Hard Water Stains.....

Will filtered water such as the water that is filtered through a Brita or a Pur, eliminate these during use?

I'm not sure because I'm using bottled water right now. I'd be interested to know, though. I think it would be cheaper.

lwien said:

Will filtered water such as the water that is filtered through a Brita or a Pur, eliminate these during use?

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The higher the TDS or your water, the more quickly hard water stains will form (depending on what is causing your particular supply of water to be "hard"). If your water is at 0ppm of TDS (total dissolved solids), you shouldn't have any problem with them (hard water stains).

EverythingsHazy said:

The higher the TDS or your water, the more quickly hard water stains will form (depending on what is causing your particular supply of water to be "hard"). If your water is at 0ppm of TDS (total dissolved solids), you shouldn't have any problem with them (hard water stains).

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I think there is a product called "Zero Water" that claims to do this . . .

http://www.zerowater.com/

EverythingsHazy said:

The higher the TDS or your water, the more quickly hard water stains will form (depending on what is causing your particular supply of water to be "hard"). If your water is at 0ppm of TDS (total dissolved solids), you shouldn't have any problem with them (hard water stains).

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I KNOW I get hard water stains. I have them on my Steel Concepts tube.........big time.

t-dub said:

I think there is a product called "Zero Water" that claims to do this . . .

http://www.zerowater.com/

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I know that these filters filter out chlorine and such but will they filter out the minerals that causes hard water stains?

If the product does what they claim then it should. They don't answer the question directly in their FAQ but they do say this without committing to anything:

Zero water said:

ZeroWater's first layer of filtration, activated carbon and oxidation reduction alloy removes the chlorine taste you are accustom to with tap water. The Ion Exchange stage removes virtually all dissolved solids that may be left over from public water systems or even leached into your water from piping such as Aluminum, Lead, Zinc, Nitrate and more. Three additional stages are included to remove other impurities and to ensure your water receives the appropriate amount of treatment time to deliver a "000" reading on your laboratory-grade Total Dissolved Solids meter included.

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lwien said:

I KNOW I get hard water stains. I have them on my Steel Concepts tube.........big time.

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I never said you didn't. I just stated the probable cause of your problem. High TDS is what makes the water "hard". You asked if the filter would help, and the answer is, if it is dropping your TDS low enough, it will take much longer for stains to buildup, if they do at all. So if you use a filter, and still get hard water stains, either the filter is malfunctioning, or you need a stronger one.

I just buy me a big ol' jug of distilled water to use for vaping, cleaning glass pieces, and tea. Doesn't cost much at all.



Then every 2 months I'll soak my pieces in a 1 to 10 solution of simple green because the previous home owner left behind one of those huge bottles of it.

I'm so helpful...

lwien said:

Will filtered water such as the water that is filtered through a Brita or a Pur, eliminate these during use?

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The filters you mentioned definitely will not filter out the minerals that make limescale (hard water stains). You would need a reverse osmosis filter or some type of water softener (which is not a filter) to get rid of those. That said, those particular minerals are probably healthy for you to drink, and they make washing easier (ever tried rinsing soap off your hands with distilled water? it's actually pretty difficult), so unless limescale is such a big problem in your whole house, getting a softener or a RO filter just to get rid of them is an expensive solution to a non problem.

You can buy distilled water, which won't have any of these minerals, but don't buy regular bottled water or anything called "mineral water" because it will probably have these minerals added to it (or at very least comes from a source that is naturally high in them).

Fortunately, limescale is easy to get rid of. My solution is to just let it build up on my glass (it doesn't effect the functioning at all, just the appearance) and then every other week or so, depending on use, I will give it a good cleaning and make my glass sparkle as good as new. Good old isopropyl and rock salt works well, and you are probably already using it anyway to clean residue off your glass, but if there is a lot of limescale that isn't coming off, scrub it with some newspaper and/or use something acidic (white vinegar works best, lemon juice is fine, too) to get rid of it. You can buy cleansers specifically made for this, but I don't see how they could be any better than plain white vinegar.

Yeah, that's what I figured. Damn. I use hot tap water to vape through. If I got distilled, I'd have to heat it up. Too much of a pain. Wayyyy too lazy.

I use an RO filter (reverse osmosis) and no more hard water stains. When I used to use ice, I also made the ice with the RO filtered water to prevent the staining.

lwien said:

I KNOW I get hard water stains. I have them on my Steel Concepts tube.........big time.



I know that these filters filter out chlorine and such but will they filter out the minerals that causes hard water stains?

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no. they are only activated carbon filters. to a achieve that type of filtering you would require a reverse osmosis filter or distillation as others have mentioned.

