Removing hard water streaks from shower glass...which product?

[b0rn2sk8]

As others have said, Vikal and Cillit bang limesale (orange one) all work great. Get a squeegee, not that £11 one from Amazon. B&M have them for £2.

I wouldn't use harpic, you'll likely damage any trim around the glass with it. If you want to go home brew then white vinegar and baking soda does work but its not really a spray and wipe job once you have sorted the issue the first time.

The real key is keeping on top of it with a squeegee after every use and regular cleaning or press the nuclear button and get a water softener which is something ill be doing when I rip the kitchen out.

 

[chroniclard]

Water softener is on my list, the hard water really does wreck things after a while.

 

[Matt-Page]

Had to do mine recently despite using a squeegee everyday. Bathroom spray wouldn't touch it, so used CIF/Jif cream and it shifted it no problem. Used window cleaner after for the ultimate shine!

 

[Ninco!]

Another vote for the White Vinegar method.

Yep it does have a chip shop smell (quickly goes away) it has removed the white scale. Whereas Cif etc, works well but lime scale came back pretty quick. Now a squeegee / quick clean and the shower comes up like new.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Just doing our kitchen and installed this, cant say its a massive noticeable difference, but its clearly doing something, the limescale is going from the kettle is the most obvious

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Water2Buy-...=Water2Buy+W2B200&qid=1590653841&s=diy&sr=1-3

Plumbing was a little bit of a ballache, as we were installing a butler sink at the same time we had a lot of pipework to do, its all lovely and tidy now, but was a mess before from the plumber the builder used

Must say I am a pushfit convert now though, used to dislike them, but reusing the ones the plumber used I had far less hastle than the compression joints I had to make

2 minor issues with the above softner
1) It uses imperial sizing, so I had to go backwards and forwards to imperial and metric as I wanted full bore flexi hoses and those I could only find in imperial, plus I wanted to add full bore 22mm isolator valves then I found the flexis wouldnt bend enough to curve behind the softener, which bring me on to point 2
2) the unit is quite deep so doing the bend at the back was very tricky, I ended up getting some 90 degree 3/4" to 22mm adaptors, but even then its only just got enough room to be pushed back to almost touch the wall and avoid touching the cabinet
door

Been active just under a week now

OH and if you do it, i was recommended an awesome leak sealer, Fernox ls x. Unfortunately for me I couldn't get the leak to seal from the outside too much mains pressure and it was too close to the wall to get enough to seal the leak, was close but not quite. I did end up taking it off, and used the ls x instead of ptfe, getting the seals on the flexi hoses was tricky. I was sold a pup though but a you tube vid saying just 1/4 turn was enough once "tight", was ******** and when I red the packing it said for 3/4" its a full turn once tight

We are drinking the softened as well. The chilled goes through the fridge filter, the stuff for the kettle from the softened tap. I could pretty easily switch the cold kitchen tap to unsoftned as I already took a spur off before the softener for the outside tap.

 

[chroniclard]

Just doing our kitchen and installed this, cant say its a massive noticeable difference, but its clearly doing something, the limescale is going from the kettle is the most obvious

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Water2Buy-...=Water2Buy+W2B200&qid=1590653841&s=diy&sr=1-3

Plumbing was a little bit of a ballache, as we were installing a butler sink at the same time we had a lot of pipework to do, its all lovely and tidy now, but was a mess before from the plumber the builder used

Must say I am a pushfit convert now though, used to dislike them, but reusing the ones the plumber used I had far less hastle than the compression joints I had to make

2 minor issues with the above softner
1) It uses imperial sizing, so I had to go backwards and forwards to imperial and metric as I wanted full bore flexi hoses and those I could only find in imperial, plus I wanted to add full bore 22mm isolator valves then I found the flexis wouldnt bend enough to curve behind the softener, which bring me on to point 2
2) the unit is quite deep so doing the bend at the back was very tricky, I ended up getting some 90 degree 3/4" to 22mm adaptors, but even then its only just got enough room to be pushed back to almost touch the wall and avoid touching the cabinet
door

Been active just under a week now

OH and if you do it, i was recommended an awesome leak sealer, Fernox ls x. Unfortunately for me I couldn't get the leak to seal from the outside too much mains pressure and it was too close to the wall to get enough to seal the leak, was close but not quite. I did end up taking it off, and used the ls x instead of ptfe, getting the seals on the flexi hoses was tricky. I was sold a pup though but a you tube vid saying just 1/4 turn was enough once "tight", was ******** and when I red the packing it said for 3/4" its a full turn once tight

We are drinking the softened as well. The chilled goes through the fridge filter, the stuff for the kettle from the softened tap. I could pretty easily switch the cold kitchen tap to unsoftned as I already took a spur off before the softener for the outside tap.

Is there any issue drinking softened water?

 

[happy_2008]

Is there any issue drinking softened water?

Usually there is a seperate filter for drinking water to change the taste

 

[fobose]

Is there any issue drinking softened water?

https://www.ecowater-softeners.co.uk/drinking-softened-water

 

[b0rn2sk8]

There is a legal limit for sodium in the water which is 200mg/l and if you live in a very hard water area you will go above this once you add in the salt with is already there.

Some people also don’t like the taste.

