Hi there. Im having problems with my hot water as i belive the hot water cylinder is scaled up badly. I was thinking i could just add some descaler to the tank via the emersion hole, leave for 24 hours then flush the lot out and allow the tank to re fill. Is this a good or bad idea?
De-scaling hot water cylinder
- Thread starter judderi
- Start date
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In theory you could, BUT.....
I have seen cylinders with 200 mm thick scale at the bottom. To disolve that you would need masses of acid and there would be a foaming problem.
The only product that I would use would be HCl but you have to be competent to use it safely. Its also riskd causing leaks.
You might be able to take it out and upturn it.
Most people would just buy a new cylinder and fit a scale reducing device and set the immersion heater temperature down to the correct level of 55°C
Tony
I have seen cylinders with 200 mm thick scale at the bottom. To disolve that you would need masses of acid and there would be a foaming problem.
The only product that I would use would be HCl but you have to be competent to use it safely. Its also riskd causing leaks.
You might be able to take it out and upturn it.
Most people would just buy a new cylinder and fit a scale reducing device and set the immersion heater temperature down to the correct level of 55°C
Tony
I was wondering what sort of "problems" you are experiencing that seem to be due to scale?
I live in a hard water area, when I moved in there was plenty of scale everywhere; I fitted a proper water softener (synthetic resin plus salt bin) and it slowly dissolved away all the old scale (from kettle, taps, cistern, ball valves etc), as well as giving soft water for immediate use.
I live in a hard water area, when I moved in there was plenty of scale everywhere; I fitted a proper water softener (synthetic resin plus salt bin) and it slowly dissolved away all the old scale (from kettle, taps, cistern, ball valves etc), as well as giving soft water for immediate use.
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It does contain a tiny amount of sodium salts (i believe it is Sodium Bicarbonate, like you take for indigestion) in about the same quantity (grammes per hundred litres) that the calcium salts used to be before the water was softened. So it is not recommended for people on low-salt (=low-sodium) diets, including babies and those with some heart conditions or high blood pressure. I'm not any of these, and use very little salt, so I don't worry about it.
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