Pugsy wrote: ↑Fri Nov 30, 2018 11:27 am
D.H. wrote: ↑Fri Nov 30, 2018 10:59 am
Just make sure it's dry every morning and do a vinegar wash when you get home.
Why? What if you don't like vinegar or might be allergic to it?
What if there isn't any minerals at all on the water chamber?
Wasn't sure if this was in jest, but I'll answer.
Wiping out the excess water during the day while traveling will reduce time of surface contact of mineral-laden water with tank innards, thus reducing scale build-up. It's the same principle as wiping down a glass shower stall after
every shower to reduce scale build-up on the stall. Favorable results are more obvious in locations with extremely hard water.
Vinegar allergies are rare. They're usually not an allergy to acetic acid, but rather the plant-matter the vinegar was made from. For instance if you're allergic to apples or grapes, you probably shouldn't consume apple or wine vinegar. Distilled white vinegar from the grocery store should be safe for most people to use as a cleaning/descaling agent. The only thing a bottle of distilled white vinegar should contain is about a 5% solution of distilled acetic acid in water.
If the vacation was long enough and the water was hard enough, the tank owner will probably be the judge of whether to use distilled white vinegar to dissolve visible (or tangible) mineral buildup. Once the tank is rinsed and dry, the vinegar smell should dissipate completely.
Alternatively, a couple of squeezes of lemon or lime juice in a tank of water during the day while the tank isn't in use will work for those who aren't allergic to citrus. If you've ever worked in a restaurant with glass coffee carafes, one trick they often use to get rid of the brown coffee scum is a wedge of lemon squeezed into a full carafe of water overnight before the next serving day. The citric acid in lemon juice scours away the coffee scum and the carafe is clear as new. Wash it and start the next carafe of coffee. It's similar to the cleaning action in a humidifier tank. Acetic acid may be safer since it's distilled and thus divorced from significant plant matter that could be an allergen.