Toilet scale

[ANTREVELL]

Does anybody know of something I could put in my toilet to descale the outlet pipe as it is now periodically clogging up with scale .
I had thought about plastic kettle descaler.

Regards Tony Revell  Pegatha  Cruiser 33.    2013

[Ziffius]

Best thing if you can is to remove pipe and flex it and beat the floor with it to break up the scale then flush and repeat. Descalers just don't do it:

[Yngmar]

We regularly (every 3 months or so) buy up a shelf of the cheapest vinegar in the supermarket (something like 29p per half litre) and pour several litres of it down the toilet, pump it into the hose, close the seacock before it all runs out and let it sit over night. That got rid of some pretty severe calcium deposits with little effort. Only works before the thing is totally blocked though.

Beware of strong acids (supermarket drain unblocker) if you have metal seacocks - some types of acid will rapidly dezincify them. There was a discussion on which acids are best on YBW some time ago, but I've fitted plastic seacocks so that's not a concern for us. The Twist & Lock pump and seals are fine with vinegar.

[Anthony]

Most supermarket drain unblocker products are a strong alkali NOT an acid with sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) being the main ingredient. This will do nothing to remove calcium carbonate residues from using seawater. I have used hydrochloric acid to remove such buildup in the toilet and then flushed several times with fresh water resulting in a perfectly clean outlet. Available from hardware stores or pool supplies, sometimes called 'spirits of salts' when used for cleaning mortar off bricks.

[dawntreader]

Not only is your outlet pipe clogging but all parts of the heads system will be affected too. This includes the inside wall of your holding tank. We have used all products (apart from the acid  ) mentioned below to no avail over the long term and in the end I replaced both 40mm hoses to and from the holding tank. Also, I had to open the inspection cap to remove large 'tile sized' chunks of calcium. Not a pleasant job but we no longer suffer blockages caused by pieces of calcium flakes in the outlet.

[Odysseus]

Vinegar does not work, its an old wifes tail. I know this will upset a lot of people. You need  hydrochloric  acid.

Click on link for test results or put in google.

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/vinegar_in_the_head

Best bet is make sure you flush 15 pumps at least each time.

Change the pipe is even better,  its no big deal.

Hope this helps
Odysseus
Bav 38

[Yngmar]

Vinegar does not work

Vinegar works very well for us. We leave it in over night. You can see the calcium debris coming out on the morning flush on a calm day :-)

[Symphony]

vinegar will prevent deposits forming but will not have any effect on the sorts of caked on deposits illustrated in this thread. Hydrochloric acid will and will have absolutely no effect on brass, bronze or DZR components.

However, if you let your sytem get to that state you are better off removing it mechanically or replacing the pipes - plus of course vowing to never let it build up in the future.

[Craig]

Vinegar will remove a thin layer only. Odysseus's reference is correct. It takes all night to remove the calcium from an egg shell soaked in pure vinegar.

The outlet pipe of our 2010 Bav 38 has had virtually no scale buildup since new. We have an electric toilet and always pump at least one bowl of water through the system after each use. We lived on our boat for the first 5 1/2 years and have regularly used it for the past 2 years without any buildup. We also leave the holding tank open unless we are in a harbour or swimming area. I was concerned a few years ago that we had no problems so I took off the pipe to check. Only a thin layer of calcium.

I think excess flushing and leaving the tank open for as long as possible is the key to reducing buildup.
Craig
" Shirley Valentine"
Gold Coast
Australia

[sailprincess]

Muriatic Acid (aka hydrochloric) is amazing. We put some in the toiled and pump into the tank every several months to keep everything scale and sludge-free.