How to stop kitchen tap spraying and why it happens!
Does this sound familiar?
You may have noticed, with some frustration that your kitchen tap no longer runs as smoothly as it once did. With stray streams of water shooting off to the side of the sink or the flow of your tap being reduced.
Limescale and Hard water.
The culprit behind your malfunctioning tap is none other than limescale, you’ve likely already noticed some of the hard deposits around the tap but these same deposits will have built up in the tap as well. This reduces the aperture through which the water flows either restricting the flow or causing a jet of water to shoot off in a different direction. Much like when you hold your thumb against a hose. Limescale forms if your home is fed byhard water. Hard water contains high concentrations of minerals, mainly calcium carbonate. It is these minerals which form the limescale.
How to deal with the blockage
The best way to deal with limescale is actually to use white vinegar! The acidity of the vinegar is very effective at breaking down the hard scale deposits. You’ll need to make sure the offending area of the tap is left to soak for a few hours. If you have an aerator or a detachable head on your tap its as simple as removing this section and leaving it to soak in some vinegar but it’s a little trickier if the tap is fixed. The best way to get around this issue is to fill a plastic bag with vinegar and wrap it around the tap, then fasten the bag to the tap using rubber bands or twine.
Once you’ve left the tap to soak long enough simply remove the sections from the vinegar or remove the bag from the tap. Give the affected areas a quick scrub to remove more stubborn sections and then run your tap to wash away the rest. Your tap should be back in good working order and the spray should be a thing of the past.
How to prevent blockage
Now that you are armed with a technique to remove the limescale build up you will be able to tackle this problem when it happens again. Due to your hard water limescale clogging your taps will sadly be a recurring problem. But it doesn’t have to be! One of the best ways to prevent limescale from forming the is the of a water conditioner!
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