How to descale a plastic kettle. How to descale the kettle? Special products from the store

The main problem in using an electric kettle is plaque, which over time collects on the inner walls and spirals. Scale not only spoils appearance device. With an increase in the lime layer, the operation of the device becomes more and more unsafe, and the taste of the water heated in such a kettle has unpleasant notes. Therefore, plaque should be removed correctly and in a timely manner.

First, assess how dirty the kettle is. A thin layer of limescale can be dealt with by products such as baking soda, vinegar, citric acid and even a carbonated drink. With more difficult problem you should go to a hardware store, where the range includes household chemicals to combat scale. Our grandmothers also used the method of cleaning the kettle with soda. This method will be harmless both for the material from which the device is made and for water, which will subsequently be boiled in it. Pour 1 tablespoon of baking soda into a kettle filled with water. Boil the water, then let it sit for 20 minutes. Fill the container with new water, this time with 20 grams added citric acid... When the kettle boils, leave the acidified water in the appliance for up to 30 minutes and then drain it. This cleaning scheme will relieve your kettle from limescale if the layer is not very thick. To remove limescale with vinegar, pour a 9% solution into a kettle with 1/2 water. Boil water and leave to cool completely. As the water gets colder, the vinegar will dissolve the scale. After such cleaning, the kettle should be thoroughly washed from the inside so that the acid remaining on the walls does not enter your body. Use citric acid to combat limescale. You just need to bring the water to a boil, after adding 1 sachet of citric acid to it. After this cleaning method, you should thoroughly rinse the residues of the product from the walls of the device. For this purpose, boil several times in a kettle. clean water and drain it each time after boiling. Non-standard, but efficient method removing plaque - using soda. Choose water without dyes so that after descaling you do not have to rack your brains on how to clean the appliance from a colored drink. Fill the kettle with soda water and bring it to a boil. You will be surprised how easy plaque will disappear from the walls of the device. If deposits inside the kettle cannot be cleaned folk methods, purchase special household chemicals from a household goods store. It is anti-scale from different manufacturers... Use them according to the instructions. Most often, a kettle should be boiled with such a means, and the plaque will dissolve under the action of acids. Remember that, like any household chemical, decalcifiers leave behind harmful particles that can enter your stomach with water. Therefore, if possible, clean the device as often as possible so that anti-naikipins are not needed.

Descaling methods are divided into mechanical and chemical. Since mechanical cleaning can cause irreparable damage to the surface of the kettle, a more gentle method is chemical method.

Over time, mechanical cleaning leads to the appearance small scratches on the inner surface of the dishes and becomes a favorable breeding ground for bacteria.

Citric acid, as a cleaning agent, contributes to a longer service life of the cookware. The cleaning procedure does not require any special preparation. To do this, you need to empty the water from the kettle, and electrical models will need to be disconnected from the network.

The use of purified water will protect the dishes from the rapid formation of plaque.

How to quickly remove limescale from a kettle

To clean the kettle with citric acid quickly and efficiently, the following algorithm should be used:

Determine how much substance is required for descaling. The thicker the plaque, the more acid is needed. Required proportion: 2 teaspoons of citric acid in 1 liter of water;
Pour clean water into the kettle, filling 2/3 of its volume;
Add powder to water and mix until it is completely dissolved;
If the scale has formed recently and its layer is rather thin, then there is no need to boil; it is enough to leave the acid solution in the kettle for 2-3 hours. Then you need to thoroughly wash the container, freeing it from the formed flakes and grains. If the plaque is more old, you need to boil it in a kettle. water solution lemons for a quarter of an hour. After that, letting it cool down, wash the dishes. clean water... If necessary, the procedure can be repeated more than once.

Caution: when citric acid is poured into boiling water, blistering violently occurs; burns should be avoided.

Types of teapots

The different materials from which the teapots are made require different care. Separate types such as plastics need special handling. Citric acid has the most gentle effect on dishes, so it can be used to clean almost all types of dishes. Soda or acetic acid is more aggressive and requires careful handling.

Metal

The citric acid cleaning method is suitable for moderate limescale deposits in a stainless kettle. This method is not suitable for aluminum cookware, because when heated, aluminum reacts and slightly dissolves.

