Descaling the kettle

waterman3

Hi,

I've been looking up how to descale my kettle and seen videos online of people using white vinegar. The only thing I've been able to find in my local supermarket is white wine vinegar.

Anybody know if that's the same thing or if it'll work?

shaun_from_Africa

I don't see why not.
Limescale is an alkaline substance so in theory any reasonably strong acid should do the job.
Are you in the UK? If so, I'm amazed that you can't find white vinegar in a supermarket.

keith969

Fine if you want your kettle to smell like a vinegar bottle for some time after.

Else use the proprietary descalers you can buy from a supermarket or hardware store.

firefox1956

Use it all the time to descale the kettle.
Wash it out & re boil a couple of times & it will not smell
of vinegar !!
https://groceries.asda.com/product/malt-vinegars/asda-distilled-malt-vinegar/19241
HTH

rach_k

Distilled vinegar is white vinegar, if that helps. If you can't find that, you can use the normal brown stuff - probably cheaper than white wine vinegar.

It won't smell for long - boil it with the vinegar in, then repeat a few times with fresh water. It'll be fine to use for drinking water after that.

Head_The_Ball

I use citric acid to descale our kettle.

It is more effective and probably cheaper than vinegar and it does not smell.

I bought some on eBay a few years ago for about £4 and still have plenty left.

It comes in powder form. Put some in the kettle, add water, bring to the boil and leave it to work.

waterman3

keith969 wrote: »

Fine if you want your kettle to smell like a vinegar bottle for some time after.

Else use the proprietary descalers you can buy from a supermarket or hardware store.

My supermarket sells a descaler made by Oust. You should see the warning on the packet. It talks about causing skin irritation and, if you get it in your eye, calling a poison centre.

I don't intend getting it on my skin or in my eye but neither would I want to put that in my kettle.

arbrighton

keith969 wrote: »

Fine if you want your kettle to smell like a vinegar bottle for some time after.

Else use the proprietary descalers you can buy from a supermarket or hardware store.

Boil with vinegar to remove scale. Refill with water, boil, empty a couple of times, vinegar smell gone.


BUT, now I realised OH has citric acid, we'll use that next time

qsk

waterman3 wrote: »

My supermarket sells a descaler made by Oust. You should see the warning on the packet. It talks about causing skin irritation and, if you get it in your eye, calling a poison centre.

I used it many times - never got that.

firefox1956

You might find citric acid difficult to get hold of in any reasonable quantity.
I 'believe' it is use in connection with the drug industry & quantities are somewhat limited !!!
HTH

rach_k

Yes, pharmacists will probably want to know exactly what you're going to use it for if you try to get citric acid from them! They would have the kind you could use in food and drink, but it's cheaper to get the type intended for cleaning. Dri Pak do stuff in boxes that is very cheap. I don't know if Wilko stocks it but you can get it online.