[Greenbuilding] calcium & lime removal (was re: Fixture Folly)

bill.allen at verizon.net bill.allen at verizon.net
Tue Dec 20 13:34:17 CST 2011


Thanks, Vinegar I have:-)
Bill in NY

-----Original Message-----
From: RT <archilogic at yahoo.ca>
Sender: greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:21:49 
To: GBioEL<greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
Reply-to: archilogic at chaffyahoo.ca,
 Green Building <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
Subject: [Greenbuilding] calcium & lime removal (was re: Fixture Folly)

bill.allen wrote:

> What "acid" do you use?  I haven't found anything common that works.
>> use an acid to get rid of all the calcium and lime deposits

Acetic acid (aka vinegar) does the job, just not as quickly as muriatic
acid solutions but it's not as corrosive as muriatic acid either.

ie If you use an electric kettle the heating elements will likely develop
a thick calcium coating over the years. Pouring enough vinegar into the
kettle to completely submerge the elements and leaving it to soak
overnight or for a day is usually enough to dissolve a thin layers of the
calcium or lime. If you listen closely you can hear a faint "s-s-s-ssss"
as the vinegar does its stuff.  If the coating is really thick, you may
need to refresh the vinegar and repeat the soaking. Corollary: If you
don't hear the "ssss"-ing, then the vinegar is spent and could stand
refreshing.

Similarly, soaking mineral-encrusted plumbing parts in vinegar will clean
them.

For mineral coatings on surfaces where soaking is impossible or
impractical, soaking a rag or paper towel in vinegar and applying it like
a poultice around or on the affected part or surface and re-wetting with
vinegar as necessary to prevent the poultice from drying out, usually does
the trick.



--
=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada

< A r c h i L o g i c  at  Y a h o o  dot  c a  >
(manually winnow the chaff from my edress if you hit "reply")

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