Nothing beats your first brew of the day! Except when you’ve got chalky bits of limescale floating in your mug—yuck!
Limescale can leave unsightly marks inside your kettle, stop it from working properly, and even change the taste of the water.
So, if you want to make sure that your morning cuppa isn’t ruined by mineral deposits, you’ve got to descale your kettle on a regular basis.
But what descaler should you use for the job? Find out what the best kettle descalers are today by reading on!
The Best Kettle Descalers in the UK
1. Kilrock Big K Multi-Purpose Descaler
Type: Liquid
Kilrock Big K is a moderately priced, British-made multi-purpose liquid descaler. It is made from formic acid, is biodegradable and is also phosphate free.
It’s an incredibly popular descaler because it’s so quick at breaking down toughened mineral deposits in kettles. In particular, it’s good for deposits left behind by hard water.
The product is very easy to use too! To use Kilrock Big K you just fill your kettle up halfway with fresh water, boil it, then add a measure of Kilrock Big K to it.
The water will start to fizz immediately and this is the start of the descaling process. After a few minutes, or when the fizzing stops, you can empty the kettle and re-fill it with clean water.
At the end, you’ll need to boil and rinse the kettle out multiple times to clear any residue. And that’s your kettle descaled for another few months! It’s extremely straightforward!
By the end of the treatment your kettle will look shinier and be as good as new. You should also notice that it functions better, and the water doesn’t taste chalky.
Remember that you need to be careful when using this product because the fizzing liquid can sometimes splatter a little. The reaction that goes on in the kettle can look like a little volcanic eruption. So, make sure you wear protective gear and keep kids and pets out of the way.
Kilrock Big K comes in a 400 ml bottle and each bottle contains five doses, which is an ample amount for a home. As an added bonus, Kilrock Big K can also be used to descale showerheads and irons.
So, it’s ideal if you live in a hard water area where limescale is continuously going to hinder equipment around the home.
2. Home Master Kettle Descaler Sachets
Type: Sachet
If pouring a measure of liquid descaler isn’t tickling your fancy and you’d like to try a simpler and cleaner option, try one of Home Master’s Kettle Descaler Sachets.
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!
There’s no need for you to worry about measurements or spilling solution on the floor, because Home Master have done all the hard work for you. In some respects, popping a Home Master descaling sachet into your kettle looks like you’re sticking a tea bag straight into the kettle!
The product is made in the UK, and can be used to descale and improve the performance and lifespan of both plastic and metal kettles.
You get eight seven-gram sachets in one tub, and although these sachets are some of the most expensive ones around, you don’t have to use them too often.
As a guide, you will need to use about one sachet every three months if you live in a hard water area, and one sachet every six months if you live in a soft water area.
Based on these timescales, you should get plenty of use out of one tub. The tub should also protect the unused sachets from damp while they’re in storage.
Sometimes you have to use more than one sachet to clean away toughened limescale in kettles.
So, if you live in a hard water area, and you use your kettle multiple times a day, you may find yourself going through the sachets faster than someone in a soft water area. Just factor this in.
3. Oust Powerful All Purpose Descaler Limescale Remover
Type: Sachet
Oust don’t want you to waste your life cleaning items in your home. Instead, they want you to be out enjoying yourself. So, they’ve created products to help you clean and revitalise items in your home in a short space of time.
Oust Powerful All Purpose Descaler Limescale Remover is one of these products! You get glowing, limescale free results in less than 10 minutes, and it won’t cost you a fortune either. In addition to this, the descaler can boost the performance of your kettle and help to prolong its life.
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.
And while you may think that’s a lot of sachets for a single house kettle, you’ll be glad to hear that Oust’s descaling sachets are multi-purpose and can clean showerheads and irons too. The bulk-buy option is also very reasonably priced.
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.
After 10 minutes has elapsed, you’ll need to pour the water away, refill the kettle to the halfway line and boil it again to remove residue.
The only downsides to using this product are that you may have to use a second sachet for extra stubborn mineral deposits, and you’ve got to be careful not to spill the liquid inside the sachet as you open/pour it into the kettle.
4. Quickshine Descaler Bag
Type: Sachet
Here’s another descaler sachet, this time from British brand Quickshine. The sachets look a bit like giant tea bags and are made using safe food-grade ingredients, so you won’t be putting any nasty chemicals in your kettle.
