and our kettle got so scaled up it actually tripped the electrics :eek: and we had to replace it.

I have found that using a water filter jug helps a lot, but the best thing, according to our plumber, is to fit a water softener gadget in the pipe beneath the kitchen sink.

And it will be much better for the dishwasher and washing machine too!

Fen1

A Brit# water filter is good if you cannot fit a pipe filter. I also regularly de-scale the kettle; even with filtered water I get limescale. I would say that a concealed element is the way to go.
An old fashioned exposed element can collect way too much fur.

I haven't yet had a filter in the kettle. Any recommendations out there, or not bother and stick to using water from the jug?

It is also a good idea to use filtered water in your appliances, e.g. steam irons, steam mops etc.

culpepper

We have vastly reduced the lime scale regularity in ours by emptying it completely between uses. So I fill it ,boil it and immediately empty it all . The remaining heat dries the inner . We still do get some scaling but it is nowhere near what it used to be when leaving some water in.

Justamum

Nargleblast wrote: »

Yorkshire Tea do a blend for hard water areas, other manufacturers might also.

I live on the Isle of Man and I've seen their hard water tea on sale in Tesco. The only thing is that all the water over here is soft!

My parents used to live in Southport and their water is hard (and tastes revolting) and there was always what looked like an oil slick on the top of the tea, so we bought them a filter jug which made a huge difference.