Used to be able to buy that as, IIRC, "Tensol Cement". My dad has a can of it, which still worked fine when I last needed a bit a couple of years ago, in spite of the label saying "Use by Aug 1968".
I found Superglue also works well on perspex by means of making a solvent weld.
Thus spake Dieseldes ( snipped-for-privacy@orange.net) unto the assembled multitudes:
It can be used as an antioxidant to sprinkle on peeled fruit and vegetables to prevent them going brown before they're cooked. I do the same.
I've never encountered Foot & Mouth in an Indian food shop, though. ;-)
Thus spake snipped-for-privacy@isbd.co.uk ( snipped-for-privacy@isbd.co.uk) unto the assembled multitudes:
On an individual basis it may seem like that, but think of the millions of devices plugged in and on standby across the nation, then you have the equivalent of a small power station's output being wasted.
Given that two Google searches consume enough energy to boil a kettle, I wonder what the energy cost of making a Usenet post is.
I went on one of those once. Never agian. The customer satisfaction survay was a laugh. my regular newspaper wasn't listed and my salary (not excessive by any means) was off the scale.
MBQ
I use vinegar - last time it was 19p for half a litre tesco value spirit vinegar. Rinse out all the loose flakes, pour in the vinegar, go to work, snooze, come back from work, pour out vinegar, fill kettle with water, boil and discard (the water!!). Job done.
I have also used vinegar with success, I think (can't remember exactly) I just boiled a 50% vinegar/water solution and left it to stand for a couple of hours. When I looked in the kettle it still looked the same, until I wiped it with a paper towel, and all the scale came away.
Or a 2kg tub of Furnox DS-3 for about the same price. DS-3 is Sulphamic acid, plus an indicator (so you know when the solution is used up), plus a smell (so you don't accidentally drink it).
Note that Sulphamic acid makes some plastics brittle. Don't use it with any plastics subject to stress unless you know it's safe on that plastic type.
My mother used to boil rhubarb leaves in kettles. Oxalic acid.
Cheaper, if you have your own rhubarb plant.
It is best to use white vinegar, because it leaves not even a hint of an aftertaste.
One that I discovered many years ago at university by accident...
Turn the kettle on with no water in it, but damp. When the moisture is hissing and spitting (element well above boiling), run in cold water from the tap. After much more hissing and spitting (watch you don't get burned), most of the scale will have fallen off the element. If it didn't work, you throw the kettle out and buy a new one!
I've done it a few times since when I've come across a manky caked up kettle with no other way to clean it, and it's worked each time. I rather suspect no one kettle would survive too many attempts like this though.
At your own risk, etc.
Thank you to everyone for all the helpful replies.
I think what I'll do first is try citric acid, if that doesn't work well enough I'll try vinegar if that also fails I'll buy myself of Fernox DS-3, I have had good experience with Fernox products so hopefully the Fernox will work.
Kettle is all metal with a concealed element.
Of course I will try to keep the kettle empty as much as possible.
ATM its probably cheaper to buy a new kettle than the descaler. Until the Chinese package the descaler that is.
Well, the one-dose and other dedicated descalers are very expensive compared with the cost of the chemical itself, as mentioned elsewhere in the thread. Many years ago, I used to use one called Kettlene IIRC, which was pure sulphamic acid, but the company vanished. (They also did a descaler for plastic items with a different chemical in it, but I can't remember what that was.) I tried some of the other products like scaleaway, and found it had a few crystals of sulphamic acid diluted with sand, and cost a lot more than Kettlene. That was the point where I went searching for more reasonable priced sulphamic acid and found Furnox DS-3. You used to be able to get that anywhere (including B&Q), but it's got much harder to find places which stock it, as plumbers don't bother trying to clean/repair items nowadays. All plumber's merchants will order it in for you, and might have the small size on the shelf, but they were charging twice the price BES do, so I end up buying it from BES now.
I don't need my kitchen "warming up" thank you. The radiator in the kitchen hasn't been on in the past 10 years, even in the depths of winter.
If the kitchen gets too warm, the dog mounts even more (it's a problem he has) so we deliberately keep the kitchen as cool as possible for him, and he chooses to spend most of his time in there...
Don't have a tv in the kitchen, and the one in the sittingroom is never left on standby! (I'm Scottish, what do you expect?)
"Pointless" for you, perhaps...
Perzackly, which is how I was able to buy a roofing company, eighteen months ago - and pay cash for it! ;-)
Given that Cola is recommended for cleaning limescale from toilets, wouldn't it work equally well in kettles?
Need to be sure and give it a damned good rinse afterwards, though. Rhubarb leaves are poisonous, aren't they?
Who or what does the dog mount?
:-)
please tell me that was a typo! I could see why you would want to discourage it though.
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