Lins Ceramic Kettles

I would think an electric hot plate of any kind is going to be gentler than open flame. Shouldn't be a problem. Those Lin's kettles can take a pretty high direct flame with no problems.

Some of them supposedly are impregnated with something that will let them work on induction as well, at least I think someone told me that.

Hi Adam,

In the Lin's shop I was told to either use these kettles on a gas flame or an electric plate, but not both.  I've no idea why this is - I was reaching the limits of my mandarin trying to work out whether he was talking about induction hobs or ordinary electric hobs.  If the kettle works on induction, I'd guess he was talking about induction as that would be a very different method of heating than a conventional electric hotplate.  I can't see that there'd be much of a difference between a conventional hotplate and a gas flame.

As common sense would tell us, he also said to start with a small gas flame and increase it as the kettle begins to warm up.

A friend bought one of these at the same time - be careful - his box slid around 12 inches onto the floor and the base cracked.  They're very brittle.

best wishes,
d.

Reviving a old thread, because I felt it would fit in here instead of in a new post.

So after quite a bit of use, my Lins kettle is really developing a build up on the inside of the kettle, and I am not sure how I should proceed.  For those of you more experienced, do you descale the kettle, and if yes using what?  Or are these kettles supposed to be considered more along the lines of Tetsubins in the sense that the build up is good for them?

I have wondered if citric acid might work. Luckily, mine hasn't been building up too much yet, but I've never heard a good answer to whether (and how) to safely descale clay / stoneware kettles.

I have mine for 3 months now. Its a 2 liter sand finish with the matching alcohol stove. I have pre-treated it boiling rice porridge for 2 hours before first use. After that, another 3 or 4 water boilings to get a clean smell. First month used only on alcohol stove (unfortunately it has a low power flame, it took me almost 3 hours to reach 97C) after that began using it on electric stove (20 minutes boil time), At first, starting with low temp,  then just putting it on the plate at full temp. (I have a 1300W electric plate) ant it does not seem to have any problem. I am more concerned about sudden temp changes than high temps, so after filling it with water i just let it sit for 20 minutes before putting it on the plate.
On the scale aspect  I haven´t  noticed any deposit yet, though I appreciate it was used ~50-60 times until now. It´s also true I use a very low-mineral content water, but but even when it will start building scale I wouldn´t clean it, especially as the  inside surface is not enameled/glazed or anything. I would be more concerned about a funny after-cleaning smell that could penetrate it, than of the scale deposit buffer-zone.

I recently bought a Lin`s ceramic kettle it is V series 1000 cc. I boiled it for 1 hour submersed in filtered water, it removed the stain from the firing, I boiled water 4 times and discarded, it is ready to use, I use  a 1000 Watt electric burner, not induction, I use a tetsubin with the same size and this Lin kettle, the tetsubin boils 800 ml water in less than 20 min, but the Lin`s kettle in more than 30 min, both make good water, you just need to pair it with the right tea, I noticed that tetsubin works well with old tea like aged puerh, japanese greens, chinese green tea, and the lin kettle works well with fresh light oolongs, like Anxi and Taiwanese high mountain. The Lin`s kettle gives a great mineral taste to water that makes the aftertaste more obvious, and it makes smooth water. 
   P.S. I think it is not a good idea to use rice porrige water for the first time, you need porosity in a tea kettle, this is what makes the water taste great.