In a stainless steel kettle, bring water to a boil.
Dip a slice of lemon there or pour in a little powder, leaving the resulting acidic solution to cool.
Wipe it with a damp sponge and drain the first water after boiling.

Plastic

Since acetic acid is not suitable for electric kettles that are made of plastic, the use of citric acid is an excellent solution.

You can get rid of thin plaque even without boiling.

Fall asleep in hot water 1-2 teaspoons of citric acid powder.
Cool the solution.
Drain the water.

After such a procedure, the plaque will disappear, it will only be necessary to boil the first batch of water "idle".

Enameled

Cleaning enamel dishes requires approximately the same algorithm as metal ones. It should only be taken into account that in order to avoid cracking of the enamel coating, a sharp temperature drop should not be allowed.

Don't rinse the kettle ice water immediately after using boiling water with citric acid. Cooling down gradually will protect the dishes from damage and keep the surface intact.

Glass

For cleaning glassware, either dry powder or a couple of lemon slices added to water are suitable.

An alternative way to clean glassware is to use essential oil lemon.

20 drops of oil are dripped into two glasses of clean water.
The resulting composition is applied to the inner surface of the teapot.
After a few minutes, the sediment will soften and can be removed with a soft brush or sponge.

Electric

Cleaning electric kettle citric acid involves the use of powder, but you can also use slices of fresh lemon.

Add them to boiling water and open the lid of the appliance, preventing it from turning off for a few minutes.
Allow the water to cool, the container will be clean and fresh.
Unpleasant odors and accumulated deposits can be washed off with running water.

Another way to cleanse is to:

Leave the aqueous citric acid solution in the kettle overnight.
In the morning, drain the water with the separated sediment.

This method is suitable for light sediment and does not damage the electrical appliance.

Whitening and descaling

Lemon is often used for cleaning and bleaching different surfaces, household appliances and linen.

The rate at which deposits appear depends on the salt content in tap water: the more there are, the faster plaque builds up.

Benefits of using

The use of citric acid to eliminate accumulated insoluble salts has many advantages over other cleaning methods.

The main advantages of this method:

Low cost and the ability to purchase at any grocery store;
High efficiency - 100 grams can dissolve up to 80 grams of hardened deposits;
Ease of use, since everyone can handle the cleaning process;
Safe for human health and the environment: the formation of calcium citrate when salts are dissolved does not pose any threat.

By its cleansing properties, citric acid is a complete and effective analogue of specialized cleaning products, since chemical substances the latter negatively affect human health.

Preventing limescale and maintaining your kettle

To prevent the formation of sediment in the dishes, you must follow a few simple precautions:

Use filtered or settled water with a reduced salt concentration;
Pour the liquid remaining after boiling into another container;
In an enamel bowl, boil only once. Repeated boiling accelerate the process of plaque appearance;
Carry out preventive cleaning with citric acid 1-2 times a month;
Give preference to electric kettles with a closed spiral;
Rinse the container before boiling water.

Citric acid properties

Citric acid is a crystalline powder white which dissolves well in water. In living nature, acid is found in a large number of fruits and vegetables, has low level toxicity.

Dosed use of the powder does not harm the human body and environment... The substance itself is widely known for its characteristics due to its biochemical formula.

And citric acid is used in a variety of areas:

food industry;
the medicine;
production of cosmetics;
oil production;
building;
at home.

Active use as a household cleaning agent is due to its chemical composition.

Citric acid is more gentle than acetic acid.

Can I wash the kettle with citric acid

Regular use of lemongrass to wash the kettle can significantly extend its life and gradually free it from minor deposits of scale on the inner surfaces.

Precautions must be taken when using citric acid. Despite the fact that this substance is widely found in nature, contact of the concentrate on the mucous membranes and skin of a person leads to burns. Dry powder can be irritating to the respiratory tract and should be avoided inhaling when washing dishes.

Important: Regular cleaning is less time consuming than removing a thick layer of compacted deposits.

You can remove scale from dishes using substances containing acids. It is recommended to clean the dishes in a timely manner, while the layer of plaque is minimal. Knowing the secrets of cleanliness will help lead household with a minimum of effort.

Even if you have acquired a home water filtration system and boil only purified water to make tea,

the formation of scale cannot be avoided anyway. Filters are not able to remove all substances dissolved in water responsible for the formation of lime deposits.

