How to remove scale from tap water.

Scale or Limescale is a hard and white or white or grey looking spots which form on glass, shower, faucets, and other surface areas where hard water is present. Water that contains carbonates or bicarbonates of magnesium or calcium are likely to cause scale. Their color varies depending on the minerals that they are comprised of. They are quite hard to clean and can seriously damage the operation of your plumbing and heating components. While this imposes no significant impact on human health, the cost of plumbing maintenance can be an expensive affair.

Scale creates a significant problem with washing, heating, cooling, and steam equipment. Over the time when scale buildup can cause long-term damage to equipment and forces you premature servicing. It will directly increase operating cost and utilities of all the water equipment involved. Scale also causes pressure loss in the pipelines and fouls internal surfaces. If this is left untreated, it can weaken the pipeline to the extent that it will require an entire replacement which again comes with a big budget. If you live in hard water area, then you must use scale prevention techniques to save and minimize your utilities bills.

How to prevent scale from tap water?

There are various kind of scale prevention system which prevent irremovable scale deposits on your taps and fixtures. They also protect internal parts of your plumbing safe and corrosion free thus maintaining efficiency of your equipment. Here are some of the most common ideas to prevent scale from your tap water:

Use Water Conditioner of Softener

Scale is the result of hard water but when you have water conditioner or softener, it will prevent scale buildup from your entire plumbing. A water conditioner or softener is a great way to prevent annoying scale buildup in your plumbing. They normally form a unique bond with minerals dissolving them even before they can cause any damage to your plumbing fixtures and other appliances.

Water Filter

Water Filters are most efficient devices to remove any unessential minerals that are found in water. Water Filters can be simply installed on faucets and taps to filter hard minerals like calcium and magnesium concentrates from water. Calcium and Magnesium concentrates are the major culprit behind the formation of lime scale.

Descale System or Magnetic Water Conditioner

A descale system or magnetic water conditioner is a popular method that can prevent scale formation on plumbing fixtures. These systems start working instantly after you install them and save you tons of money in maintenance. This works through magnetizing the water together keeping them in suspension to prevent accumulation on walls of the pipe. A magnetic field cleans all the existing lime scale strain in water system and prevent scales from building up.

Vinegar and Lemon Juice

It is a handy technique of getting rid of scale formation from your tap. You can flush your equipment timely with mixture of vinegar and lemon juice to prevent scale build up. Mixtures of vinegar and lime react with scale causing minerals and flush them out preventing your plumbing from scale formation.

Reverse Osmosis

RO system uses a membrane with small holes to push the water and block the scale forming chemicals such as calcium, magnesium, lead and more.

Installing water Conditioner of Softener equipment

Water softening equipment functions like water softeners, it is just bulk edition. Water softening equipment removes the stain causing minerals at the source before the contaminated water makes to your plumbing system.

These are some of the scale prevention techniques for your plumbing and fixtures but what about all those smallware that we use daily. Here is more in-depth sight about how to remove scale from our daily equipment:

Tap and faucets

Wrap bag soaked in vinegar around the tap for an hour and rinse it with water and dry it.

Shower head

Take off the shower head and soak it in white vinegar overnight. After this scrub it with a toothbrush or something similar and rinse it with water.

Shower doors

Get a white vinegar or wine container and spray it on shower door, leave it for a while and wipe it off.

Dishwasher

Once in every month add a cup of white vinegar to your dishwasher and run it through a cleaning cycle. Make sure no dishes are in there.

Washing machine

Add a gallon of white vinegar to machine and run it on cleaning cycle without any clothes. Repeat when needed.

Rubber bathmat

Soak it for an hour into white vinegar. Make sure you cover the entire mat properly. Then, scrub it with a toothbrush then rinse it off with warm water.

Coffee maker

Run a brewing cycle with water reservoir full of white vinegar. After this run three more brewing cycles with plain water to rinse the coffee maker.

Toilet tank and bowl

Add 3 cups of vinegar into the tank or bowl and scrub it thoroughly then rinse with warm water.

Sinks and tubs

Spray the scale surface with lemon juice or vinegar and leave it for a couple of hours then wipe it. Depending on types of minerals, you may be required to repeat the process until its completely gone.

While there is no significant health impact caused by hard water or scale, the cost of repairing and replacing plumbing fixtures comes with a huge price tag and can be an expensive affair. It is necessary for us to consider the precautionary measure to avoid them as much as we can. We should regularly checkup our plumbing, water surface and act immediately if we see scale build up.

We recommend installing a water Conditioner of Softener system in your household to overcome scale formation as it is the best and reliable method to remove scale forming minerals from tap water. This system neutralizes hard water and all the harsh minerals found in water and is also proven to be more efficient than any other traditional method. So, if scale formation has become an issue for you, this may be something for you to consider.