Can somebody please explain lime scale to me?

[Hellokittymania]

Hi there, I am visually impaired, a new homeowner, and I have been learning a lot of cleaning tips and tricks over the past few months. Since I can’t see though, I’m not exactly sure what lime scale is, can you feel it? Can you see it? And what do I need to know to prevent it.

It is a build up on calcium, usually from water so around the waterline and rim of the toilet bowl, sink, bath, taps, washing machine, kettle. Using products with white vinegar can help dissolve it and for stubborn areas bicarb of soda made into a paste with water and applied with an old toothbrush can soften it.

Do you know if your water is hard or soft? Limescale is much worse with hard water. You can generally feel it once there is quite a build up, you will feel a rough ring around the spout of a tap for example. However water marks on a shower screen (left by droplets of hard water drying) cannot be felt, only seen.

Vinegar works to keep it down but Viakal is good for stubborn build ups.

If you have a build up of limescale in a shower head you may need to unscrew the head and soak it in Viakal for a bit - you’ll get a much better shower afterwards as the holes unblock.

It’s a tricky one. I wouldn’t want to be identifying it by feel to be honest.

I think it may be one where you need help from an honest friend.

You’re best to ask somebody in your street or neighbourhood if the water is particularly hard. If it is then line scale is a calcium / chalky build up - really obvious inside kettles but everywhere water sits especially hot water. as others say, if bad enough it’s got a rough texture.
however in soft water areas you just don’t get it. I live in Scotland and it’s almost completely non existent.

You can see it and, if it gets bad enough, feel it. But it depends where you are in the country whether it's an issue or not. You can search by postcode to see if your water is hard. If you live in a hard water area, descaling your kettle helps it run more efficiently but at the end of the day I wouldn't worry too much about a problem that isn't unhealthy or unhygienic and doesn't directly affect you.

Where I live the water is very hard. I can feel the lime scale buildup around the spout of taps and in my bath. It feels rough and gritty, rather like stone.

You can put your postcode in to this website and it will tell you how hard the water is.
https://www.aquacure.co.uk/knowledge-base/uk-hard-water-map/

OK, thank you, I will have to check if the water is hard or not, I think it might be. I live in Greece, so water in general is a problem, don’t know if not being able to drink it means it’s hard water?

Hardness doesn't affect whether you can drink it, in fact some argue that hard water has extra minerals in that are good for you. If you can't drink your tap water it'll be because the pathogen counts are above a safe level (eg bacteria etc)

Another way of knowing if you've got hard water is if your kettle builds up flakes over time. When your kettle is cool, pour it out and feel the spout and you'll feel flakes there like rice flakes

The hardness of water means how alkaline or acidic it is. If the rocks in your region are limestone or chalk, then you will probably have hard water.

It is the dissolved limestone or chalk in the water that causes limescale.

In addition to limescale leaving large, white, flakes in a kettle, which in turn will end up in your cuppa- unless you have a filter, it also leaves a water mark on mirrors and glass which looks like white spots everywhere. It can cause damage to pipes and appliances in your home, causes shampoos and soaps not the lather and can leave your hair not as soft (apparently).

For the above reasons, we installed a water softner during a recent extension. It adds salt to the water and makes the water soft. The cost is negated by using less soap/shampoo/washing detergent etc.

I did a quick google search, and 90% of Greek homes have hard water. I'd look at getting a water softner.

Limescale is calcium carbonate and in its natural state is a white rough substance. Other elements will discolour it eg copper will make it look orange or green.
Although it can fur up the insides of appliances like kettles and central heating boilers , it does have a benefit in that it forms a natural lining to the inside of water pipes especially lead.
Limescale precipitates out of solution at 60°c so keeping the heating turned down will inhibit its formation, as will not reboiling water left in a kettle.