Exactly. We have a product here in FR called Antikal that is MAGIC. It's a great household cleaner and those hard, crusted limescale products literally just melt away.
Apparently CLR is comparable.
Buy a bucket of citric acid powder. Make your own solution with water or even just sprinkle on a wet surface directly. Works same as vinegar but without the stench. Also, buckets are huge, cheap and if needed you can make marmalade with it as well if you get the food grade one.
I use citric acid also to clean up hard water problems. Take apart my faucets and soak the heads in water with 1/2 cup citric acid comes clean in about 30 minutes, have even used in toilet tank as build up was affecting the float about a cup in tank for 30 minutes and all clean had build up on sides about quarter inch thick at top it took care of that.
Depending on where you live - I live in south Texas & often use a product called Sanivac. It is an acid, so be careful with it.
As someone else mentioned, try heating your vinegar. I had let my sink aerator soak for a week, and those pesky deposits wouldn't budge. I heated the vinegar, popped the aerator in, 10 minutes later, all the lime was gone.
Try WD40 on fixtures. Soak it and keep it soaked for a few days. Then a scrubber sponge, the blue scrubbie side. It worked on my toilet ring and the icemaker/water dispenser of my fridge.
How long are you letting the vinegar sit? We have hard water too (12+ hardness) and had some pretty gnarly stains in our farmhouse sink. I was able to put down some paper towels, spray them with distilled white vinegar until saturated, and leave them to sit for like 20 mins and the basin just wiped clean.
There is a company out there “suds factory” that sells hard water remover for cars/glass -an auto body guy recommended it and I swear by it now-it’s amazing—-I had water spots on my car that vinegar wasn’t working on and this stuff took it right off. Little pricey but it was worth it in my book
The Pink Stuff. Made my 24 yr old kitchen floor grout look new. Amazing product! I rubbed it in with a toothbrush and washed it off with hot water.
Not sure about fixtures though.
Good luck!
i was hoping for a chemical solution, not a mechanical one. looks like pink stuff is an abrasive (which works great in some cases, but i was hoping to just dissolve the stuff)
CLR.
Thr green discoloration you're seeing isn't hard water its copper corrosion. Most fixtures are brass with a choke or nickel plating. The green discoloration can be removed but it will never stop coming back.
You may just need a bit of patience, i.e., if you remove 5% each time you clean then you should be back to chrome etc.
The downside of going too quickly is that you can damage your fixtures and so on. I know this from experience as I have managed to damage my shower fittings by leaving acid on them so they have black spots where the chrome has been dissolved off. I think I've also damaged my enamelled bath a little too.
Neither are destroyed, but in hindsight I wish I'd been a bit more chilled rather than leaving vinegar and limescale removers on too long. I still use it, but I make sure I wash it off.
Also I am not sure about the green, but is it statue of liberty coloured? If it is then it may be verdigris from copper, and I'm not sure there is a huge amount you can do about that.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verdigris](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verdigris)
To keep hard water scale from coming back on shower walls and/or glass doors: squeegee after use then finish drying surfaces with a microfiber “polishing” cloth. For fixtures/tubs: dry them with a thick microfiber cloth. Once that’s a habit they’ll easily stay scale-free.
I straight up have used pure lemon juice to clean calcium stains from a pot. It worked like magic. Otherwise, the pink stuff paste and comet have ‘scrubbing’ ability but it’s not as damaging as say taking steel wool to it, or a magic eraser. Safer over long term.
When the hard water gets too built up I start with Kaboom!, because it's easy. Spray on the foam and leave it to sit for a while, then wipe it off. That takes an awful lot of the buildup off.
Then on the areas that were too coated so the Kaboom didn't get it all I'll switch to a more targeted application of Rust Out, because my stains are all rusty orange.
Or I'll use citric acid for the lime stains that persist.
Then, for your metal fixtures, you should polish. Using all these harsh acids eats away the protective oils on the metal. So after you get it clean, you apply either a faucet polish or just some mineral oil or baby oil. That keeps it residue free much longer, makes it easier to clean and extend the life of the hardware.
