Like most (60%) residents of the UK, I live in a hard water area.
That means soap lathers less, my hair lays flatter, and my shower head regularly gets blocked by mineral deposits; limescale has taken over my life.
So, naturally, I had the genius idea of buying myself a see-through kettle.
Every morning, I’m confronted by flaky, pale, hard-to-budge scales that inch further and further up my kettle every day. And while I’ve tried (and loved) specially-designed descaler products before, today’s limescale rage needed a same-day solution.
Reddit seemed to offer a solution. In a post shared to r/CasualUK, site user u/benanderson89 said: ”[Today I learned] you can descale a kettle with a lemon.”
So, I thought I’d try it to see how it went (and for reference, here’s the dismal, shameful “before” picture).
According to the Redditor, you’re meant to put the juice of one or two lemons into a cold, dry kettle, swirl the juice around, and leave it for an hour.
After that, add some water and boil it, they advised. If the limescale doesn’t simply pour out, you can try it again,
I’ll be honest; I’m not sure whether I was actually meant to include the lemon half I left in the kettle. It’s probably not advisable because the skin might be contaminated and the lemon juice is the part that does all the work ― but I followed the instructions to a tee otherwise.
It works because, as Karina Toner, operations manager and professions cleaner with Spekless, told Homes & Gardens: “The citric acid in lemons breaks down the calcium and magnesium found in hard water stains, making it really effective in removing limescale and mineral deposits.”
Even though I knew why the trick should work, though, I was pretty surprised to physically see the annoying layer eroding away.
And I was pretty astonished when (warning: gross footage ahead) the shards simply poured out of my kettle after the lemon’s boil.
The job was nearly done, but, like the original poster, I found it took another hour-long soak to completely clean my kettle.
After that, though, my kettle looked almost as good as new.
Experts advise cleaning the kettle with soap and water after trying the hack to remove any lingering tastes.
I agree with this ― I didn’t bother until I realised my Earl Grey tasted unusually zesty. A simple pump of washing-up liquid and a thorough rinse banished the aftertaste.
The lemon juice doesn’t need to be fresh either, Food Republic says. The bottled kind will work the mineral-busing magic just as well.
All I know is I’m never buying descaler again...
