Final Verdict. The best overall hard water stain remover is CLR Brilliant Bath Foaming Action Cleaner. It was highly effective at giving our kitchen and bathroom surfaces a shiny and smooth finish, without requiring a lot of hard scrubbing.
The best way to get rid of stubborn limescale deposits is by soaking the affected area in lemon juice or white vinegar. Some fixtures may be harder to clean than others, so we've put together a step-by-step guide to help you achieve scale-free taps, showerheads and plugholes.
Two of the most effective substances are lemon juice and ordinary vinegar. Lemon juice is usually the best (and will also leave a lovely smell behind). Stronger pickling vinegar and lime juice are both even more acidic and can be used for really stubborn deposits.
White vinegar
The mild acid can dissolve limescale and disinfect. All you need to do is pour a generous amount of white vinegar down your toilet bowl, let it soak in overnight, then scrub with a brush. Then flush to rinse, and voilà, your toilet is back to its former whiteness!
Viakal No1 Against Limescale* Spray Classic 750ml features anti-droplet technology for enhanced cleaning efficacy. Suitable for bathroom sanitary ware including sinks, bathtubs, bidets, and showers. Also effective on taps, chrome surfaces, and kitchen sinks.
Lemon juice and vinegar are both acidic, meaning that they can break down the calcium carbonate that limescale is made from. Here's how you can use these green cleaners to your advantage. It's worth noting that we're talking about distilled white vinegar here, not malt vinegar.
TM 11 is one of the strongest Acid Descalers available and although safe to use, as with most strong chemicals TM 11 requires caution when using, handling and storing.
Limescale can be easily dissolved using a mild acid solution, such as diluted white vinegar. For example, when descaling a kettle, simply fill the kettle with equal parts vinegar and water and leave for an hour before boiling and then letting stand for another 20 minutes.
So, which one should you go for? It really depends on what kind of cleaning you need to do. If you're dealing with really tough, built-up mineral deposits, especially in your bathroom or kitchen, CLR might be the way to go. It's strong enough to handle stains that vinegar might struggle with.
Vinegar essence is therefore a better choice for harder-to-treat limescale – but it should always be diluted with water. Always wear gloves when cleaning with vinegar to protect your skin from the acid. A special tip: Coca Cola – this fizzy drink contains phosphoric acid which also removes limescale and urine scale.
As we mentioned earlier, vinegar is one of the best natural descalers in your kitchen. Vinegar is very acidic that combats the limescale of your coffee appliance after regular brewing. Mix vinegar with warm water in a 1:1 ratio and run the brew cycle several times for cleaning.
How it works: Hydrochloric acid is a strong acid that reacts rapidly with limescale, dissolving it quickly. Usage: Commonly used in heavy-duty descalers for toilets and heavily scaled surfaces.
Final Verdict. The best overall hard water stain remover is CLR Brilliant Bath Foaming Action Cleaner.
“The best way to tackle limescale is with warm water and white vinegar solution, and you may need to use the rougher side of a non-scratch scouring pad and some elbow grease.” For shower glass, Chris recommends an all-purpose bathroom cleaner, but “hard water stains can also be lifted and de-odorized by using lemons“.
White Vinegar and warm water – areas of limescale on your tap can be cleaned with a solution of equal parts white vinegar and warm water. Depending on how stubborn the limescale is you may only need to wipe the tap over with the solution or you may need to lay a cloth to soak on it for a few hours.
If CLR Grease & Oil Remover is left on a surface for too long it begins to dry and can be very difficult to remove.
Muriatic acid, which is also called hydrochloric acid, is some pretty heavy-duty stuff. It's a good CLR alternative, and it can clean up rust and limescale super fast - but you've got to be really careful with it because it's seriously corrosive.
Customers say the Zep Calcium, Lime, and Rust Stain Remover is an effective and cost-efficient alternative to more expensive brands like CLR. Many users appreciate its ability to tackle tough stains, particularly in toilets and on various surfaces affected by hard water.
Lemon juice is best for tackling thicker, more stubborn limescale. For the upper parts of your tap, soak cotton wool or a cloth in either white vinegar or lemon juice and wrap it around the taps. If you want to be sure, secure it in place with an elastic band.
White vinegar, also known as distilled vinegar or spirit vinegar, is made by fermenting grain alcohol (ethanol) which then turns into acetic acid. Water is then added to the vinegar, so white vinegar is made of five to ten percent acetic acid and ninety to ninety-five percent water.
Some articles likely mention using common household vinegar to descale, which unfortunately does not turn out to be very effective. Vinegar is very weak and mild acid which is not effective to remove limescale or rust. Plus, you run the risk of leaving a vinegar taste in your machine.
Limescale is caused by calcium and magnesium being left behind when hard water evaporates.