Conference govt02::basingstoke

    
    Dougie,
    	You can buy jug-sized filters from places like boots cookshop for 
    about �10 that might do the trick. They're like a coffee filter just put
    in the tap water at the top & then when It's filtered through you
    have a jugful of de-everythinged water that shouldn't fur up your
    kettle.
    
    	Sarah.

    
    Alternatively, do what my mum does & use a tea strainer after the
    kettle's boiled.

    
    I find a few drops of concentrated hydrochloric acid in the kettle
    whenever you fill up does the trick.
    
    It makes the coffee taste B****y awful but the kettle is nice and
    clean.
    
    Regards
    
    Andrew
    

    Dougie,
    
    Go for the jug water filter!  My brand new kettle furred up within
    a week of moving to Basingstoke and my coffee was undrinkable because
    of the scum on the side of the cup.
    
    I bought a "Brita" water filter and descaled the kettle.
    
    3 months on and I still don't have a scaley kettle, nor is my coffee
    scummy, nor does the coffee taste B****y awful!
        
    Susi

    	Have you considered a water softener? But not specifically
    recommneded for drinking water. We keep 2 jug kettles on the go.
    
    Richard.

    Hi,
    
    Talking about the concentrated Hydrochloric acid. From what I remember
    of my Chemistry lessons, The ion exchangers (which is what I think the
    water softeners use), eventually run out of H and OH ions to exchange
    for the Sulphates, Calcium and Sodium ions, and instead swap a OH in
    the water for a Sulphate. This makes good old H2SO4 or Sulphuric Acid!
    
    I think that some water softeners use litmus, and when this goes red,
    you should change the filter.
    
    Mark.

    
    Ok - that's the last time I try to engage in humourous diversions 
    with you lot !
    
    

	Another suggestion:

			Move to Plymouth



	I had a thirteen-year old kettle when I moved here, no scale whatsoever,
	after the first use here you could see scale already forming.

	Heather    
    

    Put a couple of seashells in the kettle and leave them there.
    

    Don't drink tea

    I had the same problem. So I bought a lump of metal which you put
    in the kettle. This attracts the scale and leaves youre water nice
    and clean.
    
    The lump of metal is like a cyclindrical roll of wire mesh about
    1 inch in diameter and length and costs about 50p.
    
    
    Tony
    

    
    ....and there I was thinking that that was a "BRILLO" pad...

    In our kettle that seams to make it worse cause it kinda breaks all
    the scale up into smaller pieces, so you still get pieces of scale in
    your tea - they're just smaller.
    
    Hele  Helen.

	The current issue of the consumer magazine 'Which' has a test of kettle 
(& coffee pot) descalers. I was astonished to find that there are over a dozen 
on the market.

	Best Buy was Ketlene - Kettle Fur Remover

Nigel

    re: .11
    
    see .1
    
    "That funny metal wire mesh thing in the bottom of my kettle doesn't..."

    nuff said..??
    

    
    I gave up with the metal mesh things as the improvement wasn't that
    terrific. What I ended up doing was buying some stuff called 'Oz'
    to clean out the kettle once and for all, and then bought myself
    a Brita water filter. I only use filtered water and after, what
    6 months my kettles still ok, no scum on the top of my tea or coffee
    (which I drink black, so it's usually worse).
    
    total cost, about #15 but worth every penny.
    
    'till sanity,
    
    	Derek.

Hi Derek! NotOnTheHeadCounters of the wrold Unite! You must inviteme up for a
nice cup of tea sometime?

Dougie

Have to agree with the descale it then use a water filter....

3 months on no scale!

I got a crystal jug... cost �10 plus about �2 a month for filter.



Xtine

       Having lived all my life in hard water areas, I've always taken
       chalk deposits in my tea for granted. I only discovered soft water 
       when I visited friends in the West Country and noticed that:
       (A) Their wedding present kettle was still as good as new
           internally 6 months later and 
       (B) having a shower would result in a mountain of frothy soap
           suds that were very difficult to get rid of.

       My wife, however, hates the fact that small sections of the white
       cliffs of Dover regularly accumulate in our kettle, and she
       descales it every month.

       It's worth remembering that gritty tea isn't the only effect of
       hard water. The scale forms when water his heated above a certain
       temperature (I forget what it is), so unless you do something
       about it, you can expect it to accumulate in your central heating
       system, electric emersion heater, steam iron and washing machine.

       Ian.

    Is there some sort of removeable filter that you could insert into the
    cold mains supply of the house.  As Ian mentioned the kettle is only
    one problem, I have an electric shower that has to have the shower head
    thumped against the wall every other day.  
    
    Regards
    
    Bruce

    
    >> Is there some sort of removeable filter that you could insert into the
    >> cold mains supply of the house.
    
    In a plumbers merchant last Saturday, I notice a "Ceramic Cartridge"
    device that fits into the rising mains and claims to remove the
    scale-making bits in the water (how's that for a technical
    description?).
    
    Unlike the earlier "Ceramic magnet" device (which I know works), the 
    cartridge is removable for cleaning.  Apparently there are two 
    versions, one with a ceramic catridge (which will need to be replaced 
    from time to time) or a stainless steel version (which is supposed to 
    last forever).
    
    The price was approx 56 pounds for the Ceramic version and approx 80
    pounds for the stainless steel version.
    
    Richard who_is_thinking_about_it_but_needs_convincing.

    We had a plumber come and fix a new radiator in the  house... he
    said that he had been using a filter on his mains in-let for the
    last 10 years... he had no problems, and did NOT have  the problem
    that 'water softeners' do  of having to fill it up with salt every
    month.
    
    He suggested that it would be possible to re-coop the cost (and
    his fees for installing it) in a little over 12 months... (due to
    better heating and free-er movement of water around the system -
    and also less breakdowns were likely in the boiler and pump, when
    it tries to pump  these bits of Dover around the system).
    
    As yet we haven't tried it, but it certainly seemed a good idea...