And sooner or later you will find that the sides and bottom of your favorite whistling kettle or the heating element of an electric boiler are covered with a layer of dirty yellow plaque. This means that it is time to remember how to descale the kettle and restore its cleanliness both outside and inside.

When cleaning, keep in mind that not all products are equally suitable for conventional and electric vessels.

Why you need to remove limescale

There are several reasons for this, and each is quite serious.

The lime layer prevents heat transfer. If this is not fatal for an ordinary stainless steel kettle, then the electric one can simply burn out. Heat from the coil or disc is not transferred to the water; the metal is subject to thermal overload. In ordinary kettles, this increases the gas consumption: the water heats up more slowly.
The scale layer prevents the vessel from being kept clean. Particles of lime sediment fall into your cup, and all this garbage is not at all good for the body.

Descaling agents

In the store you can buy ready-made descaling products. Some of them are quite effective, others may not give the desired effect.
And it depends not so much on the quality of household chemicals as on other parameters: the composition of the water in your water supply system, the thickness of the layer of lime deposits, etc.

How to descale the kettle using home methods

Lime deposits are successfully removed using simple and cheap means:

citric acid;
table vinegar or apple cider vinegar;
soda;
lemons, apple peels, or potato peels;
pickle from cucumbers or tomatoes;
carbonated drinks: "Coca-Cola", "Sprite", "Fanta".

♦ Citric acid you can descale any kettle: stainless steel, ceramic, enamelled, electric plastic or glass. This simple substance removes small to medium build-ups.

Ingredients: water - about 500 ml and citric acid - 1-2 tbsp. spoons (depending on the degree of soiling).

Pour water into a kettle and boil, then pour citric acid into boiling water and wait until the water cools down for about 1-2 hours (be careful - acid in hot water will "hiss"). If the scale is not old, then it will come off by itself, otherwise you will need to make a little effort: carefully clean the walls and bottom with a plastic washcloth or brush.

Metal hard scourers cannot be used for descaling.

Citric acid can be substituted fresh lemons: Coarsely chop one or two lemons, boil them and leave to cool.

♦ Manufacturers of electric kettles do not recommend using vinegar to remove mineral deposits - after all, it is too aggressive. But sometimes you can't do without this powerful tool.

The method is suitable for: plastic, glass and metal teapots with very large quantity old scale.

Ingredients: water - about 500 ml and vinegar 9% - a little less than 1 cup or vinegar essence 70% - 1-2 tbsp. spoons.

Pour water into a kettle and boil it, then pour acetic acid into boiling water and leave the scale to soak in the solution for 1 hour. If the scale did not go away on its own, but only loosened, then it will need to be removed with a sponge. Remember to boil water once or twice in a clean kettle, and then rinse it thoroughly to rinse off any remaining vinegar.

♦ Enamelled and aluminum cookware afraid of aggressive acids, so the first 2 methods of removing limescale are not suitable for them, but the usual one can help you soda solution.

The method is suitable for: descaling both in ordinary enamel and aluminum teapots, and in any electric kettle.

Ingredients: baking soda, and better soda ash - 1 tbsp. spoon, water - about 500 ml (the main thing is that it covers the entire limescale).

Recipe 1: to remove scale from the walls of an enamel or aluminum kettle, you must first mix soda with water, then bring this solution to a boil, and then leave it to simmer over low heat for half an hour. At the end of the procedure, we wash off the remaining soda, for which we boil clean water 1 time, drain it and rinse the kettle.

Recipe 2: to wash an electric kettle with soda, you need to boil water, make a soda solution, and then let it cool for 1-2 hours. A more gentle way is to pour soda into the boiling water, and then leave the solution until it cools completely - during this time, the mineral deposits will become softer, and it will be easier to wash them by hand.

♦ Small deposits are successfully removed boiling apple peels or potato peels.

This product is suitable either for preventive maintenance or if the limescale is still weak.

The method is suitable for: descaling conventional enamel and metal teapots.

Ingredients: apple, pear or potato peelings.

I put block, pear or washed potato peelings in a kettle, fill with water and bring to a boil. As soon as the water boils, leave the peel to cool for 1-2 hours, and then wash off the softened plaque with a sponge.

