Leaking kettle spout

[Mr Pounder]

Do you realise how fortunate you are to live in the north? Sussex is a shi...... I have to stop here.

[PeterC]

Now, I could be wrong about this, but I did read somewhere that this stainless steel 'wire wool' for cleaning is made from 'free-cutting' stainless. Thing is, as we all know, stainless does nothing that easily, so lead is added to the stainless to help the cutting - then boiling it in a kettle...!

Might be worth checking, just in case. I did find that the stuff 'writes' to ceramic surfaces (many years ago - haven't tried since) which suggests something softer in there.

[Skipweasel]

I grew up on the North Downs - you could cut your teeth on the water there.

[Skipweasel]

Like I said - I really wasn't /that/ bothered.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Ian Jackson saying something like:

I've been buying flat-bottom kettles for years and no longer have a problem with scale. They die for other cheapskate reasons, like dodgy switches and leaks. Even a decent kettle (by price) is a cheap and nasty product these days.

[Ian Jackson]

In message , Grimly Curmudgeon writes

A lot of kettles seem to be prone to leaking (usually a tiny bit of weeping along one of the seams). One possible advantage of living in a hard water is that the lime scale might help to seal the leak. Unfortunately, de-scaling then undoes the good work.

[pete]

Not just kettles, coffee makers too. Having recently descaled ours, the next time it was used it deposited half the volume of water onto the kitchem work surface. When I dismantled it, it turns out that the (looks like aluminium) pipe that heats the water has cracked. Presumably this happened a while ago and the descaling removed whatever was sealing the leak. Am now following this thread with interest for food-grade possible solutions.

[The Other Mike]

'303' stainless is commonly viewed as free cutting. Besides Nickel, Chromium and Manganese found in stainless steel suitable for medical purposes it has sulphur and phosphorous to improve machineability and no lead.

Lead is however commonly added to mild steel to improve machineability.

[Ian Kent UK]

replying to Triffid, Ian Kent UK wrote: 'Ive had 2 different RH kettles and they both did this however the leak does not come from the join on the spout. Its a design flaw because the dribbles down the side come from the actual overflow off the edge of the spout. Pour the water when boiled and you will see it run down the outside of the spout itself and not from the join.Its a strange one because you would think the flow would be enough to avoid dribbling. It doesn't happen with cold water though.