DISMANTLING A WATER TAP

[diydavellis]

Everyone can give advice as to how to remove limescale from the OUTSIDE of water taps.
Several of my taps in my house (only about 15years old) are so locked up by limescale (Mansfield is a hard water area) that I can't remove the tap mechanism however hard I try.
It's easy if you are dealing with a washbasin type single tap....if the inside won't come undone, undo the water pipe connections and swap the tap.
But with kitchen "mixer" tap this seems very wasteful and quite difficult to reach the water pipe connectors.
HOW CAN I FREE THE TAP MECHANISM WHEN IT'S LOCKED SOLID WITH LIMESCALE?
PLEASE?

 

[Softus]

 

[wms]

make sure you have a spanner that fits well and as softus implies give it a sharp blow i usually use my hand though. misunderstood thought you meant you could not remove the head

 

[bengasman]

take the cover off and use appropriate acid

 

[ChrisR]

Lime-lite's quite good - it's thick.