Lime scale In Washer-Dryer!

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thelaundrylab

thelaundrylab

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Jan 13, 2011
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Location
Hampshire UK
Hey everyone, 

Seeing there's hard water where I live, I've noticed lime scale building up in our Bosch Washer-Dryer. My only problem is, is there anything I could use to shift the lime scale, because I heard your not suppose to use lime scale agents on washer-dryer's? Is this a myth or is it actually true that this could harm the machine? 

Any tips or recommendations I could maybe use, I'd appreciate the help.

Thanks for reading, 
Hass.
 
Try using citric acid. I had great results with it. Click on the link and scroll down that thread to see the result of doing a 95*C cycle with one or two tablespoons.

www.automaticwasher.org

Late St Nicholas delivery: Constructa CA 801

Today my St Nicholas gift was delivered. It's a compact H-axis toploader. It washes and it rinses automatically, but it doesn't spin, so you need a separate spindryer. This machine is from the 70's. It has three controls and a button for a rinse hold so you can add softener for the last rinse.
www.automaticwasher.org www.automaticwasher.org
 
Hello Louis, thank you for helping me out. So this a safe option and safe to use on my washer-dryer? Though I have to say I was impressed to see the citric acid removed the limescale in your machine, btw lovely machine too. How often would you recommend I do this procedure?
 
Hassan,

Citric acid is safer than a lot of other descalers. I started using it for my Philips Senseo. You're supposed to use citric acid for those only, other descalers are too harsh for Senseos.

It depends on the hardness of your water how often you need to use it I guess. How old is your washer/dryer now?
 
Hey Louis :) yeah the water is really hard where I live and the lime scale has been spreading across the rubber seal. The machine is only four years old, we brought it in 2008. Also I want the machine to last for a while and will do anything to keep it good as new :)
 
Louis...

Well, I'm running a maintenance cycle as we speak, luckily I brought some citric acid today (for the kettle) and followed your instructions. Already the water has gone grey so it must be taking effect. Thank you for your help Louis, shall let you know how I got on.

Thank you Zanussi_lover, shall bare that in mind ;)
 
Ok, here is the verdict: with the citric acid running it on 90 degrees, it's got rid of 75% of the limescale, though I can still see more on the outer drum. Should I maybe run this procedure again in the next coming days?
 
I think at various supermarkets they sell cleaners specifically designed for the purpose of descaling and sanitising the machine.

What our Simpson's manual recommends is the use of baking soda/epson salts and running the machine on its HOTTEST cycle. Leave it to soak for around 3 hours. This will also remove traces of undissolved detergent (when you use cold water lots), fabric softener "scum/snot" as well as any accumulated hardness. You might also want to try a rinse with some vinegar to help - once again letting it soak for a few hours.

Your machine's manual should have some sort of information about general maintenance such as this - if it doesn't, then obviously the manufacturer is trying to sell more machines :)
 
Soda Crystals

If you have hard water, try doing a maintenence wash with soda crystals =] this helps to remove the grease and limescale and every time you do a wash, add some soda crystals to the drawer with your washing powder/Liquid

you will use much less detergent, and the soda crystals act as a water softener and also a stain remover as well.
 
Hass,

Citric Acid is definitely the way to go, Im amazed you got some though lol Im told by our local chemists that they wont sell it due to shady characters buying it to "Cut" more than their laundry detergent powders LOL.

Having restored many machines over the years I can say that or a proprietory Appliance descaler works, Have found a brilliant one that works out far cheaper than any of those dedicated washing machine ones and works a whole lot better. Killrock K i think its called if you ever see it, great for descaling everything and works a treat.

Dont feel your damaging your machine, a couple more repeat applications will certainly help, concentrate on getting the scale out before the muck, most of the grease will wash away with the acid on a boil wash (the packets say use 60 but the 90 is way more effective), but you can always add a good cupful of Finish Dishwasher powder (200ml) and run it on a boil again which will leave the machine spotless.

