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Simple but effective scale remover and cleaner
Here in my home town the water is full of chemicals that deposit scale. On taps, shower heads, bath fittings … everywhere. It is time consuming and difficult to remove. The stores, strangely, stock no effective cleaner for it. There used to be one called Cillit, but it’s not available any more.
One of my suppliers, KemCare, stocks sulfonic acid, the perfect scale remover, so I made this very quick formulation and it works absolutely great, so I decided to share it with you:1. sulfonic acid 89%2. SLS 10%3. Xanthan gum 1%4. Glycerine q/s to disperse the gumAdd sufficient glycerine to the gum to disperse it. Then add the SLS and mix. Then add the sulfonic acid and mix well. That’s it. -
11 Replies
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Update: This is quite foamy, a bit too much in fact. Reduce the SLS to say, 4% and add 6% water. Otherwise great!
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I have never made household detergents like this but I’m curious to try this formula.
I have been racking my brains about where I’ve heard sulfonic acid being used in commonly and I can’t remember. How corrosive is this acid? -
Not very corrosive. It won’t attack metals, it leaves chrome fittings sparkling clean.
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According to wiki Cillit contains sulfamic acid and phosphoric acid, maybe worth to try as well
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Phosphoric acid is not to be used in consumer products because it pollutes water supplies and causes algae blooms. Maybe that is why Cillit is no longer on the market.
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Yes it might very well be sulfamic acid. It’s a sort of orange-pink colour, but possibly it’s been coloured, who can say. It disappears limescale like nothing I’ve seen before.
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Why are you using Xanthan?, using 89% sulphonic gives a very thick solution, BTW sulphonic ácid has a ph of 2-3, and is a very good foam maker by it self, I think you can remove the sls to save money, neutralizing it whit TEA or NaOH would gives u a better foam
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It comes as thin as water.
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I believe that descaler is sold in the UK under the name Cillit Bang, and it’s made by Reckitt Benckiser
if it wasn’t a genuine RB product (i.e. it was a “bootleg”) it may well have been withdrawn due to trademark infringement; there are plenty of counterfeit branded products about
since phosphoric acid doesn’t have any environmental hazards listed on the ECHA database, I doubt it was withdrawn for environmental reasons
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The phosphate problem is very much dose-dependent — that’s the dose coming from all sources, not just one person’s pipes! When phosphate salts were used in large amounts in laundry detergents, their contribution to phosphate in sewage & from other water sources in some places into some waters was significant. However, a specialized product such as a phosphoric acid based scale remover is used in such small amounts draining into a single sewage plant that it wouldn’t make a significant contribution. You could say the same of bath salts or food additives containing phosphates — they’re insignificant sources compared to urine.
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