Water help

[Mash]

Not what you are expecting but here goes..

I use dribbly hose to water my veg. It slowly bungs up and fails.

Only this morning, replying to another thread, did I realise... I have water as hard as nails. It's limescale.

Question....
How can I descale it?
Can I install it differently, so it doesn't keep happening?


Any ideas guys?

[WelshGin]

Mmm. Well, of course it isn't the hard water itself that blocks up the wee holes. It is the calciate deposits that have built up previously in your system that 'break away' from the inside of pipes etc, they then pass along pipes until they lodge in a small bore obstacle, the afore mentioned wee holes.

So you have to descale your system. Various ways, all involve flushing with vinegar, baking soda or proprietary descaloing chems.

Or fit an electronic water softener/descaler. Which I had in a previous house, it used salt tablets so may alter the ph value, not an issue at the time as I wasn't addicted to Gin.

[Mash]

Can't use salt, it will kill the plants.

Good news, it is a separate supply.

[phantom]

If the pipe concerned is a flexible type one, then any calcium build up could be "squashed" away and rinsed out.

But that depends on whether you're using tap/mains water or rain harvesting.

If rain harvesting, then the likelihood is more algal build up in the water when it's stored in barrels etc.

Thinking that if the watering hose is in sections, it can be split up, blanked off and then force cleaned with a pressure washer into 1 end, or in slower time, the sections could be soaked in a bleach/water mix and then rinsed with clean water (from whatever source you find cheapest).

[phantom]

Forgot to mention last answer/comment. Using bleach solution works, but by a much stronger base reacting with a weaker one. The cleaned hose would need rinsing well to remove residual bleach solution.

Or an easy method could be to roll the hose into a large flexi bucket, put in a couple of tablespoons of citric acid and filling the bucket to above the hose level with hot water.

Once free from scale, it can be reconnected and just have plain water run through it, the water and soil round the plants sorts any residual citric.

[Mash]

Had a bit of a result with citric acid.
Loaded the leaky hose, into a wider hose.
Filled with a 5% solution and Bunged the ends.

2 day soak. Brilliant result.

[WelshGin]

You guys must be in 'hard' water areas, I now live in a 'moderate' water area, I forget the units of measurement. I now have none of the issues you are experiencing. I can only suggest, leave the pipe connected to your water supply and move house to a 'moderate' or 'low' caliate/mineral water area. The available postcodes are listed. Job done.

[phantom]

You guys must be in 'hard' water areas, I now live in a 'moderate' water area, I forget the units of measurement. I now have none of the issues you are experiencing. I can only suggest, leave the pipe connected to your water supply and move house to a 'moderate' or 'low' caliate/mineral water area. The available postcodes are listed. Job done.

Yup. Locally my supply is 650+ TDS, which is why I use RO water from the local aquarium shop.

Their RO is <50 TDS which helps me avoid any harsh flavour notes from the hard water.

I suppose I could install a softener, as getting the salt for refills is a PoC.

[Mash]

Softeners dont really work for fermentation.. To much salt.

Adding a bit of acid does though. The trick it the specific parts of the Total Dissolved Solids. Some are quite handy

[phantom]

Softeners dont really work for fermentation.. To much salt.

Adding a bit of acid does though. The trick it the specific parts of the Total Dissolved Solids. Some are quite handy

I've delivered it by the pallet load to various local breweries, for exactly that purpose.

Of course, I don't know how it's done in any detail but suspect we could work it out - from the little bit I have been able to learn, it's added "osmotically" but not the how and when.

I suspect it could be something like a softener that can be controlled as to how much is added. Will carry on picking the brains when I go to one of them again to see what the score is......

[Mash]

I can't help but think it must be like beer.

The hardness is a measure of alkalinity.
Maltmiller do a acid mix called AMS.
According to Southern water your hardness is 280.
To get this down to sensible levels (50-100) you would need a dose of 15ml ish in 25l.

Brewers Test strips help (I use pool testers Tbh)

I would also add some DWB* while you are there to give the yeast everything it needs, mineral wise.

* you could calculate this from the SW water analysis they publish. But it prolly about a tsp.

[phantom]

I can't help but think it must be like beer.

The hardness is a measure of alkalinity.
Maltmiller do a acid mix called AMS.
According to Southern water your hardness is 280.
To get this down to sensible levels (50-100) you would need a dose of 15ml ish in 25l.

Brewers Test strips help (I use pool testers Tbh)

I would also add some DWB* while you are there to give the yeast everything it needs, mineral wise.

* you could calculate this from the SW water analysis they publish. But it prolly about a tsp.

Last time I checked the actual source to here (the aquifer) their site gave me the much higher level I mentioned. I've no reason to doubt that, as our kettle scales up within about 2 days of being descaled.

Just checked the SW site, which is more up to date etc than when I last checked. It appears that they're offering different info these days, because it now shows calcium hardness rather than TDS, which is what it used to show (now got me wondering why they changed it just to display the calcium, though I suppose that's what most would complain about, and being a lower number etc).

I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check into what info is actually available these days as it's the better part of a decade since I last checked. Just that I'm not aware of any so called "improvements" in water quality (if there had been, I'm sure that they'd have included that in their advertising somewhere).

Equally, I like to keep it simple (so as not to strain the family brain cell when I have it to use ) so for my basic needs it's easier for me to use the RO etc.

Mind you, while many might not bother, I still like to run my spirit through activated charcoal (got a SS Pro filter now, as my old Z filter started to fall apart as the plastic gets brittle with age), giving me a consistent and "clean tasting"/flavourless neutral (others might tell me that it tastes of whatever, but I just use the method I've arrived at as it tastes fine to me).