Every few months you can clean your kettle with nothing but white vinegar, lemons, baking soda, Coca-Cola, or a specialist descaling kit.
How to Clean a Kettle
All you need to do is select your preferred method and product and get to work.
White vinegar
Using a mixture of half white vinegar and half water, fill your kettle to three quarters and boil it. Leave the solution to stand for about half an hour minutes and then pour it away. Finally, fill the kettle up again with fresh water to capacity and boil it a couple more time to get rid of the lingering vinegar smell.
Baking soda
Add a tablespoon of baking soda to a full kettle of water and boil it. Leave it to stand for half an hour then pour it away. Boil once or twice with a fresh kettle full of water to get rid of the bicarb taste. If your kettle is particularly affected by limescale, you can make a paste with a few drops of water and 125g of baking soda and then use a clean toothbrush to apply it inside your kettle before doing the above.
Lemons
Put 500ml of water and 30ml of lemon juice in the kettle and leave it to stand for an hour then boil it. As before, boil fresh water and pour away afterwards.
Coca-Cola
This drink has a pH (acidity) level of 2.8, making it just as effective as vinegar or lemon juice for certain cleaning tasks. Fill the kettle with cola and boil it, leaving it to cool down then pour it away. Thoroughly rinse the kettle and boil with fresh water after.
Descaling kit
Simply follow the instructions that came with it.
S&D Ireland, Small Appliance Sales and Repairs
S&D Ireland is your local small appliance experts: Call us today to find out more about our range of appliances and repair services.
If yours needs repairing rather than replacing, S&D Ireland's repair service, Appliance Repair Men, offers domestic appliance repair across Ormskirk, West Lancashire and Merseyside, with a £30 call-out fee refunded against parts. Call 01695 768 738, or 01704 779 123 in Southport and 0151 601 7150 across Merseyside.