We have a water softener, standard ion exchange type in which you put
salt blocks.

We still get some scale, though it's a much finer and harder scale which
is immune to normal descaling acids, so I'm guessing Sulfates. It's a
cosmetic problem really, as it gives the the chrome plated taps and
pipes a matt covering as well as staining the porcelain a bit. I've
tried chemistry to no avail, and abrasion with normal cleaners doesn't work.

Wire wool works, but is time consuming and runs the risk of scratching
the chrome. I haven't tried it on the porcelain.

I wondered - if I turned the softener down so that some carbonate got
through, would the subsequent combined deposit be easier to remove with
normal acidic descalers?

Or other idea?

Cheers
--
Clive

On 29/09/2019 17:11, Clive Arthur wrote:
We have a water softener, standard ion exchange type in which you put
salt blocks.

We still get some scale, though it's a much finer and harder scale which
is immune to normal descaling acids, so I'm guessing Sulfates.Â* It's a
cosmetic problem really, as it gives the the chrome plated taps and
pipes a matt covering as well as staining the porcelain a bit. I've
tried chemistry to no avail, and abrasion with normal cleaners doesn't
work.

Wire wool works, but is time consuming and runs the risk of scratching
the chrome.Â* I haven't tried it on the porcelain.

I wondered - if I turned the softener down so that some carbonate got
through, would the subsequent combined deposit be easier to remove with
normal acidic descalers?

Or other idea?

Some descalers will get at the sulphates

Cheers


--
"What do you think about Gay Marriage?"
"I don't."
"Don't what?"
"Think about Gay Marriage."

On Sun, 29 Sep 2019 17:14:01 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

We still get some scale, though it's a much finer and harder scale which
is immune to normal descaling acids, so I'm guessing Sulfates.* It's a
cosmetic problem really, as it gives the the chrome plated taps and
pipes a matt covering as well as staining the porcelain a bit. I've
tried chemistry to no avail, and abrasion with normal cleaners doesn't
work.

I've used oxalic acid on some orange/brown deposits on tiles with
complete success.

On Sunday, 29 September 2019 17:12:02 UTC+1, Clive Arthur wrote:
We have a water softener, standard ion exchange type in which you put
salt blocks.

We still get some scale, though it's a much finer and harder scale which
is immune to normal descaling acids, so I'm guessing Sulfates. It's a
cosmetic problem really, as it gives the the chrome plated taps and
pipes a matt covering as well as staining the porcelain a bit. I've
tried chemistry to no avail, and abrasion with normal cleaners doesn't work.

Wire wool works, but is time consuming and runs the risk of scratching
the chrome. I haven't tried it on the porcelain.

I wondered - if I turned the softener down so that some carbonate got
through, would the subsequent combined deposit be easier to remove with
normal acidic descalers?

Or other idea?

Cheers

aluminium is the no.1 choice for descaling chrome.


NT

On 29/09/2019 18:50, wrote:

snip
aluminium is the no.1 choice for descaling chrome.


NT

? Is there a word missing?

Cheers
--
Clive

On Monday, 30 September 2019 10:59:31 UTC+1, Clive Arthur wrote:
On 29/09/2019 18:50, tabbypurr wrote:

snip
aluminium is the no.1 choice for descaling chrome.


NT

? Is there a word missing?

Cheers

no You could add 'foil' if you want, but it's not restricted to foil.


NT

On 29/09/2019 17:11, Clive Arthur wrote:
We have a water softener, standard ion exchange type in which you put
salt blocks.

We still get some scale, though it's a much finer and harder scale which
is immune to normal descaling acids, so I'm guessing Sulfates.

A softener exchanges low-solubility metal ions such as calcium,
magnesium, iron etc for sodium ions, and *all* sodium salts are readily
soluble, including sodium sulphate.


Maybe you just need to turn up the setting on your softener (is it timed
or measured?).
It might be interesting to scrape off some of the scale, get it in a hot
flame, and see what colour you get - that might identfy the metal component.

--
Reentrant