Hard Water

nonchemist

Hi Forum
I assemble equipment that i need to test with Hard Water, however the
area i am in has very soft water. Would simply adding Lime (Calcium Carbonate) to the water give the same effect of scaling up pipes and kettles e.t.c? Iam aware there are other minerals such as magnesium in water but i expect i can get away with out adding these.

Cheers
Mike

Thomas_S_Hunterson

The different compounds will act differently in different situations, so it would be advisable to use a range of them.

Calcium Hydrogen Carbonate causes hardness but will precipitate out if the water is boiled. Magnesium and Calcium Sulphate don't precipitate.

It really depends on what you are testing for.

nonchemist

Hey Sean
The technology i use is electrochemical, and basically in the field where
there is hardwater the machine will get scaled up(like a kettle). I want to be able to roughly simulate this in the lab, however as i mentioned the water in my area is soft water.

What is calcium hydrogen carbonate (Water with calcium carbonate????).

I do appreciate that i dont even have a grasp of the reactions taken place here, so do you think it is as simple as adding lime to the water?

Would you have any ideas on how to "roughly" get the same effect without having to dabble with a pile of chemicals? (and without having to go 20miles up the road for a few hundred litres of hardwater!!!!)

Note: The reason i suggest lime also is that i can goto the local co-op and buy a bag for 10euro.

Again Thanks for your reply
Mike

DemocAnarchis

Still not quite sure what the aim of your equipment is- some sort of descaler, or just testing how the equipment performs in hard water? If the constitution of the hard water is a major factor, its going to be very difficult to replicate to any great degree of accuracy. If you just need scale, as sean_keevey said, some MgSO4 or CaSO4 might do.

nonchemist

Hey
i want to see how the equipment performs as it scales up!!

Any ideas appreciated

Mike

nonchemist

Hey
i want to see how the equipment performs as it scales up!!

Any ideas appreciated

Mike

nonchemist

Hey
I need to see how the machine performs as it scales up.

Any idea appreciated

Mike