What is lime scale?
If you live with hard water, then you know what lime scale is – you pretty much see it every day! It’s the chalky crust you see inside your water heater. A deposit of calcium carbonate, left behind by hard water. What happens is that the calcium as well as magnesium ions in your water react with the soap’s acids. This reaction leads to the formation of the gelatinous curd or chalk you see, says Britannica.
Is lime scale bad?
There has been no conclusive evidence to point out any risks to your health. However, practical issues and concerns are plenty. The coating is hard to remove and covers your sink, taps and other surfaces. That means you’ll have to spend more time on cleaning these up, which is not most people’s idea of a good time.
Also the flakes floating in your hot chocolate or coffee take away some of the pleasure from the experience. And because there’s a buildup inside your water heater, the extra coating makes it harder and longer for the water to come to boil, which can affect the life span of your kettle.
The same thing happens to your dishwasher and washing machine. You’ll find the same scale formation in the pipes and that not only causes water flow restrictions in your pipe line, it also corrodes your pipes—since some of the deposits contain ferrous iron—leading to even more issues.
What can I do?
For an effective lime scale removal method, you can use a descaler or water conditioner. The system prevents lime scale formations, so you don’t have to deal with the effects of lime scale on your appliances and coffee, among other things. Instead, you save up on cleaning time, ensure your appliances last longer, and won’t deal with flakes in your water—all in all, a win for you.
