I completed on a new house today. One of the toilet bowls has a very heavy layer of lime-scale round the rim. I've given it a squirt of Harpic lime-scale remover but I think it needs something stronger. Any suggestions as to what might remove it without killing me or blowing up the drains?
just keep on with the descaler, or possibly brick acid but don't let that near any chrome.
I have in the past chipped out the chalky stuff. It takes several goes to clean up a seriously scaled bog.
One reason I fitted a water softener. Limescale, urine and faeces are not pleasant to remove.
NT
I'd have gone with a soft water area ;-)
Spirits of salt (hydrochloric acid) is cheap and readily available at good hardware shops. Sulphuric acid is not quite so easy to find. I don't think the wiki is giving very good advice here because concentrated sulphuric acid, or even battery strength acid, is as aggressive towards concrete and more aggressive towards skin than brick acid or spirits of salt. The acid bath murderer used sulphuric acid, not hydrochloric, to dissolve his victims (except for their gall-stones).
This might sound silly, but the best thing is full strength coke a cola. empty all the water out the bottom of wc bowl, fill up the the trap level with coke a cola and leave all night. It's also very good for cleaning car engines of grease etc. and people drink it
and never mix with bleach!
(Makes gaseous chlorine in large amounts).
But yes, brick acid aka HCl will work very well - I;ve used it a few times. You do not need to use it at full strength - 10% will still work wonders whilst being slightly less unpleasant - in particular 30+% HCl gives off a noticeable amount of HCl as gas which is not nice in confined spaces - gets your eyes and throat.
Max conc is 30-odd % (33 IIRC) and "brick acid" version generally comes in between 20-30% (says on the bottle) so dilute it 1:1 or 1:2 with water and it tends to be a lot less stinky.
You also see it in proper hardware stores described as Spirits of Salts in meths-type bottles (yellow liquid - due to not being very pure).
I'm no chemistry expert myself, but I'm reliably informed that hydrochloric acid is better. Something, ISTR about solubility of the products.
That's the best thing you can do with Coca Cola.
In turkey they sell hydrochloric acid in most shops for cleaning floor tiles and de scaling. I used it for the first time a few weeks back and it works a treat. Use rubber gloves and dont breath the fumes.
yeah, chlorides more soluble than sulphates.
Its very mild phosphoric and citric acid IIRC.
I think phosphoric is available at better strength as a de rusting agent..
and citric is in any acid fruit..
almost any acid will work, but the key is the product solubility and the surfactants and gels added to descalers.
The key is to find something that attacks the scale, bit not metal plumbing bits. Then add surfactant and a thickener, a bit of color and a nice pong: hey presto,. Commercial de-scalers.
I've seen propionic(?) acid, formic acid, and several others (oxalic) in various descalers.
But for cheap and fast, Hcl takes a lot of beating. Abrasive sponge, rubber gloves, safety specs and ventilation . wash any splashes off fairly quickly, and wear the oldest clothes you can find. wash everything by itself after use.
just keep washing off the fizz with fresh sponged acid. Flush evbery few minutes, and expect it to take a couple of hpurs, and be happy when its
40 minutes..
A new house with lime-scale in the toilet bowl? What have I missed?
"Completed" = "completion of sale"
It could be Elizabethan.
For severe cases I have successfully used a large chisel from my woodworking lathe, hitting it with a hammer.
Good point, calcium sulphate = gypsum = plaster
But it will still convert "scale" into fine particles which can be washed away.
Harpic limescale remover contains 15 - 20% hydrochloric acid according to the MSDS. That probably means this percentage of the strong aqueous solution so I think "brick acid" or "spirits of salt" is a few times stronger. The problem with the rim is gravity; harpic contains a gelling agent to make it thicker, but with either product you need to use the abrasive sponge and gloves technique described in another posting. Unless you plug the outlet and fill it up to the brim to soak, which is another option (it might take days unless you put in a lot of acid).
In message , newshound wrote
Wall paper paste as a thickener?
Many thanks for all the input :-)
I'm back over there today and I'll keep at it with the Harpic between decorating. It was a single female owner previously, perhaps she never lifted the seat?
If the chisel doesn't work I do have a small angle grinder....
It wouldn't have a toilet bowl then, would it
tim
Indeed. I have a Winchester jar of 23% HCl left over from one of my businesses and it works wonders on lime scale. Nasty stuff to handle though.
Colin Bignell
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