I got this cool pump the other day to increase my water pressure. When the guy was installing it he had to cut out part of a copper line where the pump would go. Before re-connecting the pipe he tapped it with a hammer and you would not believe the crud that was coating the inside of this pipe. It came right out with the hammer taps but it must have been 1/4" thick all along the inside of this 1" or so pipe. I was shocked. A friend suggested adding muriatic acid to the cistern and to the tinaco on a regular basis to both disolve the existing crud but also to keep new crud from attaching. He likened this to treatment of a swimming pool. But of course he did not know how much to add or how often based on the volume of the cistern and tinaco. I called my pool guy in Florida who thought I had two heads. He advised not to drink the water. I guess the biggest danger is, hell I don't know what the danger is as long as you keep it out of eyes and mouth. Any ideas, suggestions or advice would be appreciated. If this sounds good I need a recipe. Thanks, T.J.
I remember Drew prescribing the muriatic acid thing. I would think you'd need quite a bit to do all your plumbing at once (I'm thinking 2 liters maybe?). And then what if you knock the stuff free and then it all clumps up and blocks the pipes?
With my admitted limited experience, I don't think you would want to run muriatic acid in copper pipes. Plastic, OK. Why not just call the plumber back and have him deal with it? If it is a chemical removal, he can time it for you and shut off the Aguakan and reopen it when it's time, etc. I have had a guy get into my tinaco and shovel it out!
Little by little the time it took to fill the washer with water had reached almost 30 minutes, then I realized it was because the inner plumbing in the washer was gunked up with the calcium deposits that the Cancun water produces. To solve the problem I disconnected the fill hoses from the faucet, but left them attached to the washer, then I turned on the washer to activate the valves and poured muriatic acid down the hoses. Gradually it ran into the tank and foamed away the deposits. I used about 1/2 of the bottle in each hose, the size bottles that are sold everywhere. Now the washer fill as quickly as it did when it was new. I have also done a similar cleanout on my instant water heater. The Cancun water really sucks for calcium deposits. I have read that there are electro magnetic devices that you can put around the incoming water pipes that will keep the calcium in suspension, and eventually eliminate it from the pipes. These seem to be more commonly used in England? Of course nothing like that is available in Mexico, so I will have to bring it from the states. I do believe that water softeners are available in Cancun, but I don't like the idea of flushing all that salt into the environment.
Now I am wondering, since a water softener is something I have thought of, what would be the problem with putting salt into this saline environment?
