Boris' Kettle Advice!

Section62

greensalad said:

Well yeah, if you don't have limescale build up then you don't need to. My argument is how can a kettle go wrong if it's cleaned of any limescale when needed. 

De-scaling chemicals can also damage the metal cladding of an exposed heating element and/or seals of all types.  A balance needs to be struck between descaling regularly, and not over descaling.  There are also practical considerations when it comes to spending time and money descaling (cf GDB2222's point about time saving when heating/boiling).

Buying a £13.50 kettle and not expecting it to last much more than a year is as valid an option as descaling every couple of days.

FreeBear

greensalad said: My argument is how can a kettle go wrong if it's cleaned of any limescale when needed. 

Contacts can burn out - Have had a couple of kettles fail like that over the years...

The element can develop a fault, either open circuit, or leaking to earth - Favourite time for that to happen is turning the kettle on when there is no water in it. Sometimes, the switch is located in a silly position that makes it all too easy to turn on by accident. Other times, an elderly resident forgets to put water in first.

poppellerant

My kettle has two settings: ON or OFF.  If you think you need more than this, you're probably just trying to justify an overly expensive kettle.

NeverTooLate

greensalad said:

I don't see how a kettle could go wrong in less than 2 years. There's no internal parts that don't get touched by the de-limescaler

A family member tried to heat up my electric kettle on the hob - didn't last long 

outtatune

greensalad said:

FreeBear said:

OMG.... Does anyone actually listen to the stuff spouted by that buffoon....

Section62 said:  E.g. people living in areas with very hard water may only get a little over 12 months use of any electric kettle before it fails - in which case buying a kettle with a 2-year payback period may not make sense.

If you have hard water, reducing the temperature you hat the water to will reduce the amount of scale building up. That would go some way to improving the life of a kettle (along with a regular descale).

Do people not descale their kettles? I live in a hard water area and put some Oust in my kettle every month. I've had the same kettle for 6 years. I don't see how a kettle could go wrong in less than 2 years. There's no internal parts that don't get touched by the de-limescaler

Don't waste money on pricey descaling products. Leave a mix of water and malt vinegar in overnight and it'll do the trick. If you can, place the vinegar bottle on the lid as a reminder that you need to rinse it out the next morning, or your first cup of tea will taste a bit odd.

Ebe_Scrooge

outtatune said:

greensalad said:

FreeBear said:

OMG.... Does anyone actually listen to the stuff spouted by that buffoon....

Section62 said:  E.g. people living in areas with very hard water may only get a little over 12 months use of any electric kettle before it fails - in which case buying a kettle with a 2-year payback period may not make sense.

If you have hard water, reducing the temperature you hat the water to will reduce the amount of scale building up. That would go some way to improving the life of a kettle (along with a regular descale).

Do people not descale their kettles? I live in a hard water area and put some Oust in my kettle every month. I've had the same kettle for 6 years. I don't see how a kettle could go wrong in less than 2 years. There's no internal parts that don't get touched by the de-limescaler

Don't waste money on pricey descaling products. Leave a mix of water and malt vinegar in overnight and it'll do the trick.

Or even cheap own-brand Cola from Lidl/Aldi.  Anything acidic will do the trick.  Lemon juice also works well, although that works out a bit more expensive.

YoungBlueEyes

I was just about to say about vinegar. I live in a hard water area and have a little kettle bobble thing that’s bobs about in the water as a descaler but it doesn’t do the whole job. 

Once a month I tip a bottle of cheapo vinegar into my (empty) kettle and boil it. If there’s scale above the level of the vinegar I’ll top it up with water before boiling. I do it first thing and leave it sat til the afternoon. Then a couple of rinses and it’s good to go again. 

I pull the plug out while it’s steeping tho, then there’s no chance of making a brew with it! 

Alanp

You could save even more money on your bill by investing in a 1.5/1.7 litre stainless steel flask, boil the kettle and fill this, saves continuously boiling your kettle every time you want a drink.

Postik

I did see a device which you fill with water but it only boils one mug at a time.  I thought that was quite a good idea as I am the only one in my household which uses the kettle for drinks and at the moment I have to manually fill the kettle with a mug of water every time.

grumbler

Postik said:

I am the only one in my household which uses the kettle for drinks and at the moment I have to manually fill the kettle with a mug of water every time.

I don't see any problem with this. I switch the empty kettle on and then fill it with the amount of water I need from  Brita jug standing next to it.

Because of this I like glass kettles - you clearly see how much water is in it and when it's time to de-scale it.

I did see a device which you fill with water but it only boils one mug at a time.

Such devices even more suffer from limescale and are more difficult to de-scale.