You can’t just buy a new kettle and post a picture like that…
What was the process to using the citric acid ?
Does it work on taps and sinks?
Also great for throwing some in the toilet. Works great and is a lot cheaper than those under water cleaner tablets you can buy.
That is glorious.
You know at school when you’re like “when will I ever need to know this!”, well this basic chemical reaction is that.
Any acid will react with limescale (calcium carbonate) to produce water and carbon dioxide.
Any specific descaling product is just acid with a markup, usually lactic acid. Vinegar which is often promoted as a natural cleaning agent is acetic acid.
You can buy big bags of citric acid online or from hardware shops. Just mix with water and apply heat to speed up the reaction. You can tell it’s working if you see bubbles (the CO2).
As an aside, acid rain is the same principle. Sulphuric acid dissolves limestone structures.
I use cheap white vinegar overnight. Just got to remember to wash it out thoroughly before I start to make my morning coffee!
I’ve bought a bag of citric acid today after reading the comments from the previous thread
I realised this after reading the ingredients on an expensive packet of kettle descaler. Which read “citric acid” and I realised I’d been done.
Like a lemon..?
np. I use either citric acid or vinegar once a month overnight in a kettle. Keeps it nice and shiny.
Thanks for the reminder! Will be getting some today while I’m out, my kettle is quite minging
Come on you had the perfect opportunity for a before and after and you did us dirty like that 🤷🏻♂️
I cheap out and use hydrochloric acid from the DIY store. It’s sold as brick acid, or spirits of salt. Fiver for a bottle, and it’s brutal stuff.
Fill kettle with water, add acid, maybe 10ml of it and wait for the bubbling to stop. Before anyone says it will dissolve the heating elements, no it won’t. As long as limescale is there, the limescale will react first before anything else. Reactivity series. Bit more advanced chem istry.
A photo of the inside of a clean kettle is peak casualuk. Love it.
Glad I don’t have to deal with southern water limescale anymore
Just use white vinegar maybe? Natural and can buy in bulk for cheap. Works exactly the same
17 comments
You can’t just buy a new kettle and post a picture like that…
What was the process to using the citric acid ?
Does it work on taps and sinks?
Also great for throwing some in the toilet. Works great and is a lot cheaper than those under water cleaner tablets you can buy.
That is glorious.
You know at school when you’re like “when will I ever need to know this!”, well this basic chemical reaction is that.
Any acid will react with limescale (calcium carbonate) to produce water and carbon dioxide.
Any specific descaling product is just acid with a markup, usually lactic acid. Vinegar which is often promoted as a natural cleaning agent is acetic acid.
You can buy big bags of citric acid online or from hardware shops. Just mix with water and apply heat to speed up the reaction. You can tell it’s working if you see bubbles (the CO2).
As an aside, acid rain is the same principle. Sulphuric acid dissolves limestone structures.
I use cheap white vinegar overnight. Just got to remember to wash it out thoroughly before I start to make my morning coffee!
I’ve bought a bag of citric acid today after reading the comments from the previous thread
I realised this after reading the ingredients on an expensive packet of kettle descaler. Which read “citric acid” and I realised I’d been done.
Like a lemon..?
np. I use either citric acid or vinegar once a month overnight in a kettle. Keeps it nice and shiny.
Thanks for the reminder! Will be getting some today while I’m out, my kettle is quite minging
Come on you had the perfect opportunity for a before and after and you did us dirty like that 🤷🏻♂️
I cheap out and use hydrochloric acid from the DIY store. It’s sold as brick acid, or spirits of salt. Fiver for a bottle, and it’s brutal stuff.
Fill kettle with water, add acid, maybe 10ml of it and wait for the bubbling to stop. Before anyone says it will dissolve the heating elements, no it won’t. As long as limescale is there, the limescale will react first before anything else. Reactivity series. Bit more advanced chem istry.
A photo of the inside of a clean kettle is peak casualuk. Love it.
Glad I don’t have to deal with southern water limescale anymore
Just use white vinegar maybe? Natural and can buy in bulk for cheap. Works exactly the same
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