How to get rid of the smell of coffee in a thermos. How and how can you quickly remove the smell from a thermos? Unconventional cleaning methods

People have long appreciated the convenience of a thermos - a device with which you can long time maintain the original temperature of food and drinks. Unfortunately, one unpleasant feature is characteristic of the unique design - the container quickly develops an unpleasant odor. This problem can be avoided if you properly care for the device. Each device must be accompanied by an instruction that describes the features of its operation. If there is none, you should act according to the universal scheme.

Terms of care for a thermos

Caring for a thermos is as easy as using the device. True, many housewives ignore the basic recommendations, which leads to rapid deterioration of the product or the appearance of a characteristic swamp smell in it.

Despite the apparent reliability of the design, it is quite fragile. The thermos should be protected from shock and pressure. Otherwise, the internal surfaces of the product will become covered with cracks, food or liquid particles will penetrate through them under the body, which will lead to their decay.
The container should be washed after each use, do not keep food and liquid in it for longer than the allotted time. If the product has cooled down, it must be poured out.
It is strictly forbidden to close and put away the device after cleaning, if it has not yet dried.

Tip: Narrow-mouth thermoses should not be used for storing and transporting food and prepared meals, they are intended exclusively for drinks. For soups, cereals, ice cream and side dishes, you should purchase a special device with a wide mouth. It is easier to operate and clean after use.

Thermos can not be put on the neck, even if it is dry. Violation of this rule leads to the appearance of a musty smell, which is very difficult to get rid of.

If the item is used regularly, it should be washed with cleaning products every 2-3 weeks. This should be done even if the container is used to store clean hot water.

Effective cleaning products

You can try to remove an unpleasant smell inside a household item with dishwashing detergent. This will give instant but short-term results. If you want to completely and permanently get rid of the repulsive amber, you should use the following approaches:

Baking soda. We fill the flask hot water, pour a couple of tablespoons of baking soda into it, tightly twist the lid. We leave the thermos for the night, after which we actively shake it and drain the contents. It remains only to thoroughly rinse the flask and dry it naturally.

Acid. We act in the same way as in the first approach. But here the active ingredient can be vinegar (a tablespoon per liter of volume), citric acid (a teaspoon per liter of volume) or slices of fresh lemon (a quarter of a fruit). After applying vinegar, a specific pungent smell will come from the thermos for some time, which will go away as a result of prolonged ventilation.

Mustard powder. We use warm water, not hot. We fill the thermos with it, pour the powder, twist the lid and shake the device thoroughly. After a couple of hours, rinse it and dry it. The approach allows you to remove even the remnants of fat, while it is absolutely harmless to the body.

Salt. Pour warm water into the flask, add 3-4 tablespoons of table salt and stir thoroughly. We withstand the mass in the container for about an hour, pour it out, rinse the product.

These approaches will help not only get rid of an unpleasant odor, but also eliminate mold colonies. Such disinfection will allow you not to worry about the quality and taste of food stored in a thermos.

How to clean and disinfect cork?

If it is possible to eliminate the manifestations of an unpleasant odor only for a while, most likely it is a traffic jam. When it is affected by mold, it is very difficult to do something about it. Ideally, the item should be replaced. Or at least try the following:

Boil the wood product in water with the addition of soda for 5 minutes. After that, dry it until there are no signs of moisture on its surface.
You can try soaking wood, plastic or rubber products in a solution of whiteness. This will help get rid of not only a specific odor, but also eliminate mold from hard-to-reach places.
If the quality of the material is of concern, we brew a drink with cinnamon and ginger in a thermos, screw it with a cork and leave it for half an hour. After that, we wash off the liquid, make sure that there is no repulsive smell and continue to use the item.

Situations are different, sometimes there is simply no time to wash the thermos. In this case, we simply release it from the contents and leave it open by removing the cork. At the first opportunity, we do not just rinse the container, but use one of the methods described above.

