How to clean stainless steel thermos inside?

Thermos has always been and remains a popular subject in our homes. He saves on the road or on a forest walk with a hot drink. At home it is convenient to brew herbs and berries. And the one who is forced to leave children alone with a gas stove prefers to pour the first hot in a thermos. All this gradually leaves a coating and an unpleasant odor inside the metal flask, and there is a need to clean the stainless steel thermos.

The way and frequency of cleaning depends on what type of dishes you have to use:

• Thermoses for drinks are produced with a narrow neck, the diameter of which is 25 - 55 mm. For cleaning, you will definitely need a dish brush.
• Thermoses with a pneumatic pump allow you to pour liquid without turning the tank over. It is easy to wash such a vessel by hand, but efforts will have to be made to bleach the air pump itself.
• Food thermoses with a wide mouth of 65–80 mm are used for hot first and second courses, as well as for keeping ice cream or other goodies cold. Such containers will always collect odors and possibly fat.
• Universal containers are a symbiosis of food thermoses and vessels for drinks. Hand and brush cleaning possible.
• A stainless steel food thermos consists of several vessels, stacked on top of each other, resembles more plates, which means it is much easier to wash them.

When choosing a tool for a metal flask, you need to remember that aggressive compounds will ruin the surface. Do not use industrial chemicals like "White", "Domestos" and others.

Those who, in principle, do not want to use chemicals, will easily find a way to clean them with home remedies: mustard, salt, vinegar, lemon, laundry soap and even an ordinary old newspaper. There are many funds, and even more recipes.

After tea, even if he was in a thermos for only a couple of hours, an unpleasant brown precipitate remained on the walls. If tea is in the vessel for more than a day, then the plaque is eaten into the metal much more strongly. And when pouring boiling water into a thermos, gradually traces of scale form near the neck. The following few recipes can be used to remove them.

Recipe One:

• Pour table vinegar (not essence) into the container for a quarter of the volume.
• Add boiling water to the neck.
• Screw the lid tightly and let it brew for 2 hours.
• Pour contents and wash with water.

Recipe Two:

• Cut one lemon into small slices and pour into a flask.
• Pour the same boiling water there.
• Cork tightly and leave for half a day.
• Drain and rinse.
• Wipe the neck with raw lemon - lemon, citric acid perfectly relieve the flask of thermoses and electric kettles from scale.

Recipe Three:

• Purchase pharmacy tablets that clean dentures, the main component in them is soda.
• 2 tablets to lower in a thermos with a capacity of 1–1.5 l.
• Pour boiling water.
• Close the lid tightly and leave overnight.
• Drain and rinse well with unusual detergent.

Recipe Four:

• If heavily contaminated, pour ½ cup of pearl barley (or other similar cereal) into a thermos.
• Add 3-4 teaspoons of baking soda.
• Pour boiling water to half the vessel.
• Close the vessel thoroughly and shake vigorously for a minute.
• Pour contents and rinse. Krupa acts as a gentle abrasive for stainless steel.

Recipe Five:

• In a thermos pour boiling water under the neck.
• Pour 1 tablespoon of citric acid into a container.
• Leave overnight.
• Pour the solution and rinse well with warm water.

Recipe Six:

• Heat Coca-Cola, Fanta or similar drinks with gas to 80–90 degrees (before boiling). These highly carbonated formulations have long been known for their cleaning properties.
• Pour the drink into the flask and cover lightly.
• No shaking is necessary. Just leave the container alone for 12 hours.
• Drain and rinse with water.

Recipe seven:

• Rinse a wide-necked flask with warm water. Some water should remain in the container.
• Crumple an old newspaper or printing paper slightly and clean the inside of it.
• Rinse thermos with water. If you used printed matter, then rinse the container more thoroughly.

After cleaning the container from plaque and scale, it happens that there is still an unpleasant odor. To get rid of it, you can do the following:

• Pour boiling water in a thermos for about 4/5 and add 2 tablespoons of mustard powder. Carefully close the vessel and shake it regularly for 8-12 hours. Then rinse well.
• In order not only to get rid of the smell, but also from plaque, it is possible to coat the inner wall of the flask with gruel from mustard and water. After the mixture has dried, boiling water is poured into a thermos and left for a day, after which the container is washed.
• Coarse rock salt is used in the same way as mustard or soda: it is added to boiling water and shaken for a long time.

• Rice not only absorbs moisture well, but also smells. For prevention, dry rice can be poured to the bottom of the flask and stored there (do not close the lid tightly). To remove odor, change a handful of slightly moist grains in the flask for several days in a row. Or pour rice with boiling water about half the volume. Close the lid and, occasionally shaking, insist 10-12 hours.
• Pour thermos with warm water. Pour soda at the rate of 1 teaspoon per 200 ml of water. Leave the solution overnight.After about 12 hours, rinse the container with clean water at room temperature.
• Place three teaspoons of soda and vinegar in a jar. Pour boiling water over boiling water. Leave for about an hour. Rinse with clean water. This method removes scale and odor.

If a thermos is used to store the first and second, then traces of fat are inevitable. The easiest way to wash them off with ordinary dishwashing detergents. If the use of industrial compounds is impossible, then we again turn to folk methods:

• 100 grams of ordinary soda is diluted with hydrogen peroxide to a pulp state. With this composition they rub the thermos inside and out and leave for a while. After thorough washing, no traces of fat will remain, as well as odor.
• Mix a mixture of soda and vinegar in a 1: 1 ratio on a sponge for dishes, then wipe the flask thoroughly. This composition breaks down fat within 15-20 minutes.
• If there was a need to wash a thermos from the remnants of food in nature, then this can be done with river sand. He will well wash off not only fat, but also scale and tea and coffee deposits.
• Laundry soap well removes traces of fat, even in cold water.

Here are some recommendations for the hostesses to note:

• After each use, the thermos needs not just rinsing, but thorough cleaning.
• A household 72% soap or ordinary cleaning powder will do just fine.
• It is more convenient to clean with a brush for dishes with synthetic bristles.
• After storing food, you must make every effort so that its remnants do not appear at the junction of the flask with the body, otherwise the bacteria will begin to multiply very quickly in a thermos.
• After cleaning, the vessel should be turned over and left to dry. At the same time, do not place it vertically on a smooth surface, otherwise it will absorb the smells of this surface.

• Long-term storage of water without use will lead to the appearance of a musty odor and mold.
• In the case of prolonged downtime, the vessel should not be closed with a lid so that the flask does not “suffocate”. A paper or fabric napkin will help protect from dust.
• If, however, a musty smell and suspicion of the formation of a fungus appear in the flask, then 2 tablets for dishwashers are put in a stainless steel flask and poured with boiling water. 20 minutes are enough for someone to clean, and 10 hours for someone. It's all about the degree of pollution. In the same way, you can get rid of the thermos scale.
• Do not forget that, like any dishes, a thermos needs care not only inside but also outside. If the case is metal, then the same means apply to it as to the flask. If the case is plastic, then you need to remember that it absorbs all the smells even more. You can get rid of unpleasant aromas with the help of soda: mix it with a small amount of water, grate a thermos with this pulp; rinse off after a day. If you apply coffee grounds to the vessel walls for 3-4 hours, then this will eliminate unpleasant odors.

Therefore, it is better to be patient and entrust the cleaning of the thermos with home remedies.

See how to clean and care for your thermos in the next video.