Limescale remover

I found formic acid very good - worked cold and very quicky. That was years ago when Boots actually sold stuff.

A lot of cleaners are based on citric acid now - ones that foam slightly are usually OK as it holds the acid in place long enough to work.

My missus like Cillit Bang Power Cleaner Grime and Lime ! They also do Cillit Bang Power Cleaner Lime Scale and Shine, which I guess is much the same.

I use hydrochloric acid, sold by my local ironmonger as spirits of salt. I have recently seen Coka Cola poured into the WC pan and left overnight suggested, but have yet to try it.

Colin Bignell

Move to the superior north.

fit a softener..

Edinburgh tap water. When I brought an electric kettle here from Cambridge, the scale vanished within a few weeks.

-- Richard

Porcelain - Hydrochloric acid. First, make sure any other cleaners are well flushed from the pan and pipework. Use a small amount of brick acid squirted around sides of the pan and left to run into the U trap. Then leave it for a while (like overnight). Some chlorine may be given off, which if the loo seat is closed can corrode some of the metal seat hinges, so leave the seat up, and the window open a crack. Next morning, flush the acid away and then clean the bowl with the toilet brush, and the grime should come off easily. Flush again to see if it's clean and to help flush the acid out of the pipework. Don't put heavy effort into the brushing - if some is still stuck, a repeat treatment with acid is required. If you have cast iron soil pipes, it probably isn't a good idea to do this too often.

Vitreous Enamel (steel bath) - This is much harder - most chemicals which will dissolve hard water scale also take the highly polished finish off the enamel, so prevention is much easier than cure. I have done it with proprietary bath cleaners which state they're OK on vitreous enamel, together with using a thumbnail, but it was slow work, and not viable on a whole bath. Many baths have been treated with acids already and lost their polished surface and consequently get dirty easily, at which point it probably doesn't matter much descaler you use.

We find that the supermarket own brand "100% limescale" loo descalers work well enough but they aren't quick but no different in time to what others have been saying about brick acid. On the bath you don't want to get brick acid near anything metal/plated.

Ask the water board for the test results on your supply going back over say the last ten years. Might need to use the FOI Act and cost you a tenner.

have been treated with scourers...

use T-cut.

It's probably actually HCl gas. But your advice stands.

Andy

Of the commercial variety, SWMBO says Domestos Zero Limescale (in a black bottle) is the best she's tried.