Water problems (hard deposits) HELP NEEDED

Having recently returned from another great break in our relatively new property (we purchased in the Quesada area on the CB 2 years ago & it's only had around 15 weeks use in that time ) I was amazed to notice that there were hard water deposits on both toilets, at the bottom (excuse the pun ) of the vertical area just above where the water is flushed around.  (Am I making sense ?) The toilet now is quite rough in this area & I obviously need to buy a product that will gently remove this (unlike what I did in the UK which was to attack it with a blunt knife which wasn't the answer . ) Also, we have a glass shower cubicle which now has chalky deposits.

I asked a friend living permanently in Spain how she deals with this problem & she showed me a product I've seen advertised in the UK which she sprays daily on her glass shower cubicle after showering & she says she just leaves it on. She says she uses Cillic Bang on her toilets & around the taps, which also have white deposits. Both products were English labelled products & likely more expensive & not so easily purchased. I would ideally prefer to buy  Spanish equivalent products but what ???

I now know I should've begun tackling this before now but I guess it wasn't the issue it now is for me. So, what do others use to prevent this buildup & I'd appreciate knowing about Spanish products so I can pick it up in any supermarket or market stall.  

Thanks

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Hi  morerosado  This hard water is a big problem in Spain the best way is to have a water softener fitted on the incoming water main, we have seen it advertised for about  150 euroes  I think thats the fitted price its also has a guarantee to work  , its very easy to install just fits over the cold pipe coming into the property and connects to electrical supply ,  it works by changing the chemical make up of the hard water.   If you just leave it in the end it will block up most of your pipes and taps and boilers ( electric or gas) . Its advertised in the local papers sometimes ( Spain ).    Its sometimes  called  SCALEWATCHER. this is the best way to solve this problem as you will be cleaning forever and it will beat you in the end, go for it.     Regds Rosi n

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Hi Rosi n,

I perhaps should've mentioned that we have a Scalewizard (same thing as you speak of with a solenoid coil wrapped around the rising main pipe & connected to electricity supply) fitted here in the UK but the rising main in our Spanish property is buried within the walls with stop cocks high up on the walls so we cannot have that there. Apparently there is a magnetic type which doesn't need the electricity supply but we still need to put it on the rising main. (Getting technical here !) Our friend who I was speaking of before (re Cillic Bang etc) who's also on our urb has the magnetic type but their property is not the same as ours. The Scalewizard http://www.scalewizard.co.uk/ was £89 in the UK with a 10 yr guarantee when purchased through QVC, only 5 years guarantee through company, very odd that ! It was so simple to fit we would have one if we only could. My husband says he'll need to look into it more when we're back in Spain in September.

Back to trying to find a suitable product to clear hard deposits on my wc & powdery deposits in my shower !

 

This message was last edited by morerosado on 6/23/2007.

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You can buy Cillit Bang in the supermarkets here, and my better half also has a product by Doracil, it's just called Limpiador Antical. I've seen it in her cleaning cupboard, which is out of bounds to me, and don't know how good it is or otherwise, but if she has it, it probably works! Cleaning is her department, maintenance is mine. So I regularly remove all the filters on the taps (and give them to her to clean!) and also open and close all the stop cocks and taps under the sinks, washing machine connections etc. to ensure that they are all usable. In time, they can get stuck with the calcium build up, and when you need to shut one of them off you have a problem.

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Hi Roberto,

I think that Limpiador Antical is what I likely should buy as I've done a search in Google since you told me about it. Sites speaking of it though are in Spanish (no surprize there ) & a Google translation is impossible to fathom. I wonder just how your better half uses it in certain circumstances. I've also now been advised just to dampen kitchen towel in white vinegar, wrap around taps then tie a plastic bag over it & leave, if possible, overnight & the deposit will just fall off. Also make up a thick paste with white vinegar & baking soda for doing same job. I have heard white vinegar is marvellous for cleaning.

Found this on my travels Googling, sounds excellent. http://householdtips.org/

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I live on the Costa del Sol and  our water supply (from our well) is very hard.  We have solved the problem by buying two filters from Leroy Merlin in Malage.  They are fitted inline onto the water pipe as it comes out of the pump on its way to the house. The first removes any  grit etc from the water  and the second softens the water with the use of crystals of some type.  These are simple devices, the water passes through the first filter to remove all of those gritty bits that mess up the valves in the toilet and taps, and then the water passes through the crystals before it enters the house.  Result - lovely soft water and very little in the way of deposits on the sanitary ware or taps.  The filters cost around 40 euros each and do a great job.  Every six months you can change the crystals and the filter.  The grit filter on my pipes is now so sandy brown that you can see just how much rubbish would enter your plumbing system without it.  Time to change it.

