On 1 Nov, 16:57, Fred wrote:

We are in hard water area and getting bored of having to de scale the
kettle! I also wonder what the inside of the washing machine must look
like but perhaps I have been made paranoid by those calgon adverts?

If you want to know, get your hands on the (Haynes) Washing Machine
Manual - getting the heater out is two blade connections (plus another
for earth), a nut to loosen (8mm on mine), tap the nut and pull
(hard!) the heater out towards the back. Our water is probably the
hardest (chalk area!) and 6 years' worth of scale wasn't too bad. No
calgon snake oil either. Chip what you can off with something wooden
or plastic (so as not to damage the element). Run it under the tap -
doesn't need to shine, leave it somewhere to dry off, then give it a
shove back in, tighten nut so it seals around its gasket and then
reconnect the wires. I only did it as part of a main bearing change -
that's holding up very well so far.

J.