KenK wrote:
Perhaps someone can make a suggestion.
I bought a new evaporative cooler last spring. (An evaporative cooler
replaces an A/C in dry weather and costs much less to run. It runs
water though pads, which have air sucked through them and blown into
the building. They work quit well.)
This spring, as usual, I prepared it for a summer's use. Replaced
pads, lubricated blower, cleaned the interior, and checked it out.
For the first time I found a inch or more coat of calcium from my
hard-water well in the bottom of the reservoir (about 3 x 3'). Never
happened before in some 30 previous years. Granular on top and a 1/4
to 1/2" of solid below. The problem is removing the solid. Scraping
will take many many hours and will surely damage the paint. I'm
currently trying a generous amount of Lime-a-way (active ingedient
unlisted) in an inch or so of water on it. Helps, after a couple of
days, but not very much. I tried adding some toilet bowl cleaner (20%
hydrochloric acid) earlier this morning but so far little help. I
don't want to damage the baked-on enamel paint if I can help it.
Swimming pool acid sounds rather drastic to me.
A cooler book I have suggests a tile and tub cleaner. Those I looked
at at Walmart didn't say much if anything about removing calcium so I
will use the TB cleaner instead - this brand (The Works) works VERY
well on my toilet the past few years.
Evidently my well water has suddenly this past year become much much
'harder'.
I have plans for avoiding this problem in the future but first I need
to remove what's there now.
You have two choices:
1. Mechanically (chip/scrape)
2. Chemically. Any acid will do it but for that much you will either have
to use a strong acid or wait and wait and wait, renewing the weak acid when
it becomes neutralized. Lime-Away probably uses phosphoric acid. Too weak.
Rome could have been built in less time of you try vinegar. Swimming pool
acid is hydrochloric acid...same as your toilet bowl cleaner and what is in
your stomach. That's what I would use, diluted by 50-75% to try, stronger
if necessary. IT would become neutralized and need to be changed too. BTW,
add acid to water, *NEVER* vice versa.
Both ways are likely to damage the paint.
--
dadiOH
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