Descaling a shower head?

Caterina · 1 September 2004 at 10:19PM

I soooo wish I had read this thread before this morning, as I kept meaning to descale my shower head (London water, extra-hard!).

Instead I ignored it and this morning when my husband went in the shower, the hose exploded because of too much pressure and he got scalded (and the shower head is now broken and has to be replaced GRRRRRRR).

So, people, take heed! Descale your shower head!

Caterina

cathy_3 · 2 September 2004 at 2:11AM

oooh nasty that, is he ok??

occasionally when we lived in London, we would put a couple of bags of washing soda in the water tank in the loft (hot water) and let it sit there overnight then let it run through the system, it really kept the limescale down, I used to do all my washing with that water on a saturday or sunday morning, the old fart would swap the washing maching hoses over so the machine filled with hot water then put them back, id do all thecurtains and bedding and towels etc then our clothes and by that time the washing soda had gone and we could get baths etc

lot of messing but only about 4 times a year

use washing soda in the washer as well as it stops the pipes furring up.

Caterina · 2 September 2004 at 3:22PM

Thank you for your concern Cathy, he is ok, just a (small) nasty red mark on his arm due to the steam coming out of the tube as it burst.

We don't have a tank, we are on the mains only, so we cannot do the trick you described.

How do I put washing soda in the machine? With the soap (we use the Faith in Nature liquid thingy - bought in bulk of course hehe) or in the conditioner space (we don't use any conditioner, find it a waste of time and money and we like our towels ROUGH!!). Can this be done to the dishwasher as well?

Thanks again

Caterina

cathy_3 · 2 September 2004 at 6:25PM

just put it in the drawer follow the instructions on the bag

and only use a quarter of your usuall amount of soap powder cos it softens the water and the suds are much more than usual

yes you can put it in the dishwasher just put a tablespoon full in the bottom of the dishwasher and use as normal, dont forget to quarter the amount of powder again

cathy_3 · 2 September 2004 at 6:26PM

use white vinegar as a softner caterina its great and keeps the machine clean as well

just use what you would use if it were softner

Caterina · 2 September 2004 at 8:55PM

Thank you Cathy, for your great advice as always!

Caterina

Brutus_Beefcake · 17 July 2005 at 5:42PM

cathy wrote:

lemon juice and vinegar in a plastic bag. tie it round shower head with garden tie or lazzy band and leave to soak for a couple of hours

;D ;D

Excellent tip. I used a sandwich bag and some out of date white wine vinegar and a bit of lemon juice and after 2 hours soaking the plastic shower head it is now spotless.
I have spent ages trying to scrub of the black soap scum marks and nothing would shift them until now.

Lemon_Tree · 12 January 2007 at 4:08PM

Hi
It's been ages since i've posted and i've had a quick check but couldn't see anything relating to my query.

Is there an Old style way of descaling a shower head rather than just buying a bottle of descaler?

I'm sure there's somebody on here that know's this at the drop of a hat.

Thanks in advance

LT

lizzyb1812 · 12 January 2007 at 4:13PM

There's a post about this in the Collections section - Cleaning - Vinegar - Kettles and Showers

And the answer is.......vinegar

lizzyb

spiddy100 · 12 January 2007 at 4:23PM

Just had a look on that thread and found how to descale my toilet too

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Descaling a shower head?

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