I just got finished getting hard water stains out of my only piece that I didn't use distilled water in. It takes quite a bit of water so I'd been using water from a filter pitcher. Tasted fine so I figured why not? Used it for a while and the stains kept building up. I used NACE in the water and ISO rinsed once a week with salt but the hard water stains would not come off. I tried everything. CLR soaks, hot tap water and PBW, pure white vinegar soaks, simple green soaks, and finally I used an old cooler and partially covered the piece with hot as the tap would get water and then topped it off with about 180 degree stovetop water and some PBW and shut the lid for about 10 hours. I came back not really expecting much difference as I had tried PBW before and was soaking some other stuff just to clean it. I rinsed off the piece last and it looked pretty good but you can't really tell until it's completley dry so I gave it a rinse with distilled and left it to dry. Checked this morning and every last hard water stain is gone. The piece looks new. That extra hot water and keeping the water hotter for longer in the PBW was the key.

So to the OP, those carbon filtered pitchers won't save you from the hard water stains. In my case my time saved cleaning was worth more than the cash for extra distilled water.

@lwien I forgot to mention. depending on your actual glass piece... I found setting them on a candle/mug warmer to be extremely effective in keeping distilled water hot Inside a bubbler. downside is if your base is bigger than the warmer you could also try reusable hot packs.

farscaper said:

@lwien I forgot to mention. depending on your actual glass piece... I found setting them on a candle/mug warmer to be extremely effective in keeping distilled water hot Inside a bubbler. downside is if your base is bigger than the warmer you could also try reusable hot packs.

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I use this and it's been working great, but thanks for the suggestion:

btw, do you guys also wash your glass in hot distilled water. Man, that sounds like kind of a pain to heat up a bunch of distilled water just to use for washing purposes but I guess if I want to eliminate hard water stains, I have no choice, eh?

lwien said:

I use this and it's been working great, but thanks for the suggestion:

btw, do you guys also wash your glass in hot distilled water. Man, that sounds like kind of a pain to heat up a bunch of distilled water just to use for washing purposes but I guess if I want to eliminate hard water stains, I have no choice, eh?

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I wash with tap then rinse it out with distilled after.

farscaper said:

I wash with tap then rinse it out with distilled after.

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Ahhh..............didn't think of that.

Sometimes the obvious totally escapes me.

What about CLR? I haven't used it myself, but I have seen the commercial where they use it on a glass coffee pot. People ingest liquids from that after cleaning because I am sure you need to rinse a lot. If it were safe for that, would it be safe for this?

Vicki said:

What about CLR?

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I've had better results from vinegar or pickle juice... citric acid should work too.

I'm starting to wonder if you could prevent the mineral build-up by mixing citric acid with the hard water. An easy experiment is needed, I'll try this with an old glass asap... my well water is very hard.

+1 for RO/di from your local fish pet store. Its cheep. Or just buy an RO unit if you need loads.
Also a TDS meter can be picked up for 20 bux.

My water out the tap measures a TDS of 340ppt , then a TDS of 120 after the brita filter.

My RO/DI water measures TDS between 0 and 3 and tastes great.

edit

And my windscreen is crystal clear and streak free.

I had a tube with some built up hard water stains and ice pinches in the way of me cleaning it. Never again.

Maybe give Barkeepers Friend a try, I would have but couldn't find any local. The primary active ingredient is oxalic acid.

CLR worked great for cleaning my battery terminals, so it does work on some things.

I have noticed on some drinking glasses that the "stain" is actually the glass being etched by a chemical reaction... Milk will etch glass if left too long. Here's an article from Clemson University.
http://www.clemson.edu/psapublishing/PAGES/WATER/WQL7.pdf

Should I notice a difference in using distilled water vs bottled water? My pieces tend to pick up hard water stains to much, I rinse with vinegar after cleaning with iso/salt a few times a week but they are still there.

I tried using a few simple green soaks on my one piece that has really bad hard water stains but it didnt work as well as I had hoped it would. What is the best way to get rid of the stains? PBW? Im gonna try to get some soon.

steama said:

From my experience CLR is pretty near worthless in removing stubborn hard water stains even when used straight from the bottle, the stuff is just weak.

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Couldn't agree more man. Bought a bottle hoping it would take care of the hardwater stains.poured it straight in...nothing. S

Kief said:

I'm starting to wonder if you could prevent the mineral build-up by mixing citric acid with the hard water. An easy experiment is needed, I'll try this with an old glass asap... my well water is very hard.

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Well, it works. I mixed 1/8 tsp of citric acid with 100ml of my unfiltered well water and let it sit in an unstained jar for 3 days... no hard water stains. For a control, I then washed the glass and added 100ml of just well water and three days later I had a nice solid line at the water level.

When I dumped that first citric acid mix, it went into an old jar that had some very bad hard water staining at the bottom. It was caked on thick and I had tried vinegar a few times before without it coming off completely. I came back to it days later and found white clouds growing in it, definitely too long... but that damn jar rinsed completely clean. Even a very old resin stain that nothing else would touch came off in the soak, I'm impressed.

Conclusion: Citric Acid can prevent and remove hard water stains.