Stopping Persistent Limescale Buildup With The Help Of Your Professional Plumber | Maryville, TN
As a famous saying goes, water is life. It is a great thing and what supports life. In most of your household activities, water is required. Water is used for cooking, cleaning, bathing, dishwashing, irrigation, showering, and even carrying waste from your home to the sewer or septic system. Without water, the comfort of your Maryville, TN home as you know it cannot exist. This can be attested by homeowners who face water shortages or rations.
Unfortunately, the similar properties that make water an essential element of survival also might cause damage. Water stains, floods, and mineral and limescale are some issues that may harm your home and property, such as plumbing fixtures, kettles, dishwashers, showerheads, and coffee machines. In excess, limescale deposits can result in the clogging of some plumbing fixtures. Hence, call a plumber whenever you notice a limescale accumulation. In this article, you’ll learn how limescale deposits accumulate and what you could do to stop the buildup.
What Is Limescale?
Limescale refers to that chalky, white layer you see on appliances and fixtures, especially if you receive hard water at home. Scientifically, Limescale is a naturally occurring form of CaCo3 (Calcium Carbonate) which forms whenever hard water comes into contact with air or heat. When the water evaporates after heating, the magnesium and calcium carbonate particles will precipitate from the water and congeal.
It results in an ugly buildup on your surfaces and appliances. When limescale enters your body, it also could affect your health. This is because it messes up your pH balance and causes acid reflux and heartburn. To avert this, hire a plumber to clean your appliances and fixtures whenever you notice limescale accumulating.
How Does Limescale Accumulate at Your Home?
Have you noticed a white layer on your faucet, dishwasher, washing machine, kettles, or showerheads? That is nothing but limescale. It is a common issue in areas that receive hard water with high calcium, potassium, and magnesium minerals dissolved. These minerals eventually accumulate in your Maryville, TN home, with calcium carbonate (limescale) being the most preeminent. It makes your appliances and fixtures such as sinks, faucets, shower heads, or even toilets have an unsightly look.
What Are the Common Zones Where Limescale Might Accumulate at Your Home?
There are obvious areas where limescale might accumulate at your home. These include your bathroom fixtures, sinks, and toilet. Limescale can also accumulate easily inside the washing machine and dishwasher or in your kitchen appliances. Though it might take longer for the mineral deposits to accumulate because of the slower evaporation process, it eventually becomes noticeable on the appliances, fixtures, and pipes. You could even notice the accumulation of limescale on the grout and tiled surfaces. Generally, limescale will make any shiny surface have that sight for sore eyes. Therefore, it needs to be cleaned by a professional plumber, and measures to prevent further accumulation instituted.
How Can You Prevent Limescale Accumulation at Your Home?
How often do you clean your plumbing fixtures and appliances? Cleaning the devices and institutions is essential to preventing limescale accumulation. However, you should consider other measures to avert the accumulation of limescale in the long term. These include considering water treatment solutions.
What Are Some of the Long-Term Solutions to Avert Limescale Buildup?
As mentioned above, cleaning the fixtures and appliances is a solution to avert limescale accumulation. However, this is just a short-term solution. Hence, you need to hire a plumber to address the problem from its root cause, the hard water. In this section, you’ll learn the measures a plumbing expert might take to protect you from limescale buildup in the long term. Some of the common solutions include;
Installation of a Salt-free Water Conditioner
Are you looking to keep your Maryville, TN, home and yourself healthy without relying on salt-based water conditioners? Then your answer lies in salt-free water conditioners. These water softening solutions create hardness crystals. However, they leave the hardness-causing minerals in the water, but they won’t stick to surfaces or result in limescale accumulation. It means that by having a plumber install these water softening solutions, you will have brighter laundry and use less soap.
Reverse Osmosis (RO) Systems
RO systems purify the water by passing it through a semipermeable membrane. By doing this, nearly all the contaminants are removed from the water, leaving it safe and clear. Reverse osmosis doesn’t produce a lot of waste. You may use reverse osmosis systems in non-portable applications like pond filters. This is because it doesn’t remove minerals such as iron and iodine from the water. These minerals are essential for the animals and plants that require them.
Installing an Ion Exchange Water Softening Solution
The leading cause of limescale accumulation is the magnesium and calcium deposits in your hard water. When a plumber installs an ion exchange water softener, the minerals are removed from the water. The calcium and magnesium ions are replaced with harmless potassium and sodium ions. You will have dealt with the problem permanently by replacing the limescale-forming ions. However, the ion exchange water softener needs a regeneration once every week.
Chelation
This is a process through which the hardness-causing minerals in water are conditioned so that they don’t combine with limescale-causing chemicals. This process ensures that hard water doesn’t impact your laundry, bathroom, or kitchen fixtures.
Installing a Water Softener for a Long-Term Limescale Protection
Installing a water softening system at your home is a solid long-term solution to ensure soft water and protect the fixtures from limescale formation. This means you won’t have to undertake those expensive water heater repairs, drink lousy-tasting water, use more soap, or even wear stained laundry. Hence, if your home receives hard water, have a professional install this fixture. However, you should work with a reliable plumber to:
- Locate the light installation point
- Repairing the water softening system to ensure that it is optimally working
- Get professional advice on improving your plumbing and the best water softening system
- Upgrade and replace the water filtration and softening system
All in all, involving a professional plumber in your plumbing endeavors will undoubtedly have numerous benefits.
Your Reliable Plumbing Experts
Have you suffered the consequences of limescale? If you have, you might be thinking of the measures you can take to deal with the problem. As you can see from the above, there are several measures that a plumber can institute to safeguard your plumbing. For limescale protection, call My Professional Plumber today.
