revtothelimit - motorbike forum

I know, I know, stoopid question for a bike forum but I don’t remember the last time I needed to do this and I totally know you guys will have the answer

I’ve been using the same little electric travel kettle for about five years and never needed to descale it

I’ve lived in the valley for three months and damn, it definitely needs descaling cos I’m over having bits in my tea!! (Guess the mountain water is pretty good up high, less so down here )

Not overly keen to go buy special chemicals but if that’s the only option . . . . .

But, I have bicarbonate, white vinegar, sterilising tablets and probably other useful stuff - I just don’t know what to try, and if I should boil the kettle with « whatever » in it or soak it cold???


Heyulp !!!

If you don't want to use chemicals get your hand in there with a cloth, it'll come off easily enough.

I normally have to descale about every 3 weeks but for some reason or kettle has stopped scaling up for the last month. I assume water supply has changed.

Vinegar, especially the 30-40% industrial cleaner stuff... but the fumes would about gag a vulture, so do it outside.

I use 'Oust' on anything that needs descaling - coffee machine, shower heads. It's not expensive. ~£4 for 3 or 4 sachets of liquid.

Don't need it often with the water supply here though.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01MU6XGFY

I wonder why people ask simple questions of random bikers on the internet when there's this vast reserve of knowledge accessible simply by typing a question into a search engine.

Maybe I'll ask Chat GPT if it knows why.

Vinegar will stink for ages and probably tase foul for even longer.

Get yourself some citric acid in powder form. Less than half a cup (100g?), fill with water, boil it in the kettle.

Flush it a couple of times and it will come up like new. Million other things you can do with citric, including making sherbet. So it is food safe.

Really good for use as a dip to remove rust for example.

Taff wrote: Sat Dec 06, 2025 9:50 pm If you don't want to use chemicals get your hand in there with a cloth, it'll come off easily enough.

Prior to buying a water softener, I used to manually scrub the inside of the kettle every month with some green Scotchbrite, empty the kettle and flush with water, then add vinegar and leave for a while. As you're in France you can get 'Acide Chlorhydrique' which is waaaay stronger and would cause a very entertaining reaction with whatever limescale is left in the kettle. But do it outside...

Your choice...

How often does it start looking like shit. I went out with a lass from Southport many moons ago and the water down that way turned your kettle inners white. Sod that shit, chuck it in the bin and get a new one. TBF i would rather boil a pot.

I use citric acid. It sounds nasty but it's natural (found in fruit), organic and is the fizz in sherbet and cola bottle sweets. The majority of households descalers are citric acid. It's cheaper to buy it as citric acid than branded as a household descaler.

For a kettle I would add three or four teaspoons, boil it and leave it for a few minutes, rinse and repeat until its clean.

I use a filter coffee machine a lot so I will run a solution of citric acid through that once every few months.

I also make up a solution in a spray bottle and use it to get rid of water marks around the shower and taps etc.

It's about £4 per kg which is enough to descale a small village.

Taff wrote: Sat Dec 06, 2025 9:50 pm If you don't want to use chemicals get your hand in there with a cloth, it'll come off easily enough.

I normally have to descale about every 3 weeks but for some reason or kettle has stopped scaling up for the last month. I assume water supply has changed.

Cool, I wasn't sure if that would damage the inside of the kettle - don't know why I thought it was at risk of damage!!

Saga Lout wrote: Sat Dec 06, 2025 11:46 pm I wonder why people ask simple questions of random bikers on the internet when there's this vast reserve of knowledge accessible simply by typing a question into a search engine.

Maybe I'll ask Chat GPT if it knows why.

Because some of still like communicating with people rather than just making digs at random people online! Especially when pretty isolated most of the time. And having used google more than a couple of times and had very conflicting results, I prefer real life people with experience!!

But hey, if you prefer to talk to a random AI on the internet, go with it

Felix wrote: Sun Dec 07, 2025 1:27 am How often does it start looking like shit. I went out with a lass from Southport many moons ago and the water down that way turned your kettle inners white. Sod that shit, chuck it in the bin and get a new one. TBF i would rather boil a pot.

LOL. Three months! Not sure I want to replace it that often!! And with a spazzy dominant arm, I'd rather not be lifting pots of boiling water too often!!

Trinity765 wrote: Sun Dec 07, 2025 4:55 am I use citric acid. It sounds nasty but it's natural (found in fruit), organic and is the fizz in sherbet and cola bottle sweets. The majority of households descalers are citric acid. It's cheaper to buy it as citric acid than branded as a household descaler.

For a kettle I would add three or four teaspoons, boil it and leave it for a few minutes, rinse and repeat until its clean.

I use a filter coffee machine a lot so I will run a solution of citric acid through that once every few months.

I also make up a solution in a spray bottle and use it to get rid of water marks around the shower and taps etc.

It's about £4 per kg which is enough to descale a small village.

That's a good call, I've seen suggestions of using that for various things, so I'll grab some this week, and. you've reminded me that I will need to check the coffee machine too


For more info, the kettle is about 700ml, so very dinky (cos, you know, teeny tiny apartment!). I am apparently getting mine back from my mum, but not till spring, so trying to keep using the dinky one instead of buying a new one (the one my mother appropriated has sentimental value!). But maybe I'll head to Lidl when they have cheap ones, but as I rarely need more than 500ml of boiling water at a time, it seems silly!!

I think the 'Oust' stuff I use is a conc. citric acid solution.

Given the low frequency use I just find the sachets convenient (and I got a bulk-ish deal on 4 packs which will last me quite a while).

Go to the Amazon website and order the cheapest kettle they sell.

I have used vinegar. Watered down. Then boil the kettle.

Only use a little as it may froth up and boil over as it reacts with the limescale.

Noggin wrote: Sun Dec 07, 2025 7:37 am

Saga Lout wrote: Sat Dec 06, 2025 11:46 pm I wonder why people ask simple questions of random bikers on the internet when there's this vast reserve of knowledge accessible simply by typing a question into a search engine.

Maybe I'll ask Chat GPT if it knows why.

Because some of still like communicating with people rather than just making digs at random people online! Especially when pretty isolated most of the time. And having used google more than a couple of times and had very conflicting results, I prefer real life people with experience!!

But hey, if you prefer to talk to a random AI on the internet, go with it

But most of us aren't real people, just a small army of bots talking to one another.

I thought everybody knew.

Do what the septics do, boil your water in the microwave

KungFooBob wrote: Sun Dec 07, 2025 11:18 am Do what the septics do, boil your water in the microwave

Moving from cleaning to prevention.

Water around here is so hard it has tattoos and a dog on a rope.

We used a Britta filter jug, along with a mesh 'lump' inside the kettle. They stop most of it.

KungFooBob wrote: Sun Dec 07, 2025 11:18 am Do what the septics do, boil your water in the microwave

That's because 110v kettles take a week to get *almost* to the boil. Expats bring 240v kettles from the UK, put a clothes drier/welder plug on them to run them at 220v.