Descaling humidifier using lemon? Tips please!

Try some ketchup.
The tomato has acid and the ketchup/catsup has vinegar.
I read years ago that it cleans and polishes brass faucets.

Some links supporting that and other links for natural cleaning with household items and food.

https://forum.dontpayfull.com/threads/c ... hup.28090/

https://experthometips.com/foods-you-can-clean-with

http://naturallysavvy.com/live/cleaning ... d-fixtures

https://dengarden.com/cleaning/How-to-C ... -Chemicals

https://www.maidbrigade.com/house-clean ... er-stains/


Den

.

I use white vinegar. Use it straight if it's bad and apple cider vinegar if it's really bad (caution-apple cider vinegar smell is hard to be rid of).

palerider wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 11, 2018 12:35 am

jjc155 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 11, 2018 12:33 am

try distilled water if you are getting to much scale, not much in distilled water that will cause scaling.

:facepalm:

what's in distilled water that causes scale? haven't cleaned my humidifier tank in about 6 months and only use distilled water, no scale or deposits? Or were you facepalming something else?

J-

jjc155 wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 13, 2018 9:17 pm

palerider wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 11, 2018 12:35 am

jjc155 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 11, 2018 12:33 am

try distilled water if you are getting to much scale, not much in distilled water that will cause scaling.

:facepalm:

what's in distilled water that causes scale? haven't cleaned my humidifier tank in about 6 months and only use distilled water, no scale or deposits? Or were you facepalming something else?

J-

Two words in PR's statement answers your question: "not much".

jjc155 wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 13, 2018 9:17 pm

palerider wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 11, 2018 12:35 am

jjc155 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 11, 2018 12:33 am

try distilled water if you are getting to much scale, not much in distilled water that will cause scaling.

:facepalm:

what's in distilled water that causes scale? haven't cleaned my humidifier tank in about 6 months and only use distilled water, no scale or deposits? Or were you facepalming something else?

J-

I'm facepalming the fact that you're suggesting using distilled water, which says to me that you haven't bothered to read the thread before offering the suggestion, to wit:

rick blaine wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 10, 2018 12:21 pm

Many people in the US don't realise that getting the kind of distilled water that's safe to use and which they can buy easily and cheaply is very, very expensive over here.

palerider wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 13, 2018 9:50 pm

jjc155 wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 13, 2018 9:17 pm

palerider wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 11, 2018 12:35 am

jjc155 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 11, 2018 12:33 am

try distilled water if you are getting to much scale, not much in distilled water that will cause scaling.

:facepalm:

what's in distilled water that causes scale? haven't cleaned my humidifier tank in about 6 months and only use distilled water, no scale or deposits? Or were you facepalming something else?

J-

I'm facepalming the fact that you're suggesting using distilled water, which says to me that you haven't bothered to read the thread before offering the suggestion, to wit:

rick blaine wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 10, 2018 12:21 pm

Many people in the US don't realise that getting the kind of distilled water that's safe to use and which they can buy easily and cheaply is very, very expensive over here.

So I answered the OP's question (which didn't say anything about the cost or availability of distilled water in the UK). Since when do we have to take into account every other answer and reply in a thread while answering? If the OP had said "Distilled water is very expensive and hard to get here in the UK" I wouldn't have mentioned it.

facepalm.

J-

jjc155 wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 13, 2018 9:56 pm

palerider wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 13, 2018 9:50 pm

jjc155 wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 13, 2018 9:17 pm

palerider wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 11, 2018 12:35 am

jjc155 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 11, 2018 12:33 am

try distilled water if you are getting to much scale, not much in distilled water that will cause scaling.

:facepalm:

what's in distilled water that causes scale? haven't cleaned my humidifier tank in about 6 months and only use distilled water, no scale or deposits? Or were you facepalming something else?

J-

I'm facepalming the fact that you're suggesting using distilled water, which says to me that you haven't bothered to read the thread before offering the suggestion, to wit:

rick blaine wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 10, 2018 12:21 pm

Many people in the US don't realise that getting the kind of distilled water that's safe to use and which they can buy easily and cheaply is very, very expensive over here.

So I answered the OP's question (which didn't say anything about the cost or availability of distilled water in the UK). Since when do we have to take into account every other answer and reply in a thread while answering? If the OP had said "Distilled water is very expensive and hard to get here in the UK" I wouldn't have mentioned it.

facepalm.

J-

The OP actually addressed your "answering the OP's question" much better than I could:

kipster wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 11, 2018 7:03 am

As things stand - and as was the point of me posting here in the first place - I want to remove some limescale from my humidifier and I want to try using lemon to do that. ...

So, if anyone can help me with my original question, that would be great - do I use juice, juice and water, do I rub the actual lemon flesh on the limescale? If I use liquid (juice or juice and water) is it best to use it hot or cold?

I've found tips for using lemon to descale kettles etc but that involves boiling the kettle so I'm not sure how that method translates to this. I'm thinking maybe hot water and lemon juice then pour it into the humidifier to soak for half an hour then rinse it all out?

