I use an old Wear Ever heavy aluminum coffee pot for boiling water. I don't allow unused water to sit in it. It has stains inside and needs a good cleaning. It has white residue at the water line that I cannot remove. For now I have been washing it out with soapy water but not using anything abrasive. Any ideas on how to clean it? I just want to be sure it is safe to use, if the stains cannot be removed so then they are meant to be.
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IIRC corroded aluminum is white. – nick012000 May 26 '21 at 05:24
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Can you recognize whether this is scale? – rumtscho May 26 '21 at 06:40
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This site should be renamed "metals and alloys" or "microbiology" ;) – Alchimista May 27 '21 at 08:17
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Up Next: How to clean your silverware with just some aluminium foil & baking soda ;) – Tetsujin May 27 '21 at 09:47
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You can buy kitchen-safe aluminium cleaner & descaler - the white could easily be limescale.
If you look at 'home-style' cleaning guides, then everybody seems to have a different opinion - some choose baking soda, some choose vinegar.
Now, I'm no chemist, but I fail to see how both of those would work, one acid, the other alkaline. I also don't know which would clean the aluminium or which may damage it. I did once manage to completely ruin 2 stove-top espresso makers by getting this wrong.
On the other hand, you can get a litre of commercial cleaner/descaler for a couple of quid/bucks/euros, so why not let the experts take over?
They're going to have figured out what removes scale & tarnish, yet doesn't harm the aluminium. A look at a data sheet says it's Orthophosphoric acid.
I checked data sheets for 'regular' cleaner/descaler & aluminium-specific cleaner/descaler. Both contain the same acid, though other ingredients may differ.
Google found this one in the UK, but I'm sure you can find something similar close to where you live.
Tetsujin
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2I'm no chemist either but know enough that to react off limescale you need acid: vinegar or lemon juice are the easiest edible acids (also phosphoric acid in cola), but it will need a very good rinse afterwards anyway. On aluminium I'd go dilute and patient rather than rushing; heat helps. The use of baking soda in cleaning (apart from grease, which reacts with alkaline compounds) is either to produce CO2 bubbles by reacting with acid; the bubbles give good mixing and agitation of the reaction, or to acts as an abrasive in a slurry. Neither is much use here – Chris H May 26 '21 at 09:34