The convenience of using a kettle cannot be underestimated, as it is the easiest, and most used amongst all other kitchen utensils. Having said that, everyone needs to know how to clean a kettle, whenever there is a need to.
As one uses the kettle often, there is water left sitting in your kettle for a long period of time. This leads to a sort of limescale build up at the bottom of your kettle.
The kettle serves most of the varying tasks. Some of these tasks include boiling of water, which basically is the key to all major needs, like making tea and other beverages. As a result of its necessity and over usage, there is a constant buildup of limescale, which, in return, causes scaling, also known as kettle furring.
The adverse effect of this could be flaking of the buildup into your tea or food.
Another effect is the slower heating time of the kettle.
This timescale builds could be difficult to remove. With circumstances like this, the question “how to clean a kettle?” is not really far-fetched.
What is limescale?
Understanding the problem gives a fair idea of the circumstance and the necessity of descaling the kettle. Limescale buildup is a constant deposit of milky white calcium carbonate.
These buildups are tough, and they are usually found in places where water has either evaporated or solidified, like the central heating system, hot water tanks, and kettles.
These kind of buildups are nearly impossible to remove by mere scrubbing. Other technical and not so much complex methods have to be employed, as they will not just ease any kind of stress, but will also save some reasonable amount of time.
How to clean or descale a kettle
A kettle has already been designed to hold liquid, which is an advantage to cleaning it, as it will help hold the mild chemicals that will be used for the descaling of the kettle. Here are a few methods on how to clean a kettle:
Method 1: Using a kettle cleaning product
Kettle cleaning products are ready-made for the purpose of cleaning a kettle, and they can be gotten from stores. Below are the general steps on how to use kettle cleaning products:
- Mix the kettle cleaning product with water and pour the mixture into the kettle.
- Boil the solution for about 5-10 minutes and allow to soak in the kettle.
- Rinse the kettle with water.
Method 2: Using the vinegar solution
1. Mixing a vinegar solution: vinegar is very dependable when it comes to descaling a kettle and removing build ups. Mix equal parts of white vinegar and cold water, this should, in turn, give you a solution of vinegar and water, pour this solution into the kettle till it is halfway filled.
2. Boil the solution: If the solution is already held in the kettle, to clean the kettle, it would have to be put on and bringing the solution to boil.
*if the lime scaling in the kettle is really bad, more solution should be added, and the kettle boiled again.
3. Soaking the kettle: After boiling the kettle, allow the boiled solution in the kettle to soak, this process could take up to 20 minutes. If the scaling in the kettle is really bad, leaving the solution longer than that is really advisable.
4. Scrubbing: This step is not always needed. It only needs to be applied in severe cases where there is very bad scaling in the kettle. It can also be applied when the aforementioned methods have not really done the expected, perfect job. Scrubbing with a non-metallic sponge can be carried out, but ensure that the kettle must have been allowed to soak for quite a long time, and avoid scrubbing too much at the bottom of the kettle.
5. Rinse the kettle: This is necessary as every other step. Rinse the kettle as much as possible or until you can’t detect any smell of vinegar from the kettle. After rinsing, clean the kettle with a damp cloth and allow to dry. Any smell of vinegar left in the kettle should be gotten rid of by boiling water in the kettle and dumping the water. This could be repeated as many times as necessary.
Method 3: Using a baking soda solution
This is a very simple and non technical method of cleaning a kettle. It majorly needs a baking soda which is readily available in many kitchens.
1. Mix a teaspoon of baking soda with cold water and pour the mixture into the kettle
2. Boil the mixture
3. After boiling, allow the solution in the kettle to soak for about 20mins.
4. Whenever the 20mins duration lapses, remove the solution and rinse with cold water.
Method 4: Using a lemon solution
This method can be an alternative to those whom the kettle’s manufacturer stated that they should avoid using vinegar for washing the kettle. In such a case, the lemon solution can be a very suitable alternative.
1. Making a lemon solution: squeeze all the lemon juice into cold water, after squeezing cut up the lemon and place the slice in the water.
2. Boiling the solution: pour all the content of the lemon solution into the kettle and boil, after boiling, allow the hot solution to soak the kettle for about an hour.
3. Rinsing the kettle: after allowing the hot solution to soak, dump the solution and thoroughly rinse the kettle
*if you prefer lime to lemon, it is also a suitable alternative to vinegar and lemon. Use it and follow the same procedure as in lemon.
Cleaning the interior of a kettle is as important as cleaning the exterior, and in general, maintaining your kettle.
Here are few tips to maintaining your kettle, and safeguarding yourself from consuming limescale deposit.
- Know your water: depending on the kind of water you can access, the interior of your kettle could easily get limescale builds. Basically, there are two types of water, the soft and the hard water. If the available water in the environ is hard water, then you would have to regularly descale your kettle to protect your health.
- Cleaning the exterior: As much as possible keep the exterior of your kettle clean, and if the kettle is stainless steel, you might always want to keep it shining, as it gives your kitchen that professional touch of neatness. Do the washing of your kettle’s exterior with basic detergent and soap.
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