Visiting my Aunt. In the kitchen she has a Cuisinart steamer. It hasn’t been used in a few years and has water inside of the reservoir tank. We were thinking of using it, but I see there is green algae on the inside of the tank forming. I’m guessing I can use vinegar to clean this, but I wonder if that would make it safe to use since water has been sitting in it for a few years? I can’t see inside all the parts of the unit, is this safe to use? Or should it be replaced?
I would drain out and replace all of the water, fire it up and let it steam for a long while. Any microbes living in it should be destroyed by the hot steam, but if you want to be 100% sure it’s safe I would throw it out and buy her a new one. Your aunt deserves a new one considering all she has done for you over the years.
Steaming excluded from the list of all the things she has done. I’d clean it out, maybe using a bleach solution and/or the dishwasher if it (the reservoir) can be put in the dishwasher. But why replace something that’s never used?
If it were me, I’d follow the “Descaling the Steamer” section of this PDF instruction manual:
The formatting makes that look like a poem.
Very close.
It’s the lyrics to a Blue Oyster Cult song.
Steamers don’t fear the algae
Nor do the dish, the pan or the drain
We can clean like they do
I also recommend discarding the appliance. Yuck!