afidel wrote:
myredracer wrote:
CLR may work better than vinegar. We have a lot of calcium in our well water at home and have to take all the aerators off and soak them in it at least once a year.
If you travel around and use water from unknown sources, at a minimum, a sediment filter could be a good idea.
I wish I knew what the science is behind calcium precipitating out on the aerators only and not inside piping. It will build up inside a HW tank tho. as I found out in a previous house on well water with a really high level of calcium in it. Plugged up the tank in just a couple of years. There aren't filters to remove calcium unfortunately.
That sludge buildup is a large part of why hot water tanks have a bottom drain, if you have highly mineralized water you need to flush the tank every 1-2 years.
Are you talking the tank at home or in an RV? Interestingly, while we have lots of calcium in our water here (had it tested a few times too) and there's a heavy buildup at the faucets, the HWT has never been a problem. It's a large tank and part of a hydronic heating system and doesn't have an element or burner inside it (boiler is next to it). It all get's serviced by a specialist plumber annually and he says the tank has always been fine.
