# Descaling with vinegar



## robint (Jun 6, 2013)

Hi All

excuse my ignorance but I heard that plain white vinegar diluted 2:1 was a good descaler and not particularly hard on aluminium boilers (you only leave it in to soak for 1/2 hour)

Yes plenty of flushing needed, but it works for kettles

Sorry if this is a dumb question:act-up:


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## RisingPower (Dec 27, 2009)

Well citric/tartaric/branded classic descaler is probably much more effective and safe.


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## uma_bica (Mar 28, 2012)

robint said:


> Hi All
> 
> excuse my ignorance but I heard that plain white vinegar diluted 2:1 was a good descaler and not particularly hard on aluminium boilers (you only leave it in to soak for 1/2 hour)
> 
> ...


My pavoni manual even mentions it as an alternative to a commercial descaler.


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## HDAV (Dec 28, 2012)

Vinegar is a mild acid, thats all descaling is doing using an acidic solution to dissolve the build up of limescale, alkaline compound, so any acid will work........

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1kg-Citric-acid-food-grade-Top-quality-/140426902395#vi-content


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## rodabod (Dec 4, 2011)

It may not actually be a problem, but I've heard bad things about creating aluminium citrate in the past. That's the reason why I buy tartaric acid anyway.


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## robint (Jun 6, 2013)

Hi HDAV £7 for a kg, guess that would last 5 years in a domestic 1/mnth flush? I forgot what Aluminium citrate did to you? http://www.whale.to/v/tomlinson_b.html But I guess you are going to flush it all out with clean water so potential contaminates would be negligible after a couple litres Now going to see what plain vinegar does to aluminium


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