When you live in a home with hard water, it can be frustrating to deal with the limescale buildups that occur around every faucet, sink and bathtub. This unsightly scum does more than make your bathrooms and kitchen look messy; it can also corrode away at your plumbing. Fortunately, there are ways to prevent limescale from forming.
Limescale is a deposit of a chemical compound called calcium carbonate. This is a mineral that is naturally found in some water sources. If you get your water from a natural source, you may be more at risk for limescale deposits. While these minerals are usually in such small amounts that they won’t affect your health, as spilled water evaporates, the buildup of this chemical can form an off-white layer of grime that can be hard to remove. Also, these chemicals can make your water taste bad and make it difficult to wash off soap.
The problem with limescale is that the chemicals that cause the problem are usually dissolved in the water that comes into the home. To prevent it from building up around your plumbing fixtures, you will need to invest in a water softening system. These systems are about the size of a water heater and filter out the minerals in your tap water.
Installing a water softening system not only eliminates the problem of limescale, but it also will improve several other problems. Once minerals are removed from the water, many people report that its taste improves. Laundry and bathing also become much more efficient, since soap can rinse away more cleanly.
In the meantime, if you have hard water, you need to get rid of your limescale deposits. While several commercial cleaners can do a good job, you might want to start with a homemade formula. A one-to-one mixture of vinegar and distilled water can remove most limescale deposits, and it only costs a few pennies to make.
Rather than spraying this mixture, however, it needs to be allowed to soak. That means filling a plastic bag and tying it to the spouts in your home that are affected. Leave this on overnight, and in the morning the limescale should be gone.
If you have limescale in your appliances, it’s usually a good idea to use pure vinegar. Place a cup or two inside your coffee pots, dishwashers and laundry machines, then run a full cycle of the appliance. The vinegar will remove any buildup.
If you’re still having issues with your fixtures after this process, call us today at Crawford Mechanical Services to schedule your plumbing repair, replacement or installation for commercial or residential!