♦ Handles limescale layers well cucumber or tomato pickle... The organic acids contained in it dissolve lime deposits... But then it is quite problematic to eliminate the smell of pickles, and it does not harmonize too much with tea and coffee.

♦ Carbonated drinks perfectly dissolve stubborn lime layers due to the content of phosphoric acid. Many people know that Coca-Cola can be cleaned from scale and rust not only in the kettle, but also in other household items.

Coca-Cola removes old grease stains in the sewers, it dissolves traces of rust on old bathtubs and washbasins, etc.

The method is suitable for: descaling in ordinary stainless steel teapots and for electric kettles, but with caution for enameled and tin ones. If you want to descale a white kettle, it’s better not to do it with Coca-Cola or Fanta. These intensely colored liquids leave a colored coating on light-colored materials, which will have to be dealt with separately. Take a better colorless soda: Sprite, 7UP. The effect will be the same as when cleaning with Coca-Cola, but without the color effects.

Before descaling the kettle with carbonated drinks, you must remove all the gas from them. Open a bottle of Coca-Cola and leave it open for a few hours before cleaning. Otherwise, when boiling the drink, it forms foam in such quantities that you will clean the kettle not only from the inside, but also from the outside, and at the same time the whole kitchen :).

This method is not the most effective and economical, but why not try it for fun?

How to deal with old deposits

The most stubborn, stubborn limescale deposits are removed in several stages. You will need baking soda, citric acid solution, and vinegar.

First, you wash the kettle, outside and inside, as much as possible. Then pour half a glass of soda inside, pour water and boil the solution for about 20 minutes. You can leave the soda solution to cool, or drain it right away. Soda itself does not remove scale, it will only help to cope with thick deposits.

At the second stage of the fight against scale, you need to pour a solution of citric acid into the vessel: about 40 g of powder will be needed for 3 liters. Acid with soda, absorbed into the layers of scale, will react. This will generate gas, the bubbles of which will loosen the limescale.

When you merge the citric acid solution, you can boil the kettle with soda solution again, or you can immediately proceed to the next stage: act on the scale with vinegar, table vinegar or apple cider. Boiling with vinegar will dissolve the stubborn layers. Pour one third of the vinegar into the vessel, and add the rest with water and boil for 30 minutes over low heat. Drain the solution and wipe the inside of the vessel with a medium-hard scrubber (not a metal one).

Descaling the kettle with vinegar.

After cleaning, you will have to thoroughly rinse the kettle and boil the water in it two or three times, draining it. This method is only suitable for ordinary teapots, for electric ones, it can be overly aggressive and destructive.

Do not leave leftover water in the kettle after use. This habit increases the amount of calcium deposits on the walls of the container. Pour plant water or separately into a decanter and use cold or boil the amount of water you want to use.
The more often you remove scale deposits, the easier it will be to do this. Descale the kettle at least once a month if the water is medium hard and once every two weeks if the water is hard. This will help preserve the device and extend its life.
Use only filtered or distilled water for boiling.
Rinse the inside of the kettle with a washcloth after each boil to remove even the slightest trace of scale.

How do I descale my kettle? Vinegar, citric acid or Coca-Cola? Checking folk ways anti-scale!

PS. Buy an electric kettle with a closed coil or heating disc. They are much easier to care for than models with an open coil. It will also be easier to remove the limescale that has appeared.

Note to the hostess.

The water in our taps leaves much to be desired, and the question of how to descale the kettle does not lose its sharpness. For electric kettles, the sediment on the walls is not just a terrible internal one, but the deterioration of the thermal conductivity of the metal is proportional to the thickening of the layer, which provokes a decrease in the power of the heater and its service life (work for wear has not done anything better). Boiling water requires increased time and energy costs. Scale has a similar effect on ordinary kettles - the burner also takes much longer. Result: cost overruns, premature wear and tear of household appliances.

Scale deposited on heating elements heating boilers, often leads to rupture of pipes. Whether she can break the heating element of the kettle is unknown. Apparently, because the housewives are used to descaling teapots - we figure out how they do it.