A thermos makes life much easier at home, at work, on a camping trip. But if you take care of it incorrectly, then over time the flask and cork will begin to smell unpleasantly of spoiled food, mustiness, or even mold. Sometimes problems arise with a new, just purchased product.

Often an unpleasant smell in a thermos is accompanied by the appearance of plaque inside the flask. It is especially intensively formed if tea and coffee are constantly prepared on hard tap water, even boiled.

Reasons for the appearance of an unpleasant odor in a thermos

The flask and stopper start to smell bad if:
a dirty thermos is not washed for a long time, because of which the remnants of food or drinks begin to deteriorate;
the owner of the thermos follows the newfangled trends, according to which tea or coffee deposits cannot be washed off the walls of the thermos. There are “specialists” on the forums who boast that the thickness of the plaque in the flask is 1–1.5 mm. However, a thermos is not a teapot, the plaque that forms on the inner surface of the flask not only worsens the taste of drinks, but may also contain mold fungi;
a clean thermos is closed before the flask and cork are completely dry. After prolonged storage, a musty smell appears in the vessel.

Elimination of unpleasant odor in the flask

Despite the fact that stainless steel flasks are polished inside, they can still have microscopic cracks in which particles of food or hardness salts get stuck. Glass flasks are safer from this point of view, but much less practical.

Worst of all, if the thermos is affected by molds that emit a characteristic stench. In such cases, the vessel must be disinfected with hydrogen peroxide or oxygen bleach: mold is the root cause of many serious diseases.

Before removing the smell, the flask and lid are cleaned of food debris and washed thoroughly with a delicate, chlorine-free and strong-smelling dishwashing gel.

Ways to remove bad smell from the flask:

if the smell has appeared recently, it is enough to fill the flask with hot soapy water or boiling water with a delicate dishwashing gel, close and shake several times. After 2-3 hours, the solution must be poured out, and the flask must be rinsed. If it is glass, then the stench will most likely disappear;
a stronger remedy is vinegar. 100-150 g of 9% vinegar is poured into a 1-liter flask, hot water is added and left for several hours or overnight. Then the liquid is poured out, the flask is rinsed;
those who cannot stand the smell of vinegar are recommended to replace it with citric acid at the rate of 1-2 tablespoons per liter of hot water;
instead of citric acid you can crush a lemon into a flask and pour it with hot water. The method is expensive, but it justifies itself if the thermos belongs to the child;
in the evening, pour sleeping coffee grounds into the flask, pour hot water and close with a cork. Wash the flask and stopper in the morning. Coffee eliminates odors. But this method is not suitable for thermoses with wooden stoppers;
Baking soda absorbs odors very well. The solution is prepared at the rate of 3-4 tablespoons per liter of hot water. The thermos is loosely closed and left for 6–8 hours;
if you need to urgently get rid of the smell in a thermos, use rice. 2-3 tablespoons of rice groats are poured into a clean liter flask, poured with boiling water, closed with a cork and shaken several times. In most cases, the smell disappears after 15–20 minutes;
pearl barley will help eliminate odor and plaque. For a liter thermos you need 2-3 tablespoons of barley. It is poured with hot soapy water, the thermos is closed with a lid, shaken and left for several hours. Barley grains, like rice grains, have microscopic holes where molecules of stinking substances are absorbed. When shaken, barley plays the role of a soft abrasive, destroying plaque on the walls of the flask;
The most powerful way to eliminate unpleasant odors and dark deposits in a thermos is oxygen bleach. A tablespoon of powder is required per liter of water. It is poured into a thermos and filled with water heated to about +50 ° C (in no case with boiling water!). The solution foams, so water must be poured carefully so that it does not splash out. After an hour, the liquid is poured out and the flask is washed. Oxygen bleach must be used if the thermos smells moldy.

