Take care of your kitchen appliances

I have a water heater for when I drink tea or instant coffee. And also a coffee maker for when I want real coffee. But this post is however about the water heater.

I was making a cup of coffee the other evening when the water heater began to choke and sputter.

I remembered that I hadn’t cleaned my water heater for a while.

I also have very calcareous (chalky) water, so leaving a glass of water on the table overnight leaves a white chalky lining, that you can’t brush off by normal dishwashing, you have to use some decalcifier, or alternatively, normal household vinegar.

So I do this every so often with my dishes, cutlery, sink, etc.

But back to the water heater. I noticed it was coughing a bit so I realized that it was time to give it a once over.

Three easy steps to do so:

1. Pour in 3 cups of vinegar
2. Run the water heater once (with the vinegar)
3. Rinse the water heater afterwards by running it 2-3 times through with just plain water

If the chalky-ness is still there then repeat the process.

And if the chalky-ness is stubborn… then let the vinegar sit in the water heater for an hour or two before (just the actual contact with vinegar, not necessarily boiled vinegar, will begin to dissolve the chalk) and then run the water heater once (step 2) and rinse (step 3).

Here’s my saving tip for the day, lol, albeit done in a sort of Martha Stewart kind of way :)

Taking care of the appliances you have will save you money in the long run. You won’t have to shop for new ones on a regular basis just because they’ve conked out (or coughed, ahem, then conked out).

And another saving tip that was well-hidden but still present in this post is the using of vinegar to clean out your water heater instead of a liquid decalcifier. You can buy expensive brands of different liquid decalcifiers (which I often used before I found out this tip with the vinegar) but experience has shown me that not only is normal household vinegar cheaper, it’s also more effective.

Last however not least, it should also be said that this cleaning tip can be used for good old coffee machines as well as water heaters.

Take good care of them. They’re often times (especially for a thesis writer like me) you’re best buddies :)