Dismantled Jabsco Toilet - Scale

[Richard10002]

What a ....ing mess!! <g>

Water has been spurting out of the top of the pump, (manual), so I bought a service kit and have taken it to bits, (havent taken the piston out yet.

Anyway... the pump body, and the outlet pipe are caked in a solid scale which i cant even chip off with a screwdriver.

I've read all the stuff on here and am wondering whether to leave the scale where it is, put it back together with new valves and O rings etc., and start the hydocloric acid and white vinegar routine.

If the advice is to get rid of the scale before reassembly, how do I get rid of the scale?

Many Thanks

(Cant wait!.....) /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Richard

 

[FlyingDutchman]

Can't you put the whole lot in a bucket filled with vinegar or these tablets you use for descaling a coffe machine? Hot water might work faster.

 

[steve_cronin]

I don't like the idea of HCl. It will certainly dissolve the limescale but what it does to your metal seacocks in the time it needs to be left in the pipework to be effective, I shudder to think. Then there is the environmental issue too.

I had this very same trouble and found that after I'd removed the hoses, beating them against the pontoon edge very quickly dislonged the scale. Incidentally, the main arguement against this method is the difficulty in removing the hoses from the seacock nozzles because of their stiffening. This is easily overcome by heating the ends of the hoses with a hairdryer which makes them very supple.

The Acetic & Hydrochloric treatment is, in my view, to be considered a prophylactic rather than a cure.

Steve Cronin

 

[rwoofer]

I had the same on my M44, so I just bought a whole new toilet.

My logic was that the service kit is very expensive for what it is; the rest of the toilet was also old, so there was the danger that having replaced the seals something else would break; and finally it would have saved me loads of time.

Still a horrible job though.

 

[VicS]

Hydrochloric acid (which you can buy as brick cleaner) will be the quickest way of removing the scale. Acid based boiler descaler probably the next quickest followed by kettle descaler and then vinegar. The last two will probably need to be hot if they are to work in a reasonable time. Different brands of kettle descaler are based on different chemicals as far as I can see so some will be more effective, or at least quicker, than others.


HCl will be ok on plastics and glazed porcelain but take care with metals. Stainless steel does not like it but it should be ok for a short time if cold and diluted.

I would strip it all down and treat the bits which will not be affected themselves in a plastic bucket with HCl, rather than doing it in situ as it will all need a good soak. Seacocks will suffer in HCl if left for too long.

Take care with a strong acids like HCl (Rubber gloves and goggles) but it is not as hazardous as sulphuric or nitric. In fact the worst thing about the concentrated stuff are the fumes. (Conc. HCl is in fact a only about a 30 something percent solution in water, pure HCl being a gas.) Wash splashes of the skin with water.

Once you have got it cleaned and back in service keep it scale free by regularly flushing through with white vinegar as recommened by Peggy Hall (AKA Headmistress) It also has mild disinfecting properties so helps to keep foul smells at bay. A dash of cooking oil will help lubricate the seals.

 

[Richard10002]

[ QUOTE ]
Hydrochloric acid (which you can buy as brick cleaner) will be the quickest way of removing the scale.

HCl will be ok on plastics and glazed porcelain but take care with metals. Stainless steel does not like it but it should be ok for a short time if cold and diluted.

I would strip it all down and treat the bits which will not be affected themselves in a plastic bucket with HCl.

Once you have got it cleaned and back in service keep it scale free by regularly flushing through with white vinegar as recommened by Peggy Hall (AKA Headmistress) It also has mild disinfecting properties so helps to keep foul smells at bay. A dash of cooking oil will help lubricate the seals.

[/ QUOTE ]

The pump is already off, so this seems to be the way to go. Many thanks to all.

Richard

 

[nedmin]

when youve cleaned use silicon or teflon grease on the piston and cylinder it will then last all season without use veg. oil.I use silicon because ive got plenty.