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Nothing better than a toasty hot beverage to start the day, but no one wants their cup of tea or coffee spoiled by chunks of limescale floating in their brew.
Limescale is a gunky chalky substance that often builds up at the bottom of kettles if not cleaned regularly due to dissolved minerals found in tap water.
While limescale is harmless to drink it will affect the taste of your tea or coffee and eventually can cause the heating appliance in your kettle to break so you will need to replace it.
Luckily, Lynsey Crombie, Britain’s most popular cleaning expert also known as the Queen of Clean, has shared it is very easy to clean away kettle limescale using ingredients already in your kitchen cupboard.
In a post online, Lynsey said: “Make sure to add descaling your kettle to your monthly routine, especially if you’re an avid tea or coffee drinker and like the perfect cupper! Descaling keeps your kettle running longer and makes your drinks taste better.”
How to remove limescale stains from a kettle
All you need to descale a kettle is either white vinegar, lemon juice or citric acid which are all acidic and can easily break down the alkaline compounds in limescale.
Lynsey said: “I’m using white vinegar here…you can also use lemon juice or citric acid for a natural clean.”
Not only are these incredibly effective but using these kitchen ingredients is a very quick and natural way to clean a kettle without having to resort to chemical descalers.
To begin, simply quarter-fill your kettle with water and add either vinegar or lemon juice.
Boil the kettle and let the water sit for 20 minutes as when heated, vinegar or lemon juice will react to the calcium carbonate found in limescale and begin to dissolve it.
Once the time is up, boil the kettle one more time, tip the water down the sink and then refill it with water once again to rinse it out.
Your kettle should now be sparkling clean but if there are any particularly stubborn bits of limescale then you can repeat these steps or give it a wipe to get it completely cleared.
Sometimes you may also have to clean around the sprout of your kettle as well according to Lynsey are it is also susceptible to limescale build up.
She said: “If you have limescale around the spout, drench some kitchen roll in white vinegar and wrap it around.”
Leave the vinegar-soaked kitchen towels to break down the limescale for up to 20 minutes, remove the towels after the time is up and you will have a clean kettle once again.
