Kettles

No kettle thread? How have you tea-drinkers survived?

I need a new kettle. Is there anything out there that can help reduce hard water limescale buildup?

Any funky new innovations in the kettle world I should be aware of?

Note: do Not want anything power hungry like keep hot features or Internet enabled bullshit.

Is there anything out there that can help reduce hard water limescale buildup?

Drop a couple of those little scrunchy wire balls in, they don't last for ever but it helps. Got mine from John Lewis I think.

scrunchy wire balls? That sounds less healthy than drinking the calcium build up.

@hippy I'll tell you a kettle NOT to get. Its this Heston Bolockface bastard, below. Expensive. Looks pretty but unfortunately doesn't get the water to boiling point before cutting out. A slight flaw in any Kettle, I'm sure you'll agree. It's in the box ready to be returned.

0/9

Have you considered kettle training?

Put a teaspoon of this in, every time you boil the kettle.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00YINTX76

You'll barely notice the taste after a while.

Don't get this, had it less then a year and it started to splutter and crackle due to a random leak, Morphy Richards customer support was a joke, as I didn't register the guarentee within 4 weeks of purchase they completely washed there hands of me. Avoid these jokers, currently smashing out the tea with one of these bad boys and very happy with it.

Came here thinking that there was already a watch thread.

I thought everyone on earth knew that Morphy Richards and Russell Hobbs were bywords for appalling quality and a guarantee of total electrical failure up to three hours after any kind of warranty has expired?

Kettles should be bought cheaply and annually.

They're just steel, so not really less healthy than using a steel kettle!

Citri..fruit?! umadbro

Kettles should be bought cheaply and anally.

Whatever gets that tea made...

Got a link? What are they supposed to do?

I like kettles that I can always boil - and that last forever.

@hippy try https://www.amazon.co.uk/LeXpress-Steel-Mesh-Kettle-Protector/dp/B0001IWUCC

when the kettle boils, they just tumble around inside, knocking the limescale off the walls of the kettle. Kind of like those big pipecleaners you can twist around your hubs to keep them shiny.

Avoid the kenwood Kmix kettle, expensive and when broke kenwood said go away.

Dualit kettle is fine, and a bodum glass one. What about the filter kettles, the one that have water filters built in?

So the limescale comes off the inside of the kettle and ends up in your drinks?
That's precisely the outcome I'm trying to avoid.

The simplest and best solution to limescale in your kettle is to move out of London to somewhere with soft water.

When we bought the Welsh pile in the late 90s our kettle de-furred through normal use in a couple of weeks. But then again, it meant living in rural Wales so a shiny kettle didn't really balance the books to be honest...

Citiric acid, once a week, prevent limescale build up.

Don't drink it tho.

Except for teh lulz.

My (ex-) father-in-law once put a spoonful in his coffee, thinking it was sugar.

We bought this Bosch one - it has no problem getting the water to temperature, it can also keep it there and only bring it to 70, 80 or 90 if you like which is good for green tea etc.

Unfortunately water has started leaking out of the bottom so I need to take it back. Expected better from Bosch (we've got their appliances and they're great) so I'm disappointed.

I'll get a replacement and hope it doesn't leak again but if anyone actually finds a kettle that is decent please let me know.

Citric acid naturally occurs in citrus fruit and is used in food as a preservative so it's not going to hurt you.

buy a shit one from Argos. Every year when it starts to leak at the base, take it back and they'll replace it for free. Been doing that on and off for some time now with great success.

Is there anything out there that can help reduce hard water limescale buildup?

Yes, vinegar, the kind you put on your fish and chips, make sure you dont put too much is a the reaction can be quite violent when boiling the kettle.

I was hoping for something that removed the need for scheduled maintenance. My slave can be put to better use elsewhere, you see?

vinegar, the kind you put on your fish and chips

No I fucking don't! Horrible shite.
Years of miserable weather on this damp island has addled your brains! Freaks! Freaks, I tells ya!!!

Well no.

Which is why I buy the food grade stuff.

I like my tea / coffee to taste like tea / coffee though, and less like batteries.

This is London, my friend. We have hard water.

Even if you installed a water softener, you would still need to fill it with salt every now & then (and wouldn't really want to be drinking softened water either, which is why you would always have an un-softened mains tap).

Citric acid can be used to clean your dunny too (which will have scale build-up). And your waskhing machine. And your coffee machine. And your [anything that uses water]. And it's magnitudes cheaper than any branded crap, which just contains citric acid and colouring.

You could always use bottled water...