Basic cleaning kit

Washing the cork of a thermos

Cork is often the source of an unpleasant odor in a thermos: plastic and rubber have the ability to absorb odors. To clean the cork, it is soaked for 1–2 hours in a solution of soda (3–4 tablespoons per 1 liter of water) or citric acid (1 tablespoon per 1 liter of water), then washed under running water.

It is not necessary to boil the cork or soak it in vinegar: this can damage the plastic or rubber seals. If the smell remains, the cork is soaked for 20-30 minutes in a solution of oxygen bleach or hydrogen peroxide.

The cork with the valve is disassembled, the tube is cleaned, all parts are washed with soda, using a toothbrush. Another option is to immerse the unassembled cork in a concentrated soda solution and clean all the tubules with a toothpick.

Bad smell in a new thermos

Sometimes new thermoses smell like machine oil or plastic. In this case, the flask is filled with a solution of vinegar for 6–8 hours, the cork is soaked for 1–2 hours in a solution of citric acid or soda. The procedure is repeated several times. If the smell does not go away, it is likely that non-food steel or non-food plastic was used to make the thermos. Then the vessel is not suitable for storing food or drinks, it is better to return it to the seller.

On the Web, 3 “valuable” tips roam from article to article, following which you can significantly reduce the life of a thermos:

pour crushed eggshells into a flask, fill it with water and shake it several times. This method is not suitable for a stainless steel flask: eggshell is an abrasive, it will scratch the polished surface of the steel;
pour a solution of "Whiteness", "Domestos" or other household chemicals containing chlorine into the flask. Chlorine is extremely harmful to both stainless steel and rubber seals. If the cork is wooden, it will be difficult to eliminate the smell of chlorine;
pour concentrated saline solution into the flask and leave for several hours. Long-term contact of stainless steel with a concentrated salt solution leads to indelible stains and subsequent corrosion of the metal. This statement is true even for the high-quality BergHOFF stainless steel (tested in our own experience), not to mention the metal from which the flasks of Chinese thermoses are made.

Prevention of the appearance of an unpleasant odor in a thermos

In order not to have to deal with a bad smell, you need to follow simple rules thermos care:

Do not leave the thermos dirty for a long time, do not allow the remnants of food and drinks to spoil in it.
Do not use abrasive and chlorine-containing household chemicals to wash the flask and lid.
To remove grease or dried-on food residues, pour a thermos with a hot solution of delicate dishwashing gel for 30–60 minutes, then rinse with vinegar.
Periodically wash the thermos with soda, clean hard-to-reach places in the cork with a toothpick.
Do not turn over and close the washed thermos until it is completely dry.
Keep the thermos open and rinse with water before use to wash off dust.

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Such useful thing as a thermos is sure to be in every home - it will provide a hot drink on hikes and long walks, a full meal at work, and is also indispensable for athletes and lovers of herbal teas. However, like everything that is often used, a thermos after some time becomes covered from the inside with a coating from drinks, an unpleasant smell begins to emanate from it. How to deal with it? In this material, we will tell you absolutely everything about how to wash a thermos.

Cleaning a thermos flask with the help of improvised materials is not only economical, but also very effective - try it yourself! At your choice, these tips suggesting how to wash a thermos.

dough baking powder

Pour a sufficient amount of warm water into a thermos and pour the contents of two bags of baking powder into it. Close the lid and shake the item to dissolve the powder.

Leave to settle for a few hours. Why thoroughly rinse the capsule under running water from this solution. The tool perfectly removes plaque from coffee and tea.

Soda or vinegar

You will need 1 tbsp. a spoonful of soda to 1 glass of water. Pour the powder into the flask, fill with hot water. Then you need to give the solution time to act - about 10 hours. Finally, thoroughly rinse the thermos.

How to rinse a thermos yet? An alternative would be 9% vinegar - 1 teaspoon per 1 liter of water. Pour water into a thermos, let the vinegar solution brew for 2 hours, shaking it occasionally. Then pour out all the contents and wash the capsule thoroughly from the inside.