How to descale the kettle at home

There are many ways to clean your kettle at home. The shops offer a wide range of special products. Some of them work instantly, and some don't work at all. It depends on the manufacturer, his honesty. The vast majority of descaling tablets / liquids / gels are based on acetic acid and citric acid.

Regular kettle

At home, add to vinegar and citric acid:

brine;
baking soda;
fanta, sprite, coca-cola;
potato and apple peelings.

Not all products suitable for cleaning conventional kettles are suitable for cleaning electric kettles. The point is the duration of exposure and the proper temperature: if you need a long boil over a low heat, this way you will not be able to descale a regular electric kettle, but a thermos kettle can.

How to clean a kettle with vinegar

Thermos kettle

This method of descaling is suitable for conventional teapots and thermo-flask kettles with temperature control. Vinegar must be diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10 (100 ml of vinegar per liter of water), fill the kettle with the solution and put on the stove (turn on). As soon as the water boils, you need to see if the scale has peeled off. If the walls of the dishes have not yet been freed from the sediment, we leave it to simmer over a low fire for about 15 minutes (the electric boil will not quietly, therefore the method is not suitable).

Important! After the procedure, the dishes must be thoroughly washed, boiled several portions of water in it, and the room must be well ventilated.

How to clean a teapot with citric acid

Descaling the kettle with citric acid is a versatile method that is equally effective for conventional and electric (metal and even plastic) models. Dissolve citric acid in water at the rate of 2 teaspoons per liter. Pour the solution into a kettle and boil.

Tip: do not bring the dishes to the point where getting rid of the limescale requires harsh cleaning. With the help of citric acid, carry out prophylaxis: fill the kettle with the solution, as soon as plaque appears on its walls, and leave it for several hours.

How to remove limescale with baking soda

They act with soda in the same way as with vinegar, but they boil for longer. It is necessary to pour soda water at the rate of 1 liter per tablespoon, put it on the stove, let it boil, reduce the heat to low and keep it for half an hour so that the solution barely boils.

After half an hour of boiling, the liquid must be poured out, the kettle must be thoroughly washed and clean water must be boiled in it, after which it must also be poured.

Unformat: soda, brine, cleaning

The obvious vinegar and citric acid can be replaced with non-standard, even unexpected, means. Eating foods and beverages do a great job with scale in the kettle.

Soda

Great tool - "Sprite"

Soda is so “safe” that it does an excellent job of descaling kettles. Why are there dishes - they successfully wash carbs of cars with sweet water. "Sprite", "Coca-Cola" and "Fanta" cope in the same way, but it is better to use "Sprite" - "Coca-Cola" and "Fanta" may well leave colorful stains on the metal walls instead of scale.

The method is suitable for any teapots - you won't even have to keep it for a long time (such a "thermonuclear" composition): you need to fill the kettle with a miracle drink halfway and bring it to a boil. First, it is necessary to rid the water of gas (it is not gas that cleans - the caustic substance is contained in the water itself). The method is excellent in its clarity. It can serve as an aid and evidence base in enlightening children about the dangers of purchased soda.

Brine

Too good way descaling electric kettles - no need to simmer for a long time. How active substance the same vinegar works - brine is not an independent remedy. To clean the kettle, it is enough to fill it with brine, boil it, cool it, empty it and wash it thoroughly. Particularly effective cucumber pickle.

Descaling

This method is ancient - it was successfully used by our grandmothers and great-grandmothers. Potato and apple peelings are used as a cleaning agent (it is not starch that works, but acids). Descaling is simple: just load the peel into the kettle, add water and put it on fire.

After the water boils, you need to remove the dishes from the stove, leave for a couple of hours, then rinse thoroughly, draining the solution. Before the procedure, peelings are also thoroughly washed if they are potato.

How to descale a particularly neglected kettle

Unfortunately, this method is not suitable for an electric one, but an ordinary kettle, even if it is in a very neglected state, can be cleaned. The success of the method is ensured by complex processing. You need to act in three stages:

Fill with water, add a tablespoon of baking soda, boil and drain the solution.
Fill with water, add a tablespoon of citric acid, bring to a boil and leave for half an hour over low heat; drain the solution.
Fill again, add half a glass of vinegar, let it boil, leave for half an hour over low heat; drain the solution.

