Calcium Carbonate (Calcification)

Calcium carbonate is the active ingredient in agricultural lime, and is created when Ca ions in hard water react with carbonate ions creating limescale.

Usually termed as limescale. Minerals, of varying concentrations, usually in suspension in most tap water. Deposit settle easily on metal surfaces such as heating element particularly when at elevated temperatures. Deposits can corrode the surfaces of most stainless steel alloys such as incoloy. Water treatment or regular cleaning and de-scaling of heating elements is highly recommended to prevent premature failure. Calcium Carbonate is also a very effective thermal insulator, even a small build up around the sheath of a heating element can prevent effective heat transfer and cause premature failure of the element due to localised overheating or “furnacing”.