Join for free
Bruce's Avatar
Bruce
Chatterbox
Bruce is offline
Wollongong, Australia
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 15,218
Bruce is male  Bruce has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
04-07-2017, 08:54 AM
1

Defurring Electric Jug

I have just spent 2 month travelling and one of the casualties was my electric jug.

At home I have soft water and the only problem with the water is that the high iron content (Australia is made of iron ore) stains the inside red/brown after a couple of years but it doesn't affect the operation of the jug.

However on my trip I stayed at places where they rely on bore water and the minerals in this water don't bear thinking about. My jug element started to fur up so when I got home I cleaned it with vinegar so now is is sparking like new ready for another trip.

  1. Put 1 litre of 50% water and 50% white vinegar in the jug and bring to boil.
  2. Let stand for 15 to 20 minutes.
  3. Empty and scrub with stiff brush (not necessary in this case).
  4. Flush several times to get rid of vinegar taste/smell.
  5. Dry thoroughly and leave overnight.
  6. Fill with plain water and boil - check for taste or odour.
  7. Job Done.




If you look closely in the picture in the left hand shot you can see where I tried to scrape off the deposit with a finger nail.


Attached Thumbnails (Click to enlarge)
Click image for larger version

Name:	170704 Kettle Before After.jpg
Views:	120
Size:	14.0 KB
ID:	3261  
Julie1962
Chatterbox
Julie1962 is offline
Surrey
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 42,846
Julie1962 is female  Julie1962 has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
04-07-2017, 08:56 AM
2

Re: Defurring Electric Jug

Yes that's best method IMO and I use the boiled vinegar water to descale my shower head too, just stick it in a big bowl and soak the shower head over night and you have a lovely clean shower head again.
ruthio
Chatterbox
ruthio is offline
Southern UK
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 11,732
ruthio is female  ruthio has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
04-07-2017, 09:51 AM
3

Re: Defurring Electric Jug

Good tips, thank you!
OldGreyFox's Avatar
OldGreyFox
Chatterbox
OldGreyFox is offline
South Yorkshire
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 21,202
OldGreyFox is male  OldGreyFox has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
04-07-2017, 10:27 AM
4

Re: Defurring Electric Jug

Yes, good job Bruce.
The Acetic acid in the vinegar breaks down the limescale deposits.
The Citric acid contained in Lemons also works well, one of the reasons why most household cleaning agents are based on it...

Trying to scrape off the limescale, or using an abrasive product tends to do more damage than the limescale does....
Bruce's Avatar
Bruce
Chatterbox
Bruce is offline
Wollongong, Australia
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 15,218
Bruce is male  Bruce has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
04-07-2017, 11:52 AM
5

Re: Defurring Electric Jug

BTW some of this bore water tends to have the smell of sulphur about it so you shower with the smell hanging about. The smell does no harm and it doesn't worry me but at one camp site I came across one bloke who was gagging while using the water to clean his teeth.

Another problem is that the water can be warm to hot, depending on the depth it is coming from, so there is actually no cold water unless the town is big enough to have cooling ponds. That is not always the case and the bore water is cold.

In the Nullarbor at least one of the roadhouses has its own desalination plant to treat the otherwise undrinkable bore water; that costs money but the cost of desalination has dropped dramatically in recent years. Most roadhouses generate their own electricity too of course.
Julie1962
Chatterbox
Julie1962 is offline
Surrey
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 42,846
Julie1962 is female  Julie1962 has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
04-07-2017, 11:57 AM
6

Re: Defurring Electric Jug

I don't think id like that at all. I can't even drink tap water unless it's been in the fridge a good while to cool down.

I've been on camping trips here where we've used mouthwash instead of water to clean our teeth and had to buy every drop of water we drank. No bore holes for us. Although one campsite did have a boring old *** hole but that's a whole other story
 

Thread Tools


© Copyright 2009, Over50sForum   Contact Us | Over 50s Forum! | Archive | Privacy Statement | Terms of Use | Top

Powered by vBulletin Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.