Pipes that are used regularly for in-house utility are made of PVC, Galvanized steel or even alloy metals, for using water at various locations these pipes are built during the construction of the house, and they may pass around a circuit from a header tank to all the taps, but we come across a problem of less pressure water and even face the situation of chocking in the pipe which so the water does not flow sufficiently. When we use groundwater for our utilities, it contains some salts which are dissolved in it, over time these salts start to deposit on the surface of the pipe which they flow along with the water, in most cases pipes which are exposed to the sun will make high deposition of this scale and decrease the diameter of the pipe leading to poor performance. The scale has the composition of calcite which is formed from calcium carbonate present in the water.
We call a plumber and spend huge money on maintenance and repair work. Rather we can do simple stuff that costs very little and is easy to clean the pipes. By using hydrochloric acid mixed with the water we can remove the scale formation in the pipe. The cost of diluting HCl is less and it doesn’t harm much when compared with other chemicals, all safety precautions should be followed and but this can be used for PVC pipes only, not for metal pipes there are some other chemicals used as per the material of construction of the pipe. Based on the scale composition there are effective chemicals that can easily dissolve and remove the scale from the pipe surface, for example, calcium carbonate scales can be dissolved by using a 5 - 10% HCl dilute solution, and calcium sulfate scales can be dissolved by adding EDTA (ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid), with which they form the soluble complex and the quantity depend on the amount of scale deposited let us take for the scale of 1 mm thickness it takes 2- 5% solution of EDTA.
 |
Scale formation
|
To remove scale formation in the water pipe made of PVC just mix some HCl in the water storage tank and circulate the water for 1 hr so that it dissolves all the scale and cleans the pipe. By doing this you save money and time and increase the lifetime of the water circuit system. Finally, after cleaning, drain all the water and fill the water tank with fresh water now circulate it so that it removes the traces of HCl and makes your piping system ready for regular use. You can check the pH with litmus paper and make sure it appears to 7 which is a neutral condition and safe to use.