Salt

Way for the laziest. Pour salt into the flask with the calculation of 4 tbsp. spoons per 0.5 liters of volume. Pour this case with boiling water and leave for half a day. Table salt is effective for both plaque and odor.

"Coca Cola"

The most "sweet" and exotic method to wash a thermos ( welding plaque is perfectly removed in this way). Warm up the drink a little and pour it into the capsule. In this case, the thermos should not be tightly closed with a lid. After 20 minutes, pour out the cola and rinse the product.

Tablets for dentures

Of course, not every home has such a remedy, but nevertheless we decided to mention it because of its amazing effectiveness in the fight against plaque from coffee and tea. You just need to act here: throw a couple of tablets into a flask, fill with hot water and leave for 10-12 hours. Be sure to rinse well when finished.

Rice

Pour three tablespoons of cereal into a thermos. Next, pour half a cup of boiling water over the rice. Without closing the lid, leave for half an hour. During this time, the swelling rice should absorb tea or coffee deposits, and in addition, all unpleasant odors. After this time, you will only have to wash the cereal capsule.

Advice! The smell from a thermos - how to wash it? If it is the cork that emits an unpleasant “aroma”, then you can easily get rid of it by boiling this part in salt water.

You can not be afraid to pour vinegar into a flask ... and then pour boiling water
Don't forget to use a dish brush
Drying a thermos is better without a lid. But what should happen in the end

Flask from "stainless steel"

How to wash a metal thermos - with a stainless steel flask? We will present to your attention the means that every home probably has - with their help you can return the thermos to its original cleanliness and freshness.

Lemon, citric acid.

Rescues both from a raid, and from an unpleasant smell.

The instruction for your actions is extremely simple:

1. Two art. pour spoons of citric acid into a thermos capsule, and then fill it with boiling water to the top. Alternatively, you can drip about the same amount of lemon juice or cut a few slices of citrus.

2. Close the lid tightly and leave for 10-12 hours.

3. After this period ( it is more convenient to carry out the procedure at night) empty the contents and rinse several times with clean water.

4. If the contamination was strong enough, then the “lemon” soaking procedure will have to be repeated a couple of times.

Soda ( + raw barley or rice)

The method is quite well-known - you can wash the scale from a thermos like this:

1. Calculate the required volume of soda powder, depending on the volume of the thermos - 1 tbsp is optimal. boat / 1 glass of water ( 200 ml).

2. Fill the soda in the thermos capsule with boiling water - 2/3. If desired, add pearl barley - it will play the role of a kind of abrasive. ½ cup of grains will be enough.

3. Screw the lid on tightly and shake vigorously for several minutes.

4. After the procedure, thoroughly rinse the thermos from barley grains.

Vinegar. Excellent remedy for pimples.

To clean a metal thermos, you will need to take the following steps:

1. ¾ fill the thermos with boiling water. Top up the rest with vinegar.

2. Close the lid and turn the item back and forth several times to stir the solution in this way.

3. Leave vinegar water in a thermos for several hours. During this time, do not forget to shake it periodically.

4. Rinse the capsule very thoroughly. To remove the unpleasant vinegar smell, pour water with lemon juice into a thermos. Be sure to dry after washing.

You will see the practical implementation of the tips in the video in this article.

glass flask

With such a fragile material as glass, cleaning must be done carefully and carefully. Citric acid and apple cider vinegar are good in this case. For effective cleaning, you need to pour inside 1 tbsp. a spoonful of acid powder or pour a quarter of the capsule with vinegar. Next, add hot water - to the top of the flask. Leave for an hour.

If the pollution is strong, then in addition to these products, you can pour 1 teaspoon of baking soda.

Advice! There is another way to effectively clean glass flasks - fill it with one quarter of whiteness and dilute with water. However, we do not advise you to contact him - the price for efficiency can be serious poisoning. There is no guarantee that you will absolutely be able to wash the flask from this strong caustic bleach.