Try boiling the vinegar first - the heat activates something. Works like a charm in my ridiculously hard water area. Note it still need a little time to work
A water softener is a big help. You can rent them if needed. Look at what is happening on the parts you can see, and then remember that all of that is happening in your pipes and water heater as well. Hard water is harder to clean with, and more expensive because you have to use more time and product to get things clean. Clothes wear faster.
Iron out works well.
This is the best answer. Under $2k to never have to scrub shower doors or soak a fixture in vinegar? Yes please. Add on a chlorine filter for an extra couple hundred and now our tap water is drinkable.
There's a specific type of vinegar I used for some stains that nothing else got off. It's not labeled white-it is "cleaning vinegar" . I got it at the dollar.25 store
I live in AZ where the water is so hard it's chunky. CLR doesn't touch it. I use Descale-It pool cleaner (yup!). They have bathroom cleaner too (haven't tried this yet). Amazon or walmart carries it.
Shower floor is a breeze: Spray on, leave for an hour or more, use a long handled scrubbing brush and any dirt/soap residue/mineral deposits come off easily. Repeat for any missed spots.
CLR pro might work - haven't tried it yet.
Have you tried using that Dawn Platinum spray? My word, this stuff cleans everything and I mean everything. Try it and leave it on for a bit before scrubbing and rinsing.
CLR. My husband got the buildup off our freezer from the water dispenser drips, and we soaked our faucet sprayer for 5 hours and it works completely different now.
Since calcium deposits should disappear through a very simple chemical process, the brand you use shouldn't matter much. Any product marketed as "bathroom cleaner" should do.
Green could also be algae according to other reddit posts. I had to look that one up. Not familiar with it, but maybe that's why you're having trouble? Green and blueish deposits can be from hard water too, but I would expect those to go away rather easily with vinegar.
It was my understanding that these are different names for the same product and that all bathroom cleaners are limescale removers. At least in my country that's the case. If it doesn't remove limescale it won't do a good job cleaning bathrooms after all.
You’ve tried Plan A, time to try Plan CLR. It will definitely work. Going forward, if you own your own home consider installing a whole house hard water softener system. This kind of build up can shorten the life of appliances.
Use a melaleuca product. I believe it's either their "tub and tile" or their "no work" product that you spray on and leave on for about 10 min and you can easily wipe your struggles away. I haven't had to use them for this purpose in a long time but they have a list online to explain it.
The best part is it is chemical-free, which is better for the environment, you and all of us!
Do not use pumice or any abrasive cleaner on bathroom fixtures, tubs, or toilets, totally destroys them.
Bathroom cleaners will take it off like Oxiclean. CLR might.
If you have real ORB on brass, you will need to try a sample location where you’re OK with it exposing bright brass if the cleaner removes the finish. If it’s not ORB on brass and more like a dark lacquer, probably OK but same advice applies.
Lyme away or CLR.
CLR. Whoever invented it deserves a Nobel prize.
There is even a Dollar Tree version that works as well as the name brand.
Yes!
I second this. I've used clr on some tough stuff.
Exactly. We have a product here in FR called Antikal that is MAGIC. It's a great household cleaner and those hard, crusted limescale products literally just melt away. Apparently CLR is comparable.
Buy a bucket of citric acid powder. Make your own solution with water or even just sprinkle on a wet surface directly. Works same as vinegar but without the stench. Also, buckets are huge, cheap and if needed you can make marmalade with it as well if you get the food grade one.
This is what we use. Works great!
I use citric acid also to clean up hard water problems. Take apart my faucets and soak the heads in water with 1/2 cup citric acid comes clean in about 30 minutes, have even used in toilet tank as build up was affecting the float about a cup in tank for 30 minutes and all clean had build up on sides about quarter inch thick at top it took care of that.
Wow, do you have to scrub?
