How do I get rid of limescale?

[lizardqueenie]

I feel this is a very grown up question but we've had our "new" bathroom fitted about a year now & I have a ring of limescale around the plug hole in the sink & also around the base if the tap. How can I get rid of it? Tried bleach today, maybe this is a bit amateurish but it made bugger all difference.

Move to Manchester? Lovely soft water up there :)

Nah, bleach won't do it. My MiL uses that Bath Power stuff, that seems fairly effective.

Viakal.

vinegar
or citric acid

I use Viakal spray, or Limelite. We have very hard water here and I find they are the only things that work.

White vinegar is supposed to be good for scale but didn't work for me.

vinegar.
put the plug in, fill with just enough warm water to cover the worst of tbe limescale, pour in one or two cups of white vinegar. leave over night.

Kilrock Power Spray or gel. The best thing I've found, and it works miracles on my grimy bathroom

Wow you ladies know your limescale!

Happy to try a product but out of interest

• Will vinegar mess with my taps? I mean mark them? Eat away at their shininess?

no vinegar is not very agressive.

Don't put vinegar on taps.

Babywipes are surprisingly good at getting limescale scum horribleness off taps.

Put neat vinegar on and watch it fizz! So long as you wipe off pretty swiftly you won't do any lasting damage. I always do my stainless steel draining board this way - and I don't bother with white vinegar either, standard Sarsons does the job just fine!

Great! Well I'll try the vinegar before anything else, just because I have some in the house.nice to know I can dip my chips in it too whilst I'm waiting for it to fizz! Going to post a question now about carpet cleaning

I use Ecover limescale remover, but have used vinegar in the past too. If it's somewhere awkward to soak, douse some cotton wool/kitchen roll in your chosen substance & apply to the bastard stuff affected area.

Limescale is mostly calcium carbonate, if you add acid to it (Viakal, vinegar, lemon juice etc) it is turned into a water soluble salt and carbon dioxide (the fizz you see).

Most commercial acid based cleaners won't damage your taps and enamels - I once used concentrated hydrochloric acid to clean a hideous toilet in a rented house, it worked beautifully and the toilet was unscathed.

So - keep at it, then use a limescale spray or glass cleaner regularly to keep it away.

the only thing you need to be careful about is an old fashioned iron bath with enamel coating. the coating will dissolve and get rough and streaky. but vinegar is mild enough.

Thanks to those of you who recommended vinegar- bloody amazing!

I use vinegar and all the excessive cotton wool I brought in anticipation of DD1's arrival (5.5 years ago).
I wrapped taps in cotton wool, drenched with white vinegar and let it there for a few hours - it worked well. I scrubbed some bits with old toothbrush.

Moving forward using Ecover's limescale remover once a week helps.

Save up for a water softener.

use lime cleaners marked for bathroom use; don't use loo cleaners. Chrome plating is stripped off by many acids. This will spoil your taps and the ring round the plughole.

Yep! Baby wipes or toilet wipes work just fine! Elbow grease though.