Monday 4 March 2019

Fur Coat, No Knickers!

Which means "having a superficially positive appearance that is belied by the reality" But I have become a little more concerned about a superficially positive appearance to my household appliances, which is concealing the fur coat on the inside.
These little mesh metal donuts are brilliant at collecting the limescale which furs up the kettle and affects the quality of the tea.
But it is important to remember to take them out regularly and rinse and squish them well to dislodge the little bits of fur. 
After tomorrow's pancake party, I shall gather up the lemon skins, and boil them up for a while inside the kettle, to dislodge any remaining fur. A quick rinse, and all will be sparkling again.

My kettle doesn't have an exposed element like this- but honestly,
 how many people have a furred up kettle in their kitchen which they use daily, yet neglect to descale? Our coffee maker gets descaled regularly. It's a Melitta 'Look' and has a number of great features, including a light which comes on when it's time to descale. And then it has a descale programme which is really easy to operate.
You just put the solution in the reservoir and press the button!
My steam iron is a Rowenta DG1740, purchased April 2008. The most expensive iron I've ever bought, costing over £70 [and that was a half price offer!] I calculated then that if it lasted 5 years, it would be 30p a week for my ironing. 
I have emptied out the water reservoir and descaled it regularly-and 11 years on, it's still brilliant, and costing less than 2p a day to run.

I definitely do have knickers, but I am very happy to report that my appliance do not have fur coats.
It certainly pays to take care of things, they will pay you back for your TLC by lasting longer.
Are there other items in your home which get furred up? Do you have any useful tips?



5 comments:

  1. Following an article in a newspaper Saturday supplement recently I descaled our kettle using white vinegar. Fill kettle with equal mix of white vinegar and water, let it stand for 30 minutes, boil kettle, empty out and rinse thoroughly.

    It worked well except for the spout, our kettle has a hidden element, also I was surprised how much vinegar was needed, hasn’t realised capacity of kettle.

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  2. I pulled down the giant kettles in the church kitchen yesterday and immediately noticed that someone had done this! It has reminded me that it is time to do my own kettle! I've never used the lemons instead I use baking soda and vinegar (as I do for most things). It makes such a difference o the tea!

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  3. I only need to do this to the kettles ( hob and electric) that we use in the moho. Here in our area Scotland we don’t have hard water so the appliances don’t fur up. Where we live, near Glasgow, we say “fur coat, nae knickers” about anyone who is trying to be something they are not,

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  4. Like the previous comment I too use baking soda and vinegar and let it sit for awhile. Rinse it out well and voila.

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  5. I will be over here - hanging my head in shame

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