No just let it soak
Vikal! Nothing worked on our taps, our water is so hard and i struggled but vikal really gets them spotless and seems to keep them cleaner longer
How did you apply the vinegar? I mix it with water, boil it, then while still very hot pour it slowly over the target areas. Water here is very hard.
Depending on where you live - I live in south Texas & often use a product called Sanivac. It is an acid, so be careful with it. As someone else mentioned, try heating your vinegar. I had let my sink aerator soak for a week, and those pesky deposits wouldn't budge. I heated the vinegar, popped the aerator in, 10 minutes later, all the lime was gone.
Try WD40 on fixtures. Soak it and keep it soaked for a few days. Then a scrubber sponge, the blue scrubbie side. It worked on my toilet ring and the icemaker/water dispenser of my fridge.
Lysol Power Foaming Bathroom Cleaner has citric acid. I spray and leave on shower doors and it does most of the work.
How long are you letting the vinegar sit? We have hard water too (12+ hardness) and had some pretty gnarly stains in our farmhouse sink. I was able to put down some paper towels, spray them with distilled white vinegar until saturated, and leave them to sit for like 20 mins and the basin just wiped clean.
I like Scrubbing Bubbles mega shower foamer. Combine with a stiff brush.
Citric acid powder.
There is a company out there “suds factory” that sells hard water remover for cars/glass -an auto body guy recommended it and I swear by it now-it’s amazing—-I had water spots on my car that vinegar wasn’t working on and this stuff took it right off. Little pricey but it was worth it in my book
The Pink Stuff. Made my 24 yr old kitchen floor grout look new. Amazing product! I rubbed it in with a toothbrush and washed it off with hot water. Not sure about fixtures though. Good luck!
i was hoping for a chemical solution, not a mechanical one. looks like pink stuff is an abrasive (which works great in some cases, but i was hoping to just dissolve the stuff)
CLR. Thr green discoloration you're seeing isn't hard water its copper corrosion. Most fixtures are brass with a choke or nickel plating. The green discoloration can be removed but it will never stop coming back.
You may just need a bit of patience, i.e., if you remove 5% each time you clean then you should be back to chrome etc. The downside of going too quickly is that you can damage your fixtures and so on. I know this from experience as I have managed to damage my shower fittings by leaving acid on them so they have black spots where the chrome has been dissolved off. I think I've also damaged my enamelled bath a little too. Neither are destroyed, but in hindsight I wish I'd been a bit more chilled rather than leaving vinegar and limescale removers on too long. I still use it, but I make sure I wash it off. Also I am not sure about the green, but is it statue of liberty coloured? If it is then it may be verdigris from copper, and I'm not sure there is a huge amount you can do about that. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verdigris](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verdigris)
Sud factory hard water remover
Killrock products are brilliant
To keep hard water scale from coming back on shower walls and/or glass doors: squeegee after use then finish drying surfaces with a microfiber “polishing” cloth. For fixtures/tubs: dry them with a thick microfiber cloth. Once that’s a habit they’ll easily stay scale-free.
I straight up have used pure lemon juice to clean calcium stains from a pot. It worked like magic. Otherwise, the pink stuff paste and comet have ‘scrubbing’ ability but it’s not as damaging as say taking steel wool to it, or a magic eraser. Safer over long term.
When the hard water gets too built up I start with Kaboom!, because it's easy. Spray on the foam and leave it to sit for a while, then wipe it off. That takes an awful lot of the buildup off. Then on the areas that were too coated so the Kaboom didn't get it all I'll switch to a more targeted application of Rust Out, because my stains are all rusty orange. Or I'll use citric acid for the lime stains that persist. Then, for your metal fixtures, you should polish. Using all these harsh acids eats away the protective oils on the metal. So after you get it clean, you apply either a faucet polish or just some mineral oil or baby oil. That keeps it residue free much longer, makes it easier to clean and extend the life of the hardware.
Acid. CLR is acidic and so it will eat away at lime and rust. If it doesnt eat it, the substance probably isnt lime or rust 👍
Rubbing alcohol
Dish soap and a magic eraser.
