Earlier this year we asked you to help solve the mystery of smelly, foul-tasting kettle water ā a problem that for many of you has been spoiling your daily cuppa. And now weāve discovered a common cause.
The problem bubbled up when Which? members complained that the water heated in their kettle had a āplastic flavour that made it undrinkableā. We carried out testing in our lab, which confirmed there was a problem with how the water in one of the kettles tasted and smelled.
But it soon turned out to be far from an isolated problem. In fact, weāve so far had more than 130 comments complaining about the taste and smell of the boiling water your kettle produced.
But what’s the cause? It soon turned out that it wasnāt a single brand that was to blame. Was it the water supply? Even some of you who used filtered water had the same problem.
The cause of smelly kettle water
We contactedĀ scientists Luke Montgomery of Yorkshire Water and Dr Robin Price of Anglian Water.Ā They told us that the chlorine in tap water reacts with phenol-based compounds sometimes found in plastic and rubber parts of the kettle.
There arenāt any associated health risks. And not everyone will have this problem ā chlorine levels vary, and people have different sensitivities to taste and smell, Dr Price told us.
Itās recommended you compare the kettle water with water boiled in a saucepan to see whether it’s the kettleās causing the problem. If it is, you can get rid of the chlorine by storing tap water in a covered jug in the fridge for a few hours.
Weāre looking into whether in the future we can test every kettle we review for this problem, so you can avoid buying models likely to produce smelly water.
However, the mystery still isnāt fully solved. We had problems with the Russell Hobbsā Ebony 15076 kettle even with filtered water that didnāt contain any chlorine.
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