Metal kettle that can withstand harsh cleaning

After the procedure, you need to thoroughly wash the dishes, boil several portions of water in it "empty".

It happens that the sediment remains on the walls, but after such a shock treatment it can be easily removed with a sponge for dishes.

Important! Do not use hard brushes, especially those with metal teeth, or abrasive scouring pads.

Tip: Buy a glass electric kettle with a heated bottom. It is impossible to start it: transparent walls will not allow; scale does not settle on the walls, but floats in flakes; a special cleaning agent for dishes, glass, ceramics (Cillit, for example) can easily get rid of plaque.

Model with heated bottom and glass walls

It is not so difficult to descale the kettle at home, but it will take time. Sediment appears due to excessive mineralization of the water, but this can be avoided by using commercially available water. It is inexpensive (all the more, we are talking about health: the body is not happy when salts and minerals are excessively introduced into it), and you do not have to periodically remove scale.

Scale is formed due to the fact that the water contains a large amount of salts, which settle on the bottom, walls and the heating coil of the kettle.

Scale build-up inside the kettle will cause it to heat up the water for much longer. And over time, when the scale thickens, the kettle may break.

At home, the following are used for descaling:

If you do nothing, such an electric kettle will last only a year and a half. So that it does not fail ahead of time, you need to know how to remove scale in an electric kettle.

Method one is the simplest

Many housewives know how to descale an electric kettle. We offer the simplest and most effective method that will take a little time:

Soda helps against scale

Pour water into a kettle and add 1 tablespoon of baking soda.
After the kettle boils, let it sit for 20 minutes, then drain the water.
Then fill the kettle with fresh water and 20 grams of citric acid.
Boil the kettle and let it stand for half an hour.

After this procedure, rinse the kettle. If the scale has not disappeared, then its structure has become loose, and you can easily clean the kettle with a regular sponge.

Method two - "grandmother's method"

Of course, our grandmothers did not know how to descale an electric kettle - at that time there were no electric kettles yet)). But this method of cleaning copper teapots will work just as well. So, we need a nine percent solution of acetic acid, or more simply, vinegar.

First, pour 2/3 of water into the kettle, the remaining third is vinegar.
Let the water boil and then leave the kettle until the water has cooled down. After some time, the scale in the kettle will dissolve. This is due to the fact that the acid in the vinegar will chemically react with the salts and break them down into simple substances.
However, do not forget to rinse the kettle thoroughly after this, as the acetic acid will remain on its walls and then enter your body with the tea.

Method three - with soda

Perhaps the most unconventional way to descale an electric kettle. However, according to many housewives, this method is very effective.

To perform this cleaning, you need a liter of colorless sparkling water, like Sprite. Pour soda into a kettle and boil. And the scale in the electric kettle will disappear!

The key point here is the acquisition of colorless soda. Be careful - the dyes contained in colored soda, when boiled, will remain on the walls of the kettle, and it will be even more difficult to wipe them off than to get rid of limescale.

Method four - citric acid

Would you like to know how to descale an electric kettle using regular citric acid?

Place one bag of acid in a full kettle and bring to a boil.
Drain this liquid and rinse the kettle with running water.
Boil a couple of times plain water from the tap and pour it out.

All you need is one sachet of citric acid

This method is based on the same chemical reaction as when using acetic acid. The descaling in the electric kettle may not take place immediately - after all, it is more soft way... To do this, repeat the procedure again until the vessel is completely cleared of salts. Also, do not forget to rinse the kettle after this procedure.

Method five - household chemicals

In addition to manual cleaning, you can also resort to using all kinds of chemicals... They know how to descale an electric kettle in a household chemicals store.

"Descaler",
Major domus
"Anti-scale: deep cleaning".

However, this method may not bring the expected result, and the money will be spent. The kettle may not clean up because the scale layer has already corroded the body and the heating element sufficiently.

And finally

With the help of these simple tips, you will be able to descale the electric kettle, but do not forget that the procedure will need to be repeated at regular intervals.

And remember, before you descale in an electric kettle, you should warn your family members, as some of them may inadvertently make coffee from boiled Sprite, or worse.

There are many more methods on how to descale an electric kettle, but not all of them are effective. Remember that using untested methods, you run the risk of getting the opposite effect and your kettle may become completely unusable.