Edit: beaten too it with the above link. When I do mine I’ll be leaving the kitchen tap and outside tap on hard water, the hard water tastes fine here so I will not be putting a separate RO or carbon filter on them or putting on a separate drinking water tap.

 

[psd99]

viakal ftw here too

there is a pink version and it smells bit better

 

[Bug One]

Viakal, I live in a hard water area that destroys everything and this works.

Absolutely.

Nothing else seems to work as well - regardless of how flashy the bottle or brand.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Yep, anglian water for my postcode states my calcium carbonate is very hard, 368.25, but thats below the advice of what water can contain when replaced with salt. Although thats an average for the area we are supplied (FS04)

Honestly though if it was just over i still wouldnt worry personally, you just need to be concious you are consuming salt.
Our diet probably contains low salt, in fact my other half was specifically advised to increase salt intake to help stabilise her blood pressure as a result of a heart condition!

My backup plan is to look at seeing if i can switch the kitchen tap to semi salt semi direct mains at some point, but not sure if that technically easy to to do, and thats assuming I dont lower it anyway via the softener. Or worst case I switch the kitchen cold to pure mains, the pipework will be easy its right by the spur that goes to the outside tap, the main reason for the softener was to soften the mains to the showers, bath etc
I havent got into the more specific setup of the softener yet, but I believe its possible to reduce the softener and blend in some normal mains via the valves at the back, I think the theory is that some calcium etc is ok, so you adjust the softener to just soften enough. Its got loads of tables etc to set which will fine tune it to the actual water you have. I left mine on the default for now which they say is fine if you want to

When I eventually get back into the office, I am going to get one of the chemists to check the salt content in my tap water to see what it actually is.

You can of course also filter the softened water, just need to check your filter is one that will remove salt.

 

[fobose]

I was using a brita filter for our hard water tap. Had been using a brita filter for about 8 years as I used to live in suffolk before and that was also quite hard water and did not taste very nice. Not as bad near Cambridge but still did not like to drink the hard water.

Anyway, I got a water filter which unscrews from the mounted 'head' so quite quick to replace, lasts about 6 months (apparently). I think the filter works out a bit more expensive than replacing a brita filter every month but for the convenience it's worth it to me. I couldn't fit it in anywhere else than where it is hence the blue plastic pipe looping around like it does.

You can see the two large braided hoses, those are for the water softener. The guy installed it in to the small cupboard next to the sink. I have a lot of empty cupboards in my kitchen..

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Yep, anglian water for my postcode states my calcium carbonate is very hard, 368.25, but thats below the advice of what water can contain when replaced with salt. Although thats an average for the area we are supplied (FS04)

Don't forget to add in the sodium which is already present in the water.

I also get my water from Anglia but I'm 422mg/l which would equate to 194mg/l sodium but there is also 30-35mg/l in the water already would put me up to 229mg/l sodium or 15% over the limit when I get mine installed.

@fobose looks like a clean setup!

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Don't forget to add in the sodium which is already present in the water.

I also get my water from Anglia but I'm 422mg/l which would equate to 194mg/l sodium but there is also 30-35mg/l in the water already would put me up to 229mg/l sodium or 15% over the limit when I get mine installed.

@fobose looks like a clean setup!

Its 18 so taking that into account as well its still under. Plus its all relative, I dont drink just tap water, I also drink milk, some juices, the odd cider etc so I am not purely consuming water from this source.
Ok I am working from home rightnow so home 7 days a week, but normally I dont drink that much, maybe 1 litre at home a day for 5 days of the week, based on 3 cups of coffee/tea a day
200mg/litre is ok for the water company to supply, i would hazard a guess its a very conservative number, probably assuming all your water is from this source daily

 

[fobose]

@fobose looks like a clean setup!

I've seen a lot of messy installs so I was keen to get someone in who worked neatly. My next door neighbor showed me their install which was super neat so I made sure to use the same guy

Oh and although I had power available, the unit I have (kinetico premier compact) doesn't need power to run.

 

[jpaul]

I've seen a lot of messy installs so I was keen to get someone in who worked neatly. My next door neighbor showed me their install which was super neat so I made sure to use the same guy

we currently use Britta too, but that looks neat ... it's ionexchange presumably like Britta , so no sodium issue .. that's just RO options - no ?

I still have n't bought a cheap total dissolvable solids /TDS meter to determine when changing is really necessary, scum in the tea-pot is usually the indicator.

 

[fobose]

Essentially the same depending on the filter. I cant remember the exact model filter I have but will check when I get home. I just know its an omnipure Q series.

https://catalog.omnipure.com/viewitems/water-filters/q-series-inline-water-filters

I personally wouldn't drink RO water on a daily basis. The systems are quite a bit more expensive too.

 

[d_brennen]

No you see I usually find it difficault to get enthusiastic about cleaning products but on the advice of this thread, i bought some Viakal and I'm legit impressed.

Have to up my glass cleaning game now though, as streaks on the OUTSIDE of the shower are more apparent

 

[fobose]

One thing I will say about viakal.... perhaps it is coincidence or just bad luck but...don't spray it on your kitchen tap and let it soak down in to the part that swivels. There is a rubber o ring in there and both times I've used viakal (only once on each tap) on the tap, a few days later I have a constant amount of running water coming out that part of the tap. Only a small amount but enough to leave a lime scale mark down the tap and in the sink.