Any tips on cleaning a kettle?

1

We have an electric kettle that a guest put something other than water in. There is some brown staining and an unidentifiable smell.
Im just wondering if anyone has any good tips for cleaning it?
It’s quite new and it would be a shame to chuck it.
It’s too small to get my hand in, and a long handled dish brush didn’t affect it.

Thanks. :blush:

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To remove the residue, pour in a cup of white vinegar and let it soak for several hours. Use your brush to scrub the stained area periodically. It’s unlikely that this will remove every trace of staining if it oxidized the steel.

To remove the smell, fill the kettle with water, then add a teaspoon of liquid bleach and let it soak for a couple hours. But, before you put it back in service, you may still need to get the bleach smell out. Do this by filling with water, let it set for an hour, dump out the water, let it air dry for a couple hours. Repeat until the bleach smell is gone.

It could be some kind of herbal tea, but I literally saw some “Airbnb hacks” article several years ago that talked about cooking oatmeal and ramen noodles in the water kettle. Uggg.

I moved to a glass water kettle with stainless steel base so that I could easily tell if this ever happened and minimize cleaning.

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You could try filling it with white vinegar, let it sit for a couple hours, then use the bottle brush while the vinegar is still in it.
A friend used to drop a Polident tablet with water in his thermos bottle o’nite, which also removed old coffee, etc.

The bleach, as Brian suggested, shouldn’t necessary if you use vinegar, as vinegar removes smells as well as dissolves mineral scale and whatever else was in there.

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4

Thanks both, I’ll give that a try.

It was a cheap kettle, as was its replacement but I don’t like waste, so the suggestions are appreciated. :+1:

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Back when I worked in restaurants, the go to was ice cubes, kosher salt and lemon juice. Then shake the kettle vigorously for a scrubbing effect. Let it sit and soak for awhile then shake again. Repeat as necessary. I’m not sure I would use bleach or other toxic chemicals.

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Thanks yecatsr, I like the sound of that.

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7

Ditto. It works

Another option
My stainless steel coffee carafe needs periodic stain removal. Hot water poured in. Tablespoon Oxyclean. Long soak/set. Rinse rinse rinse

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I echo others here. I clean electric kettle routinely with a couple of inches of vinegar as soon as they leave, and leave it overnight if possible. I used to have difficulty getting the last of faint vinegar smell, but now I put a few drops of fragrance-free plant-enzyme-based cleaner in fresh water and bring to to the boil it once or twice.

I use plant-enzyme-based cleaner because it leaves no residue – the active molecules actually fall apart as soon as the water evaporates. I use an American product called Biogreen Clean – not available in stores, but free delivery in continental 48 states… I buy a gallon of concentrate and do my own diluting for spray. No “hospital smell” after cleaning, totally disinfects, and disappears (relatively fresh) blood in seconds
Bio+Green+BIOGCGAL+All+Natural+Industrial+Equipment+All-Purpose+Cleaner,+1+Gal

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