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Somewhat related to
viewtopic.php?f=77&t=2478

This is inevitable. Was able to hold it off for a long time by only exposing my stainless steel to <80 ppm water. But after a year and a half - the white sandy residue starts covering the bottom and the kettle becomes louder and louder when heated up.

It clearly does matter - the ppm goes up to 150 for 70 ppm water after being boiled in it.

Using vinegar - 1:3 white vinegar. Works but leaves awful smell for a week needing continuous.flushing

Citric.acid - let it cover bottom and add a little water over it barely covering bottom. Boil 2-3x. The leave it there for an hour - fill water to full mark - boil. Empty atter some time. I find this also leaves off taste - but needs less flushing - maybe 3-4 times with distilled water.

Issue is that - after doing this - scale build up comes back much faster - forcing me to do this more and more often. Not sure if its because my method is not thorough enough or if something has been stripped from surface that had been resisting buildup

I used 0ppm water (ZeroWater filter) or Spa bottled water 50ppm. It never builds up.

Some waters don't leave any residue. Doesn't have to be 0-30ppm (usually not great for tea), I'm currently using a 50ppm that leaves nothing behind in the kettle nor espresso machine (and tastes better than my previous lower-ppm choice that was also zero-residue).

If you have to have water that causes buildup (due to convenience / taste preference), the greatest (albeit non-electic) kettle in my modest experience is the Takahiro 0.9l or 1.5l (definitely the standard, not the Shizuku, variant for tea; IMHO same for coffee). It's just the way it's built: super-smooth joints & outward-rolled rim allow you to either clean with a brush or chemically with no smell left behind after a thorough rinse, as there is no place any gunk gets stuck. Any electric/stainless steel kettle I use while away from home feels like a steep downgrade, incl. Fellow, etc., but you have to accept induction plate and no temp control (the induction plate may offer rough temp control).

@LeoFox how often are you having to reset the kettle? Thankfully, the process is pretty painless with citric acid as it does the job fairly quickly. I'd doubt there is any type of protective coating that would resist buildup. Probably only way to find out would be to buy a new kettle and do some sort of controlled experiment.

Reading this prompted me to do my own descaling as it was getting pretty bad. Its also just a reminder that it is really hard to maintain consistency in brewing. Or at least it takes more effort. You think you are working with a certain tds, and then all of a sudden you aren't.

I should probably start a new thread about this because it is tangentially related, but I've been thinking a lot about water temps with gooseneck kettles ever since reading a piece that someone wrote a couple months back about switching over from electric kettles. A quick test showed that I lost 20 degrees Fahrenheit immediately pouring from my gooseneck into a gaiwan I constantly use. Boiling is relative.

All to say, I do the best I can with the equipment/water/tea i have. Consistency is hard to maintain and takes practice and work.