I say about 200mls of DW powder, just remeber its the dilution your looking for, DW uses about 30ml powder to 4 litres of water compared to the washer using 15 or so litres. It really works and damages nothing.

Vinegar wont do anything in the washing machine, you need it neat to de scale a kettle and sometimes the acid content is never enough anyway to do that let alone a washing machine with gallons of water diluting it.

The TV queens of clean reccommend vinegar yes, but then Elf and Safety probably states what they can reccommend to use to the public these days as a pacifying method.

Soda crystals have been well discussed here and are not a good idea to use with laundry constantly as they are harsh on clothes and lead to rotting of fibres. One off apllications are ok but most detergents alone are enough when used in the correct dosages as stated on the pack, you can get away with a little less its trial and error until you find the balance. The best way to soften water and protect your machine is by having a water softener installed or one of those electronic devices that wraps round the water entry pipe to the house. That means all the house water is soft.

Soft water for laundry is one thing and a small amount of powder may initially remove the soil but not using enough powder to hold soils in the water only means they get re deposited back on in the wash. So always stick to the advice on the side of the packets!
 
Wash Day Blues...

Hey guys really appreciate your comments and feed back, through out the years I've heard so many different ways to do get rid of lime scale, but instinctively I've not trusted any of those suggestions in the past. And I've never been keen to use vinegar, instinctively it never felt right, other wise I would of done it by now. Thanks to Louis, Citric Acid does indeed work, though it does need another few goes to get it spick and span. 

Rob: I'm defiantly going to follow your method as well, I like the sound of adding DW powder, giving it that extra clean to get rid of grease and scum. Not to mention the dead fluff that it's collected over the years, whilst drying clothes in the washer/dryer.

Rob, and to those of you who's wondering where to get "Citric Acid" in your high street supermarket, just buy "Scale Away" which is used for kettles, coffee machines and shower heads. (who ever branded that product should re-evaluate it) 

I was indeed lucky that I brought Scale Away yesterday, which I intended to use for the kettle and used it on the machine instead, after Louis suggestion. 
I plan to get some more later today as I won't rest until it's fully removed, along with DW powder afterwards :) 

Now I know this, I will run a maintenance cycle every six weeks. I will look in to Killrock K, in the next coming days Rob, thanks for the recommendation.

I'm very fussy when it comes to doing laundry and looking after my machine. I always use the correct amount of washing powder, most of my Laundry is done in 60/90c. I've always ran the maintenance cycle with detergent and clean the machine once a month, but no matter how I followed instructions, it never fully shifted the limescale or dirt. Now my wash day blues are now over and now I can wash with confidence again. 

Shall update you all later, thanks everyone xx 
 
Hass

Those scale away sachets are pretty much ok for a kettle full of water but way too diluted for the machine.

Adding the 8 or so sachets to remove limescale is going to cost a fortune. That Kilrock stuff is about £2 a bottle and do about 3 limescale removal programs which is what your going to need to remove it all.

Far easier to use that LOL.
 
Just had a look for the Kilrock stuff online and its seems you can only get it in 400ml bottles now for about £3 or so. The 1 litre bottle I got from Aldi was £2. Ive not seen it for a good while in there though.

Still the whole 400ml Bottle in a hot wash will go a long way to removing it completely especially if you heat the machine up and pause it for a while to let it soak the scale off the heater.

Might be better than multiple repeat applications. Its never failed me with scaled up machines Its strong stuff :)

Tried that Indesit descaler stuff too and its poor in relation, that was a waste of cash too.
 
Kilrock...

...is the stuff I used to descale my machine last year (1st time ever in 15 years - a lot of scale came out of the drain hose!). I found it in Robert Dyas; don't think it was expensive either: £3-£4. It didn't remove every last scrap of scale but certainly made a significant difference. I did then run an empty wash with detergent on account of an oily film on the water coming out but to be fair, this was post-bearing change.
 

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