But generally, the stainless steel wire is pretty much solid and isn’t prone to breakage. Besides, you ought to regularly wash your descaler ball under running water, so this should assure you that no unwanted bits and pieces will go to the water you will be drinking. How Long Can You Use a Descaler Ball? If your kettle is particularly scaly, you can also add a small amount of bicarbonate of soda to the vinegar and water mixture to help shift any rogue flakes. You should only need to add about a teaspoon, but keep an eye on your kettle to make sure it doesn't bubble over. Aside from being fuss-free, this ball is reusable. You can use it for as long as you can. So while you can still squeeze the ball while cleaning it and no limescale deposits have hardened within the mesh, it’s still good to go.

Technically, “hard water” is water with high mineral content, but for practical purposes, the only mineral which really matters is lime. Lime is perfectly safe to drink, but it doesn’t necessarily taste very pleasant and the resultant lime-scale can seriously damage household appliances. A kettle descaler ball won’t give your water, tea, or coffee a metallic taste. Just make sure to give the ball a good wash, then rinse it with hot water before using it for the first time.Firstly, you need to keep on top of cleaning. ‘If you live in an area with hard water, we recommend cleaning your kettle at least once a month to reduce limescale buildup,’ says Hannah. If you’re serious about your tea and coffee, then a hard water kettle with temperature presets will be an absolute godsend. Contrary to popular belief, there’s more to making tea and coffee than just mixing things with boiling water. Both tea and coffee can actually burn at too high temperatures, affecting the final taste, which can include bitterness. NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Ulster Bank, which are all part of the NatWest Group, will now shut at least 172 of their bank branches in 2023 and 2024.

While the kettle is a limescale hotspot in many homes, this household annoyance can also pop up in other places. But don’t worry, we’ve got a solution for that too… You should be descaling every four to eight weeks to keep your kettle clean — don't let scale build up, as it's more difficult to remove the longer it's there. Heavy deposits might need a repeat treatment to completely break them down. How to prevent kettle limescale People may be hesitant to use kettle descaler balls because of a few concerns. Here are some of the things people want to know about these products. Will a Kettle Descaler Ball Give Your Water, Tea, or Coffee a Metallic Taste?

Alternatively, you can make a cleaning solution by mixing lemon and vinegar. Lemon reduces the odor of the vinegar. It’s not difficult to use Oust Powerful All Purpose Descaler Limescale Remover, you just need to fill your kettle up to the halfway line and boil it. When the kettle has boiled you can pour the liquid from the sachet into the water. The minerals responsible for any limescale in your kettle were already present in the water when it was running through your plumbing. So, if you drank the water straight from the tap without boiling it first, the same chemicals causing the limescale problem would still be present, they just wouldn’t be so obvious.

Some also suggest using Coke to descale your kettle, however, again, we do not recommend this. While it may shift some limescale, this can potentially damage your kettle and void its warranty. Tips to reduce limescale in your kettle You should look to descale your kettle once every four to eight weeks to make sure scale doesn’t build up because the longer you leave limescale inside your kettle, the more difficult it’ll be to remove. Remember, these are just general guidelines. You should also consider how often you use the kettle. If you use it multiple times a day, you might need to descale it more often compared to someone who only uses it occasionally.This natural solution doesn’t rely on any chemicals, so it’s both kind to the environment and inexpensive. Thinly slice a lemon and drop the slices into your kettle. Fill the kettle to the top of the area affected by limescale (but not above any maximum fill guide, or below any minimum), then boil it and allow it to cool without pouring out the water or removing the lemons. Once it has cooled, boil it again, allow to cool, then pour away the water and rinse it out. Martin Lewis: Do you have a Power of Attorney? It’s crucial protection – not just for the elderly – and more important than a will

First and foremost, a good hard-water kettle has to be a good kettle. In other words, it has to be safe and comfortable to use, reasonably quiet and ideally both fast and efficient in operation. We were actually quite surprised how many anti-lime-scale kettles actually fell down on this point. They had decent filtration, but they all had weak points as basic kettles, such as difficulty seeing the water gauge. Once we had discounted these hard-water kettles, we were left with a shortlist of just five which we are happy to recommend. Instead of dropping a tablet, liquid or powder into your kettle, you just add a single sachet to the hot water and leave it to fizz! Make sure your kettle has a limescale filter and that you clean it regularly. This is designed to catch the limescale as you pour, so you want one which is well-fitted with a dense mesh.We’d describe this offering from Morphy Richards as being cheap and cheerful and basically a good offering if you just want an affordable way to get the job done. It may not look especially premium, but it isn’t ugly either, in fact it might fit quite well into a minimalist kitchen and it’s 1.5-litre capacity should be big enough for most households. The Chef Aid Stainless Steel Doughnut Kettle Descaler effectively prevents furring in kettles of any kind. Kettle descaler balls, also called kettle fur balls or kettle scale collectors, are balls made of stainless steel that you put inside your kettle to keep it from collecting limescale or from furring up. This rolled mesh will trap the limescale that would otherwise settle and build up in your kettle over time. We’ll run through some of the best options for removing limescale from your kettle below. But first, we’ll explore what limescale is, where it comes from, and whether it’s a health risk. A single regular box comes with three sachets inside, but with this mega bulk-buy option, you get a whopping six boxes, so you’ll have 18 descaling sachets to use.