How To Remove Hard Water Stains and Spots
Cleaning Hard Water Spots and Stains
Hard Water Stains
If your water is hard, you must have those nasty white and brown spots on your sink, tubs, and glass shower enclosures. Basically every where you have a faucet and use water.
If hard water deposits are not addressed, the minerals in the water will stain and permeate the surface making it very, if not extremely difficult to remove.
So don’t let those hard water stains take over. The sooner you address it, the less of a stain and build up you will have to deal with. Less time cleaning means more time to spend with your family.
Hard Water Spots
Hard water is water that has a high concentration of dissolved minerals, mainly magnesium and calcium. Hard water is not bad for you, (it's actually a nice way to get your minerals) but it is a pain when it stains and builds up on your sinks and showers. It also makes detergents and shampoos perform poorly.
Water is foremost a solvent. It picks up impurities easily. So as water percolates through the ground , it takes very small amounts of the minerals with it and takes it right to the water processing plant. The actual degree of water increased with the content of calcium and magnesium.
Hard Water Deposits
So, with hard water comes increased soap scum, film, lime deposits on all your showers and sinks. These spots and deposits will appear on glass, porcelain, enamel, fiberglass, stainless steel, china, enamel, chrome, and tile.
Hard water has it's own natural film and makes it more difficult to remove soap scum. Your bathroom shower and sinks will require more frequent cleaning because of this.
The calcium and magnesium in water leaves what is called lime scale. These minerals make cleaning products much less effective. To clean lime scale, you to use a product that deactivates or binds with the minerals. This is called a sequestrates. Calgon is a sequestrate cleaning product. The bound hard water minerals then cannot form soap scum, lime scale of film.
Remove Hard Water Deposits
The cleaners listed below will remove stains on your surfaces. But remember that you should clean hard water stains away regularly. The longer they sit, the harder they are to remove. If allowed to stain for long periods the stain may be permanent.
Plain white vinegar and lemon juice is a acid, and it helps to loosen and remove hard water deposits from glass shower enclosures.
Phosphoric acid, hydrochloric and sulfuric acid are very strong acid and professional cleaning companies use this to scour hard water deposits. (be sure to use eye protection and gloves!
Hard Water Stain Removers
Lime-A-Way is a product that removes hard water deposits, rust stains and soap scum. There are tub and tile cleaning products that remove soup scum and also contain sequestering agents and heavy duty acids such as phosphoric acids. Eye protection and gloves!
Glass shower doors become stained easily with hard water deposits. The lime scale attracts soap scum, dirt and mold and mildew. To remove these stains with this buildup, try cleaners made for hard water scale or lime removal such as wink, Zud or comet.
If these methods do not work, try an acid-base cleaner. Do follow all instructions provided by the manufacturer.
How To Descale & Clean A Coffee Pot
The scale or hard water spots on your coffee pot is caused from mineral deposits, specifically it is calcium and magnesium that occurs naturally in the water. These minerals, if high in content, are called leave stains called "hard water spots" or "lime scale".
Hard water spots, or stains can be removed by using a solution of vinegar and water. approx 25% vinegar/ 75% water. Pour the solution directly in the coffee pot's water holding tank and run the coffee pot through it's normal brewing cycle. It may take several times of cycling this vinegar/water solution to completely remove the scale.
