Hard water problems in the UK

Calcite, the main cause of scale, is the most common form of calcium carbonate and occurs naturally as a natural ingredient of chalk, limestone and marble. Water passing over and permeating through such rocks dissolves calcite when this water subsequently flows through a water system the calcite precipitates out to form a very hard scale on surfaces.When hard water is heated, or evaporation takes place, the hard water problems are exacerbated. Calcite forms ever growing layers of rock-like deposits until eventually pipes, jets and equipment become totally blocked. The problem increases as the water gets hotter. Water containing 145 ppm of calcite, flowing at 3.5 litres per minute, produces in one year 4.8 kilograms of scale at 60ºC. At 80ºC this rises dramatically to a massive 29.9 kilograms! Scale wastes both energy and financial resources just one eighth of an inch of scale reduces heating efficiency by 25%. It is also very expensive to do the scale removal, de-scaling pipes and boilers alone costs British Industry over £800M each year.