Silver, teapot, washing machine: what in the house can be cleaned with citric acid
Citric acid has long been familiar not only to those who love to cook, but also to those who prefer to clean their home without household chemicals.
Indeed, this white powder with a characteristic sour taste can easily replace some cleaning gels and liquids. But what exactly can citric acid help clean?
For example, scale in a kettle. When boiling hard water, a lot of salts settle on the walls and bottom of the kettle, and these deposits do not look very aesthetically pleasing.
To remove at least some of the scale, pour two small packets of citric acid into the kettle, add water and boil this solution, let it sit for about half an hour, then pour it out and additionally clean the walls with an abrasive sponge.
This entire process can then be repeated to dissolve and remove any remaining limescale deposits.
Another household appliance that can be easily and effectively cleaned with citric acid is the washing machine.
The algorithm for cleaning it from scale is no less simple: pour citric acid into the powder tray (in the amount of a couple of heaped tablespoons) and turn on the washing mode that requires the hottest water and takes the longest. When the "wash" is finished, simply drain the water with the dissolved citric acid and accumulated dirt.
Of course, microwave ovens can also be cleaned with citric acid without much hassle. The layer of grease, carbon deposits and other dirt from the inner surface of the microwave oven can be removed without any special effort.
It is enough to simply take a small bowl made of suitable material and without patterns, pour water into it and pour citric acid into it (about 10 grams).
Place the container with the solution in the microwave and turn on the device to the most powerful mode for about 10 minutes until the water with citric acid boils.
When the oven turns off automatically, wait another two minutes, remove the bowl from the microwave and calmly remove the softened dirt with a brush or sponge.
Earthenware, glass and tiles are materials resistant to the effects of acids. This means that you can also clean the toilet, shower doors, tiles near the sink or bathtub from limescale with citric acid without fear of consequences.
Prepare a special solution of warm water and citric acid, pour it into a spray bottle and every time you need to clean a shower stall, toilet or sink from whitish stains, spray the surface with it, wait a few minutes and rinse the solution with plain water. For chrome taps, which are also susceptible to limescale, you will need to make a paste out of water and citric acid, apply it to the dirty area with a toothbrush or sponge, wait a bit, rub and rinse with water.
And finally, citric acid is also useful for keeping silverware clean. This metal quickly becomes covered with a dark coating, even if the spoons and forks are rarely used and spend most of their time simply lying in the cabinet.
How to clean silver with citric acid? Simple: pour water into a saucepan of suitable size and sprinkle citric acid powder (no more than one hundred grams per half liter of water), then lower the silver items covered with plaque, wait until it all boils on the stove, cover the saucepan with a lid and boil for about 30 minutes.
Remove the pan from the stove and let it cool, after which all that remains is to take the silver items out and rinse them well with water.
And what, no one should ever clean with citric acid?
Items made of marble, other natural stone, copper and brass react poorly to the effects of acids. So for marble countertops and copper candlesticks, it is worth looking for other safe and natural cleaning products.