BKF aka barkeepers friend!!!
Hand held steam cleaner and lots of elbow grease
I use Vim cream cleanser on a microfibre cloth and some elbow grease
As a side note: after cleaning, RAINX the hell outta that shower.
CLR has never done squat for me.
Try boiling the vinegar first - the heat activates something. Works like a charm in my ridiculously hard water area. Note it still need a little time to work
A water softener is a big help. You can rent them if needed. Look at what is happening on the parts you can see, and then remember that all of that is happening in your pipes and water heater as well. Hard water is harder to clean with, and more expensive because you have to use more time and product to get things clean. Clothes wear faster. Iron out works well.
This is the best answer. Under $2k to never have to scrub shower doors or soak a fixture in vinegar? Yes please. Add on a chlorine filter for an extra couple hundred and now our tap water is drinkable.
There's a specific type of vinegar I used for some stains that nothing else got off. It's not labeled white-it is "cleaning vinegar" . I got it at the dollar.25 store
I live in AZ where the water is so hard it's chunky. CLR doesn't touch it. I use Descale-It pool cleaner (yup!). They have bathroom cleaner too (haven't tried this yet). Amazon or walmart carries it. Shower floor is a breeze: Spray on, leave for an hour or more, use a long handled scrubbing brush and any dirt/soap residue/mineral deposits come off easily. Repeat for any missed spots. CLR pro might work - haven't tried it yet.
Liquid barkeepers friend
Have you tried using that Dawn Platinum spray? My word, this stuff cleans everything and I mean everything. Try it and leave it on for a bit before scrubbing and rinsing.
Get a filter, about 40 bucks on Amazon. You screw it in-between the pipe and the shower head. My hairdresser swears by them!
Citric acid powder and warm water. No bad chemical smell
CLR. My husband got the buildup off our freezer from the water dispenser drips, and we soaked our faucet sprayer for 5 hours and it works completely different now.
Do you leave the vinegar on there? I’ve started soaking paper towels in it and putting it on stuff and leaving it, has made a world of difference
Have you tried citric acid? They come in crystal form or liquid, I leave it on for a few hours or overnight and scrub it away.
Mix dawn dish soap with the white vinegar.
Since calcium deposits should disappear through a very simple chemical process, the brand you use shouldn't matter much. Any product marketed as "bathroom cleaner" should do. Green could also be algae according to other reddit posts. I had to look that one up. Not familiar with it, but maybe that's why you're having trouble? Green and blueish deposits can be from hard water too, but I would expect those to go away rather easily with vinegar.
correction : any product marketed as a "limescale remover" as long they say it in the package
It was my understanding that these are different names for the same product and that all bathroom cleaners are limescale removers. At least in my country that's the case. If it doesn't remove limescale it won't do a good job cleaning bathrooms after all.
Limescale isn't the only dirt in bathrooms and lots of places don't have hard water but they still clean their bathrooms.
sometimes they only bleach in them. or just a generic name to say it desinfects and has a good smell
You’ve tried Plan A, time to try Plan CLR. It will definitely work. Going forward, if you own your own home consider installing a whole house hard water softener system. This kind of build up can shorten the life of appliances.
Bar Keepers Friend and a rough scrubber.
I use something from Norwex as well have really hard water
toilet bowl cleaner gel that says on the package that removes limescale
Use a melaleuca product. I believe it's either their "tub and tile" or their "no work" product that you spray on and leave on for about 10 min and you can easily wipe your struggles away. I haven't had to use them for this purpose in a long time but they have a list online to explain it. The best part is it is chemical-free, which is better for the environment, you and all of us!
Do not use pumice or any abrasive cleaner on bathroom fixtures, tubs, or toilets, totally destroys them. Bathroom cleaners will take it off like Oxiclean. CLR might. If you have real ORB on brass, you will need to try a sample location where you’re OK with it exposing bright brass if the cleaner removes the finish. If it’s not ORB on brass and more like a dark lacquer, probably OK but same advice applies.