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Hi teralin

Our house is new. Our problem is the water pipes coming into our property are buried & the first we see are the stop cocks on the walls in utility, bathrooms & kitchen. We do have a water meter set into our front wall & hubby will look next trip to see if he can work out something from there although sadly it can't be the Scalewizard, which we have in the UK, as it relies on electricity. As I said, friends put a magnetic one on their rising main but there's is within their property so easy to do.

Thanks for posting.

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Hi there. Hard water is  big problem here. But there is an answer. got to http://www.aguadoctor.com

They're based in Tenerife but can supply all over. The Hydroflow descalers actually WORK!!

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Hi tenerife diver, thanks for that but we know of various companies & similar products. We have a system in our home in the UK.

HOWEVER, if you read my post below yours these kind are not able to be fitted in our Spanish villa because the water pipes come in underground from meter in front wall & straight through our walls to stop taps.

 UPDATE on my previous post too... my OH did look at our water meter fitted into the front wall & NO WAY can we fit the magnetic type onto the pipe, not enough clearance, needs 18" before meter.

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Oh contrair! These units can be fitted upstream. The signal passes up and downstream, so you can fit it to the inlet of your water heater and still get the benefits in the kitchen, which I presume is downstream of the heater.

It's why a conventional softener is so hard (expensive) to fit here! Tracing mains leccy and water is a nightmare - even with building plans at hand.

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Try this website also they are bught in England UK. Havent bought one yet but thinking about it

 

http://www.scalemanager.co.uk/

 

smithyinspain

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Hi

We are on the Costa del Sol and are just looking into the water problems re Limescale deposits haven't come up with a better solution than vinegar yet but tell me why is it such a problem to drink the water in Spain?

Jojan

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Hi Morerosado,

My neighbour downstairs had a real problem with limescale in her toilet but she saw an advert on tv (Spanish) for a product that you put in the toilet and leave.  It foams up a bit like steradent tablets or alka seltzer, and she said it has done the trick  I don't know the name but will find out tomorrow, I bought the viacal cleaner for my shower screen which is actually plastic not glass and a devil to keep limescale free and it seems to be okay.  I bought it in Supersol.

Regards Kathy

 

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Hi Kathy, we bought some of that Alka Seltzer kind of fizzing stuff in tablet form for our wc here & didn't think much of it. Be interesting to see the name of the product your neighbour uses in Spain. Just seen this, sorry.

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Because we decided to not have a bath installed, instead we have an all singing and dancing shower with sauna, hydrothereapy, etc., etc., we had a decalsificador (query spelling) fitted in a cupboard downstairs, which is serviced annually and runs on salt tablets. The make is North Star.

It has been installed for five years now and there has never been any trace of limescale anywhere in the house. Even the kettle, which I had to chemically clean out in England, every month, has remained completely free of calc.

I suppose for people with a holiday home here, the expense would not be justified but for us, here permanently, HOORAY!, (sorry about that outburst) it is very good.

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You say for people with a holiday home the expense would not be justified can you say what sort of cost you are talking about please cos this does sound very good.  Does it help the boiler, where exactly is it fitted cos not sure where your cupboard is located in relation to the inlet of water?  Does that mean you are not buying bottle water anymore?

Hooray to you glad you are enjoying your transfer to Spain perhaps we will one of these days when we have the nerve to sell up here.

Jojan

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you can buy cillic bang from Carrefour it is good for mould as well

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I get confused buying the right Cillit Bang here in the UK.   I'd never work it out in Spain, although the bottles do have taps etc on the label as here but there certainly are different ones even with the same. Think I buy the lime & scale one here. May take some over next month.

Click on pictures, go on, you want to.

     

and there's loads more here

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jojan,

I hope you got my email OK, this facility was not working at that time.

Yes, also the boiler is unaffected by limescale.

We have not bought bottled water for five years. Reverse osmosis did it for us!

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Thank you Pilgrim yes we have got everything from you and just checking it out on the internet, do you have a contact company in Spain?

Jojan

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