So, not only did you not answer the OP's question, you were in such a hurry to offer your suggestion that you didn't read enough to see that your suggestion wasn't appropriate... or even anything about what was asked.

As to "since when do we have to take into account..." Here's something else you seem to have missed:

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 11, 2018 6:32 am

palerider wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 11, 2018 12:35 am

:facepalm:

Makes a person wonder how or why so many people never bother to read anything beyond the first post in a thread doesn't it?

Never occurs to them that maybe, just maybe...somewhere in 3 pages of discussion at 15 posts per page that someone might have already offered "used distilled water"....and maybe, just maybe they might have seen where in this situation distilled isn't necessarily a viable option due to cost and availability.

Another pet peeve of mine...answer the question that was asked...which was "how to remove the mineral deposits"...
then maybe offer ideas on how to prevent the build up...but answer the original question first.

:facepalm: indeed.

An update in case anyone is interested in how this turned out:

I put the lemon juice in some warm water, sloshed it around in the unit for a bit then left it to soak for about an hour. Unit is now sparkling - no rubbing or scrubbing required, the scale just lifted off.

Easy peasy lemon squeezey

kipster wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 18, 2018 5:52 am

Easy peasy lemon squeezey

ChicagoGranny wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 18, 2018 7:50 am

kipster wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 18, 2018 5:52 am

Easy peasy lemon squeezey

And still not smart enough to follow directions and use Cheap Distilled Water.

As for as me I squeeze my lemons, add ice and filtered water, put it in a glass and drink it, much more satisfying than cleaning your HH tank because you put crap water in it, because you can't read and follow simple directions.

But if I did mess up my HH Tank, because I wasn't able to follow simple instructions, life taught me Acid dissolves rock deposits, if books hadn't taught me T.V. Ad's would have.

Six pages on the simplest of things, come on try harder, I think this is good for a hundred pages at least. Jim

We haven't even got around to Seeds in or out, and their vaules in cleaning.

Goofproof wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 18, 2018 10:28 am

And still not smart enough to follow directions and use Cheap Distilled Water.

Please remember that the OP in this thread lives in an area of the world where cheap distilled water doesn't exist.
Number one it's hard to find and number two when found it certainly isn't cheap....and it doesn't have to be a 3rd world country either.
Not everyone can run down to local grocery store and get a gallon of distilled water for less than a buck.

Has nothing to do with how smart a person is or isn't.

Good lord....

The scale is present for the OP because HE CAN'T USE DISTILLED WATER IN THE FIRST PLACE...IT'S TOO DAMNED EXPENSIVE. HE CAN'T AFFORD IT. FEW CAN IN THE UK. HE MUST PERFORCE USE WATER THAT CAUSES SCALING. HE WANTS TO KNOW HOW TO REMOVE THE SCALING.

It's cheaper for him to purchase and use descaling acids of various kinds after using tap water or whatever he is using. Several widely available acids have been suggested to the OP. Some can be cheaper than others. Many manufacturers of coffee makers, kettles, and such, recommend descaling procedures and compounds. Citric acid is popular, but it can be pricey, even if only locally. In Canada we can get CLR (Calcium, Lime, Rust) and swish some of that to remove staining and scales. As in all such cases, you must rinse thoroughly to get rid of residues and odours.

Tap water is by far the cheapest to use in a humidifier except...EXCEPT...where the dissolved solids, including salts and organic compounds (tannin, lignin...), will stain and precipitate soon after the volume of water is reduced substantially. That's what causes scaling or coloured scaling. The prairies often have heavy mineralization in local water supplies, as an example.

The best way to avoid scaling, barring using distilled water, is to empty what's left religiously each morning so that sitting mineralized water doesn't begin to precipitate the solids. Don't let the concentrations of salts and lime get so high that you have a mineral pool inside your reservoir for 24 hours each day.

Anybody who has a Drumatic humidifier, remember those, as a wart on the side of their furnaces in N. America, will know what happens when water is repeatedly allowed to evaporate and not flushed over time. The foam drum gets caked with white deposits, and so does the plastic tub below the rotating drum because that's where the heavily mineralized water reposes...hour after hour...day after day, with the owner not knowing or thinking to take the three minutes each day it takes to slip off the thin metal cover, slip out the drum, rinse under a tap, empty the tub, and replace everything in reverse order.

. wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 18, 2018 10:28 am

And still not smart enough to follow directions and use Cheap Distilled Water.

And still not smart enough to understand that after adding in the airfare to fly over here from the UK to buy the cheap distilled water that's not available in the UK... the cost to use that cheap distilled water would be rather high.

amazing.

Water can be distilled on a kitchen stovetop with a simple diy setup.
A quick web search for diy distilled water and a trip to the hardware store . . .

I wonder how the cost of electricity factors. It's cheap where it's cheaply had, such as near hydro dams, but it gets expensive if produced via nuclear or thermal/hydrocarbon means. Boiling several gallons of water to get a distillate may not be economical for someone who can't afford commercially produced distilled water where the economy of scale doesn't save it from being two or three times what it costs elsewhere.