To use it, you just have to boil your kettle and then place the descaler bag in it and allow it to fizz for 25-30 minutes before rinsing your kettle.
As well as using it in your kettle, you can also use Quickshine’s Descaler Bag to clean coffee machines, irons and steam mops. The product comes with instructions on how to use it to remove limescale from each of these items.
Most users find this product very effective and easy to use. Using one once a month should be enough to keep your kettle looking new.
5. Ecozone Kettle & Iron Descaler
Type: Sachet
If you’re after a more natural, non-toxic, cruelty free and vegan friendly descaler, Ecozone Kettle & Iron Descaler is what you’re after!
Ecozone’s descaler comes in sachet form, and the sachets in question are filled with powder that contains citric acid. You get three sachets per pack, and the descaler has been specifically made for kettle and irons.
As with most descalers, Ecozone Kettle & Iron Descaler is super easy to use. All you need to do is boil a half-filled kettle, drop the contents of a single sachet into the water, and wait 30 minutes. Once the timer goes, you need to re-boil the kettle, tip the water out, and rinse the kettle multiple times.
By the end of the treatment your kettle should be free from limescale, running more efficiently, and have a longer lifespan. And if you’ve rinsed the kettle out properly, you won’t taste any descaler either!
For heavily limescaled kettles you may need to repeat the treatment a second time to clear all of the deposits away. But given that the price of this descaler isn’t too expensive, in comparison to other descalers, you could just pick a second pack up.
How Often Should You Descale an Electric Kettle?
How often you need to descale an electric kettle depends on what kind of water you put into it, and how often you use it.
For example, if you live in a hard water area, you may see more mineral deposits on the walls and bottom of your kettle, compared to a kettle from a soft water region.
Similarly, if you use your kettle many times a day, your kettle may be plagued by more limescale, in comparison to a kettle that’s used once a day.
As a guide:
- Hard water area – If you live in a hard water area and you boil your kettle a lot, you should aim to descale it every month. Similarly, if you live in a hard water area, but you rarely boil your kettle, you should also descale your kettle on a monthly basis just to keep the mineral deposits at bay.
- Soft water area – In contrast, if you live in a soft water area and you use your kettle a lot, you should aim to descale your kettle every one to two months. And if you fill your kettle up with soft water but you don’t boil your kettle very much, you should descale your kettle every two to three months.
How to Clean and Descale a Kettle
To clean and descale a kettle you can use any of the products listed above, just follow the advice on the pack.
Or if you’d prefer a more natural alternative, you can use white vinegar or malt vinegar. Just fill your kettle up to the quarter line mark with vinegar, then top up the kettle to the halfway line with water.
Boil the kettle, and then let the vinegar sit in the kettle for half an hour before going back to check on it. If the dirt has broken down you can empty the water away.
You’ll then need to leave the kettle to cool down. And then you can start rubbing the walls of the kettle with a soft toothbrush to remove chunks of limescale.
In addition to the interior, you should also clean the exterior of the kettle with a damp cloth.
What Causes Limescale Build-Up in Kettles?
Kettles can suffer with bad limescale if they’re constantly filled up with hard water. In short, hard water contains lots of mineral deposits like magnesium and calcium.
Over a period of time these deposits build up on the inside of kettles and present themselves as limescale.
In addition to this, not cleaning a kettle effectively, or often enough, can also lead to limescale build-ups.
It’s worth descaling your kettle on a regular basis to keep limescale at bay. If you allow limescale to run rampant in your kettle it will look horrible, it may make your boiled water taste funky, it can reduce your kettle’s lifespan, and it can also make your kettle function ineffectively.
Conclusion
If we had to recommend one product it would be Kilrock Big K Multi-Purpose Descaler because it’s great at removing limescale from kettles that are exposed to hard water. It’s also reasonably priced and it can be used to descale other items in a home.
Although a good back up option would be Oust Powerful All Purpose Descaler Limescale Remover because you can buy the product in bulk, which means you get plenty of sachets to use. (But you can buy it in single box form for a decent price if you’d prefer). It also works really quickly, which is another plus.
Bethan has a passion for exploring, reading, cooking and gardening! When she’s not creating culinary delights for her family, she’s concocting potions to keep her house clean!
