How to clean a stainless steel thermos inside?

The thermos has always been and remains a popular item 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 in it. And those who are forced to leave children alone with a gas stove prefers to pour the hot first into a thermos. All this gradually leaves a deposit and an unpleasant odor inside the metal flask, and it becomes necessary to clean the stainless steel thermos.

The method 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.
• Vacuum flasks with a pneumatic pump allow you to pour liquid without turning the container over. It is easy to wash such a vessel by hand, but efforts will have to be made to whiten the pneumatic 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 delicacies cold. Such containers will always collect odors and possibly grease.
• Universal containers are a symbiosis of food thermoses and containers for drinks. Cleaning by hand and brush is possible.
• A stainless steel food thermos consists of several vessels, stacked on top of each other, it looks more like a plate, which means that 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 such as "Whiteness", "Domestos" other.

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

After tea, even if it has been in a thermos for only a couple of hours, an unpleasant brown residue remains on the walls. If the tea is in the vessel for more than a day, then the plaque eats into the metal much more. And when boiling water is poured into a thermos, traces of scale are gradually formed near the neck. You can use the following few recipes to remove them.

Recipe one:

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

Second recipe:

• Cut one lemon into small wedges and pour into a flask.
• Pour 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 thermos flasks and electric kettles from scale.

Third recipe:

• Buy pharmacy tablets used to clean dentures, the main component in them is soda.
• Put 2 tablets in a thermos with a capacity of 1-1.5 liters.
• Pour boiling water over.
• Cork the lid tightly and leave overnight.
• Drain off water and rinse thoroughly any remaining unusual cleaning agent.

The fourth recipe:

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

Fifth recipe:

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

Sixth recipe:

• Warm up Coca-Cola, Phanto 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 a flask and cover loosely.
• No shaking is needed. Just leave the container alone for 12 hours.
• Drain and rinse with water.

Seventh recipe:

• Rinse the wide-necked flask with warm water. Some water should remain in the container.
• Lightly wrinkle old newspaper or printed paper and clean the inside of the walls with it.
• Rinse the thermos with water. If you used printed materials, then you need to rinse the container more thoroughly.

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

• Pour about 4/5 boiling water into a thermos and add 2 tablespoons of mustard powder. Close the vessel carefully and shake it regularly for 8-12 hours. Then rinse well.
• To not only get rid of the smell, but also from the plaque, you can smear the inner wall of the flask with mustard and water gruel. 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 perfectly absorbs moisture, but also smells. For prevention, dry rice can be poured onto the bottom of the flask and stored there (do not close the lid tightly). To remove the smell, change a handful of slightly damp grains in a flask for several days in a row. Or pour boiling water over the rice about half the volume. Close the lid and, shaking occasionally, leave for 10-12 hours.
• Fill a thermos with warm water. Pour in baking 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 baking soda and vinegar in a vessel. Pour boiling water over. Leave on 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 is with regular dish detergents. If the use of industrial compounds is impossible, then again we turn to folk methods:

• 100 grams of ordinary soda is diluted with hydrogen peroxide to a slurry state. This composition is rubbed with a thermos from the inside and outside and left for a while. After thorough rinsing, no traces of fat will remain, as will the smell.
• Apply a mixture of baking soda and vinegar in a 1: 1 ratio on a dish sponge, then wipe the flask thoroughly. This composition breaks down fat within 15-20 minutes.
• If there is a need to wash the thermos from the remnants of food in nature, then this can be done with river sand. It will wash away well not only fat, but also scale and plaque from tea and coffee.
• Laundry soap washes away traces of fat well even in cold water.

Here are some recommendations for housewives to note:

• After each use, a thermos needs more than just rinsing, but a thorough cleaning.
• Laundry 72% soap or regular cleaning powder will do just fine.
• It is more convenient to clean with a dish brush with synthetic bristles.
• After storing food, you need to make every effort so that its remnants do not end up at the junction of the flask with the body, otherwise bacteria will very quickly begin to multiply in a thermos.
• After cleaning, the container 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.

• Storing water for a long time without use will lead to musty odor and mildew.
• In case of prolonged idle time, the vessel should not be closed with a lid, so that the flask does not "suffocate". A paper or cloth napkin will help protect from dust.
• If, nevertheless, a musty smell appears in the flask and a suspicion of the formation of a fungus appears, then 2 tablets for dishwashers are placed in a stainless steel flask and poured with boiling water. Someone needs 20 minutes to clean, and someone 10 hours. It's all about the degree of pollution. In the same way, you can remove limescale from the thermos.
• Do not forget that, like any utensil, a thermos needs care not only inside, but also outside. If the body is metal, then the same means are applied to it as to the flask. If the case is plastic, then you need to remember that it absorbs all the odors even more. You can get rid of unpleasant odors with the help of soda: mix it with a little water, rub a thermos with this gruel; wash off after a day. If the coffee grounds are applied to the walls of the vessel for 3-4 hours, it will get rid of unpleasant odors.

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

For information on how to properly clean and care for a thermos, see the next video.