Have you been tearing your hair out over milky drinking glasses and rusty cutlery?Or have you noticed rust-coloured stains inside your WC, and no matter how hard you scrub, they won't budge?
Here are a few simple cleaning tips for expats living in the hard-water regions of Spain. Perhaps a no-brainer for our Spanish amigos -- or for those of us who have been vacationing here for years -- but potential hair-saving gems for newbies.
1. Milky coloured drinking glasses
The water in most regions in Spain is very hard with a high calcium content. This leads to milky glasses if not taken care of. Step 1 is to fill the salt container in your dishwasher with salt balls. ( see photo "bueno").
The water in most regions in Spain is very hard with a high calcium content. This leads to milky glasses if not taken care of. Step 1 is to fill the salt container in your dishwasher with salt balls. ( see photo "bueno").
Step 2 is to use a high quality dish washing tablet, such as Finish Quantum, which contains detergent and rinser. Finish also makes a rinsing "diamond" that is placed on the cutlery container. This keeps cutlery rust-free.
Step 3 is to clean out your dishwasher once or twice a year with a cleaning agent such as bicarbonate soda or Finish (see photo c). Note that dishwasher producers recommend that the washer is run intermittently, on the highest temperature, so as to remove fat and other deposits.
2. Rusty stains in the WC
Purchase a concentrated (22%) hydrochloride acid, for example "Sulfumat" (see photo below) at your local supermarket and spray carefully a good amount around the inside of the bowl. Use rubber gloves to avoid getting acid on your hands. Leave 10 minutes to react, then flush the toilet. The stains should now be gone. Repeat if stains are tenacious, or long-residing. A WC brush can also be used to assist this process.
Purchase a concentrated (22%) hydrochloride acid, for example "Sulfumat" (see photo below) at your local supermarket and spray carefully a good amount around the inside of the bowl. Use rubber gloves to avoid getting acid on your hands. Leave 10 minutes to react, then flush the toilet. The stains should now be gone. Repeat if stains are tenacious, or long-residing. A WC brush can also be used to assist this process.
3. Lime scaling or calcium deposits in water cookers or on taps.
Use vinegar in a 10-20% concentration in your kettle, then boil the water. If not completely removed, repeat the process until gone. Citric acid, which can be purchased in powder form in baking sections of your supermarkets, can be more effective. Rinse the kettle before use.
To descale taps, bathtubs, sinks etc, vinegar or lemon juice can be used. A nifty vinegar-based detergent is for example "Froggy antical vinagre" (see photo below), which can be purchased in local supermarkets in Spain, including Consum.
Warning: The information above includes general tips. Specific advice should be sought before any action is taken on particular equipment or furnishings. Advarsel: Informasjonen angitt ovenfor er generelle tips. Spesifikke råd bør innhentes før noen handling foretas med tiltro til denne informasjonen.
