We live in a very hard water area and need to de-scale the electric kettle often. We have tried various de-scaling products, including vinegar. The best was "Scale Away" crystals from Tesco.
But that's quite expensive - and I bet it's something ordinary like sodium citrate. Does anyone know what the chemical actually is - and where it might be obtained cheaply in bulk?
I use Killrock, which is a liquid and works better than ScaleAway.
You can buy large bottles of descaler for central heating system which surely must be much cheaper as otherwise a house would take a thousand ScaleAway sachets, maybe!
Why? ;-)
But you don't drink out of the central heating?
For metal kettles, the descaller is sulphamic acid, which you can buy in large tubs of crystals (Furnox DS-3) from a plumbers merchant (or possibly a DIY shed) for descalling heating systems. The little kettle descalling sachets are a complete rip-off, and lots of then seem to be half full of sand anyway.
I don't know what's used in plastic kettle descallers (I've used the same stuff without any problems, but it usually says not to).
Will DS-3 also work in wc pans. Ken Livinstone suggested that we don't flush the toilet after a piss the save water. My two kids do the same but are just too lazy to flush the toilet. After a while the staining is so bad even a good brushing wont shift it so I use spirit of salts from a builders merchants. Chucking a measure of something down there sounds a bit easier.
Kevin
Citric Acid crystals from your local Indian food shop, usually a couple of GBP for a kilo bag. Using one of those small stainless steel mesh rolls sold as scale preventers in the kettle will slow down the scaling process quite a lot. You simply wash the steel roll under the tap every week and it collects a lot of the scale on its large surface area.
Buy a filter jug and use only filtered water in the kettle. You'll find it hardly scales up at all.
sponix
Tried furnox and it works, but smells a bit which lingers for a week on plastic kettles (from experience). Plus it will strip any nickel plating off the kettle element if it's left in there for hours, leaving a nice brass finish.
rusty
The instructions which came with my Morphy Richards concealed element kettle recommend getting citric acid crystals from a chemist. I haven't tried it yet!
About 60p for 100 gms, which should be enough for half a dozen descales. You can re-use it if you're really tight. I use the same tub of dilute sulphamic for the shower head for a year or so....
"If it's yellow and it lingers Make them clean it with their fingers"
Owain
Thanks - very helpful.
In article , Peter writes
Where do you get that?- because I've done a web search and couldn't find it.
I normally put half a cup of vinegar plus 2 cups of water in ou kettle and let it boil and it removes the lime scale quite easily
-- Chantel
The smell is deliberate, and an indication you haven't washed it all out. The dye is an indicator to show when the chemical is exhausted. I have found it to stain some plastic brush bristles, and I guess it could stain some other plastic parts.
It'll kill them eventually.
"Kemetal" is a plastic used for kettle making. It's filled with a cheap mineral filler, which is dissolved (slowly) by descalers. Eventually you'll get softening and crumbling of the plastic,leading to leaks.
So use the descaler, but don't over-soak and rinse well afterwards.
Pertinent info on the bottle reads:
Kilrock Products Ltd Customer Care (oh dear, god help you!) Chesham Bucks HP5 3HB Tel: 01494 793900
Contains Formic acid and additives
The question still remains...why would you want to descale a kettle? Is it building up so much scale on the element that it takes longer to boil?
Even a newly descaled kettle can deposit bits of limescale slime in your tea, though it does help if you buy one with a mesh filter in the spout.
Mr F.
Spirit of salts (hydrochloric acid) is more powerful, but it might also eventually dissolve away the cement seals in clay pipework if you use it routinely, making the sewer leak.
Proprietry toilet cleaners will have a descaller, degreaser to remove organic residues, and a thickener in them to cling to the sides of pan long enough to work. A squirt of that round the pan and left overnight, with a quick brush around in the morning before flushing away, will probably work better than just sulphamic or hydrochloric acid.
BTW, don't mix cleaners or other chemicals in the toilet -- some combinations can give off large quantities of chlorine gas very quickly. Flush clear one chemical several times before using another.
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