A kettle you never need to descale! (Brita Acclario)

Name: LadyAudley

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Product:	Brita Acclario
Date:	05/01/08 (46 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You won't really notice much benefit unless you live in a really hard water area

Disadvantages: Expensive to run

I bought this kettle because I'm a bit of a tea nut (sad, I know!). My friend told me it would make a huge difference to the taste of tea, and convinced me to buy one.

The kettle is quite bulky and not especially pretty to look at. You pour water from the tap into a small reservoir at the top, and gravity causes it to fall through the water filter (just like on a fridge filter). At the bottom is a heating element, so that when enough water has fallen through, you can flick a switch and boil it. The system is easy to use, but it does have one flaw: it takes quite a long time to filter. If, like me, you're an impatient person who just wants a cuppa NOW, this can be quite annoying.

Another design flaw is that if you accidentally put more water than you need in the top reservoir, you have to filter it all. If you try to pour from the kettle while there's still cold water in the top, chances are the lid will fall off and you will get a mixture of scalding hot and freezing cold water descending into your drink and all over the kitchen surface too! I burnt myself doing this the first time, so it can be quite hazardous!

The kettle does work to filter out limescale - I have never had to descale mine, though if you live in a hard water area, you will still need to wipe the top compartment and the lid with vinegar, as you will find scale builds up there. However, the big disadvantage is how quickly you go through the filters: I live in a household of two full time workers, and one filter (costing £3-4) lasts me barely a month. The cost of the kettle is higher than other brands, and when you add on this cost too, this is an expensive appliance to run and maintain.

Personally, I don't notice a big difference in taste either. Even when I made two cups of tea side-by-side, one using the filtered water, one with ordinary tap water, I couldn't taste much of a difference. I do live in a fairly soft water area, though, so perhaps the difference would be more noticeable for those with more calcium and magnesium in their water. However, perhaps even those guys should pause before getting one of these, since hard water is now scientifically proven to reduce the rate of heart disease!

Summary: Decent product, but think carefully about whether you need it before buying!