Thermos Stanley

Many readers are familiar with high-quality Stanley thermoses. However, like their counterparts, they are also defenseless against pollution, plaque from drinks and the appearance of an unpleasant odor.

You can clear Stanley in the ways that we have already shared with you:

Light pollution - with citric acid, juice or lemon slices. This and great advice "how to wash a new thermos."
Pollution moderate"- soda and cereals.
Complex pollution - "Coca-Cola" or other highly carbonated drink, heated to boiling water temperature.

If all of the above did not help you, then we will present another method that will require some skill from you:

The main task is to find such a small container that could be lowered to the bottom of the capsule without spilling the liquid poured into it. And then also, without uttering a single drop of the filling solution, raise it. Many adapt a hand-made product for these purposes - an ordinary soda cork, making two holes opposite each other in its walls, to which a fishing line is tied.
In this miracle container you need to drop a little ammonia. And then, without spilling it, lower the flask of your Stanley thermos to the bottom.
Close but do not screw on the lid. Leave this thing for the night.
In the morning, carefully, in no case spilling alcohol, remove the container.
Now it remains to rinse the thermos with dish detergent and dry.

Prevention

The following tips will help keep your thermos clean longer:

After each use, do not forget not only to rinse, but also to dry the thermos - leave it with the lid open.
If you do not plan to use the thermos for a long time, then it is also best to store it with the lid open.
If possible, after washing with a towel or napkin, wipe the thermos capsule dry from the inside.
When washing a thermos, use a special long brush for dishes (as in the photo), but not metal! This material will damage the walls of the capsule, leave scratches on it.
Such popular folk methods as cleaning with sand, eggshells also have Negative influence on the integrity of the capsule.
Never use bleach or abrasive cleaners! They will not only damage the inner walls of the thermos, rubber tabs, but can also be extremely dangerous for you - if you do not completely wash the substance out of the product.

How to wash a thermos inside quickly, efficiently and at no extra cost? We hope that we have fully and completely been able to answer this question. As in many other cases, in the end I would like to wish one thing - in order not to mess around with the consequences, do not allow the cause to appear. Be sure to wash and dry the thermos well after each use.

A thermos is an indispensable thing in the household. You can take it to work, hiking, brew herbal infusions, tea, coffee, soups and instant cereals in it. The smell and taste of the products in it depends on the cleanliness of the thermos. What to do if there is an unpleasant smell in the thermos? In this case, you will be helped by the means that are always at hand from an experienced hostess.

Photo Shutterstock

Proper cleaning of a thermos

Regular cleaning of the thermos should be carried out after each use. To do this, the flask must be washed with warm water and detergent, and the body should be wiped with a damp cloth. To clean a thermos with a narrow neck, use a soft bottle brush.

When washing a pump thermos, do not forget about plastic straw, which supplies liquid from the flask to the spout, it should also be thoroughly cleaned.

If not only a smell, but also a plaque has formed in the thermos, use the following remedy. Mix finely chopped eggshell with soapy water, pour into a thermos and shake vigorously for a while.

It is necessary to dry the thermos upside down, without closing the cork and lid, it should also be stored open

Recipes for eliminating unpleasant odors from a thermos

If the thermos is not washed in a timely manner, an unpleasant odor can form in it. Sometimes, to get rid of it, just rinse the thermos and leave to dry without closing the lid. But if the smell is strong, regular washing will not be enough, stronger products will be needed.

Bad smells can be removed with baking soda. Pour 2-3 tablespoons of the product into a thermos and pour boiling water over it. Leave the thermos with boiling water for 3-4 hours, then rinse it and rinse with clean water.

You can eliminate the unpleasant smell from a thermos with lemon juice. Squeeze the juice of one lemon into a glass, add some water, pour this mixture into a thermos and close it. After that, shake the container several times and pour out the liquid.

