Limescale tablets in washing machines

[pamela]

I live in a hard water area and recently saw some own brand "W5 Limescale tablets" for washing machinesat my local Lidl.

I bought them thinking they must be useful because Lidl tends to sell no-nonsense items and I guessed Lidl was stocking them in my branch because there's a local demand on account of the water hardness.

Tablets/cns-p/4171

However, sites like this say you don't need laundry water softening tablets at all.

We don't actually have any problems with our 5 years old washing machine, so am I a bit of a mug?

I don't want to waste my time going through a ritual of putting in a tablet for the next 50 washes if it's no use. I would rather throw the pack in the dustbin.

[Bob Eager]

I live in a hard water area.

Our washing machine developed a leak round the heater after 12 years of heavy use (it was a hardened rubber seal). There was no significant scale, and we had never used anything to 'fix' the water.

No other appliances have shown significant scale, either (well, a bit in the kettle).

[Broadback]

I have had a problem with the toilet. Not a major problem, until I came to dissemble it. completely jammed with scale, having immense difficulty in removing the parts. :-(

[Nick]

I live in a hard water area (London). I regularly have to de-scale the kettle.

I had a washing machine for 20 years without problem, without using salt. I mean without ANY problem. I hated its slow spin and if it had so much as hiccuped I would have replaced it.

I notice that on my dishwasher, 23 years old, the heating elements go white if there is no salt and clean off after I refill the salt.

Doesn't salt also improve the detergent effectiveness?

[meow2222]

You'll spend far more on calgon than it would cost to fix a fault caused by limescale. A descale with a little hot acid every 2 months is more practical. Citric works.

NT

[Chris Hogg]

AIUI most laundry detergents contain their own water softener. Ion-exchange resins or similar, and one of the zeolites were once common, but I think they now use mostly sodium meta-silicate. That would support the observations by others here that while they may get lime-scale in kettles and toilets, they don't get it in the washing machine. It may even say on the packet, but they tend to be cagey about giving away too much detail.

[Bob Eager]

Exactly. The new heater was cheap, and easy to replace.

[Bob Eager]

Not directly. But it does recharge the built-in water softener. And soft water helps the detergent.

[Harry Bloomfield]

[e-mail] submitted this idea :

One of Calgon's ads features a supposedly Yorkshire plumber recommending it, showing a choked up pipe oozing gundge and a coated element. Yorkshire is renowned for having general very soft water. Our washing machine, after close on a decade has no deposits and the element still shines.

[Brian Gaff]

So how is it that Calgol adverts are all over the telly in London. I'm sure that is what these are. I have to say however that although our water is hrd, ie full of apparently disolved sand from the concret ring main round London, it seems never to have been an issue with my previous or current machine. Now of course tomorrow it will pack up won't it? Brian

[newshound]

Because they are lying scum?

Didn't Which? review Calgon a while ago, and say it was completely unnecessary in washing machines?

As for the OP, I wouldn't throw away the tablets, I would pop one in the loo cistern every month or so. Can't do any harm, I think.

[pamela]

Limescale-

The second link I posted suggests that if you use enough detergent (perhaps of the right sort) then the washer shouldn't need descaling.

I'm left wondering why no-nonense Lidl, which often lacks shelf space for a wide range of products, finds there's a demand for their descaling tablets. Are they just dumping them on concerned mugs like me? :-)

[pamela]

I think I heard that the surfactants used in liquid detergents don't cause scale to form. Their dosing instructions often suggest the same quantity for soft or hard water areas. So who actually needs these Lidl descaling tablets?

[The Natural Philosopher]

You don't arf talk some crap Brian.

[harry]

Many washing powders /detergents already have built in limescale protection .

[harry]

[newshound]

Perhaps on the continent there are constraints on detergent formulation, so that the tablets make more sense there? Or they are just cloning something their customers are prepared to buy.

[Chris Hogg]

Not sure about the surfactants, but the ion-exchange resin, zeolite and meta-silicate I mentioned simply remove or complex the calcium ions in the water, usually as a fine insoluble white precipitate that goes unnoticed. I suppose a surfactant might also do that, and in fact most calcium salts of soaps in general tend to be insoluble and form a scum which can be unsightly and require extra amounts of detergent/surfactant. But it certainly doesn't happen in kettles or toilets, although TNP's suggestion of popping one in the toilet cistern from time to time seems reasonable and better than just ditching them, but they'll dissolve away very rapidly.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Interesting. I've wondered if any tablets added to the WC cistern would stop the hard water marks here. The ordinary disinfectant sort don't. The top on my cistern simply lifts off, so easy to do.

[Huge]

Hmmm. As cognitive dissonance goes, that's right up there with vaccinations for chem-trails