Leaking electric kettle

cherry76

My electric kettle was fine until I descaled it and noticed it is leaking at the base. Got panicky and went and bought a new one. Is it common for a kettle to leak? Thanks

GDB2222

Is it metal or plastic? 

If there’s a window so you can see the water level that can leak. 

marcia_

Yes I've had 2 kettles that had leaks. One years old started leaking through the window you can see the water through. It went in the bin, another from the base around 2 months after buying it so I returned it for a refund. 

rob7475

I think some descalers can damage seals so could have been that that's caused it

Albermarle

marcia_ said:

Yes I've had 2 kettles that had leaks. One years old started leaking through the window you can see the water through. It went in the bin, another from the base around 2 months after buying it so I returned it for a refund. 

Hopefully it actually went in to the 'small electricals' bin at the local recycling centre.

GDB2222

rob7475 said:

I think some descalers can damage seals so could have been that that's caused it

I think it’s more likely that the limescale was sealing the leak, until it was removed by the descaler. Kettle manufacturers know that people will descale their kettles, so they should not use seals that can be damaged by descalers. Anything is possible, though!

Chloe_G

I had a plastic kettle that cracked the whole way down from the top.