Stubborn odors can be removed with acetic acid. Pour 3-4 tablespoons of acid into a thermos and fill with hot water, leave overnight. Empty the thermos in the morning and wash it with warm soapy water.

Another effective remedy in the fight against bad odors is mustard powder. Pour a few tablespoons of dry mustard into a thermos and pour hot water over it. After 12 hours, drain the mustard water and rinse the flask.

Regular rice can also be used to clean dishes. Pour 3 tablespoons of cereal into a thermos and pour warm water into it, close the lid and let stand for 30 minutes. Then shake the thermos vigorously and pour out its contents. Finally, rinse the container with hot water.

A bad smell from a thermos can be removed with table salt. Pour it into a thermos as much as possible and add hot water. After 10–12 hours, discard the solution and rinse the flask.

Many have thought about how to remove the smell from a thermos. It is convenient to store hot drinks, soups, main dishes in this dish, brew herbal teas, make decoctions. After active use and improper storage, a musty smell appears, which is not difficult to get rid of. To do this, you need to find out the reason and only then choose exactly the remedy that can either absorb the smell or cope with the fungus that has bred inside the dark space of the thermos. In addition, you need to consider the material from which the product is made. Chlorine-containing products can corrode welds on stainless steel products.

Reasons for the appearance of an unpleasant odor in a thermos

To understand how to get rid of the smell in a thermos, you need to find the cause. There may be several of them, but they all come from improper storage, as well as from the fact that the dishes simply turned out to be dirty.

The smell in a thermos can appear for the most common reasons:

The appearance of mold due to the ingress of water or food residues into a tightly closed thermos.
An ingrained smell of any spice or spice. Due to the complex design, care for a thermos is not always limited to rinsing and washing with a rag.
Scale formation.
A new product often smells like plastic, which is also unpleasant.

If mold has formed, then liquid soap or dishwashing detergent will help in the question of how to remove it. It is necessary to dilute a small amount with water and pour the dishes with the mixture. Leave for a few hours. You don't even have to close the lid.

Baking soda is diluted with water. Such a composition will help get rid of a small plaque of mold and scale, as well as a musty smell of dampness.

Mold is a health hazard. How to get rid of moldy smell? Lemon comes to the rescue. It must be cut into slices and put inside. In addition to lemon, you can dilute concentrated lemon or lime essential oil. You only need a few drops.

Ways to get rid of the smell in a thermos

The fungus easily leaves the dishes if you dilute a little chlorine bleach in it. But this method does not work if your thermos is made of stainless steel. The fact is that active chlorine damages the seams on the product.

Safe withdrawal methods:

remove the smell, if it is weak or the thermos is just new, an aqueous solution flavored with one of the essential oils lemon, citronella, mint or cinnamon. The choice of flavor is up to you. All of them are able to eliminate unpleasant odors and not only from a thermos;
coffee leaves a strong aftertaste and not only in the mouth. They smell like dishes. How to wash traces? To do this, soda or sand is applied to a sponge with a hard surface and rubbed until the spots disappear. The smell goes away with them.

Simple remedies will help get rid of the smell of mold in a thermos. The main thing is to prevent its occurrence. The smell of mold also disappears if the thermos is left open until the next use.

To know how to remove unpleasant odors, you need to have on hand detergents. You can even prevent them from appearing at all. It is not difficult to get rid of mold, but it is better not to have it. After all, these are spores of a fungus harmful to the respiratory tract.

Tips:

After use, wash the dishes and put them away to be stored in a dry, ventilated room, removing the lid from the thermos.
Boiling water with soda will help clean the scale. Rinse them after washing.
The musty stench will also be removed by soda (Fanta or Coca-Cola). They need to be heated and poured inside.

For caring housewives, these recommendations will be useful. Moreover, a thermos is a very convenient dish. If you properly care for it and sometimes fill it with soda solution for prevention, then mold and unpleasant odors are not afraid of it.