: We live in the country and use well water. The water was untreated for years and heavy mineral deposits formed at the waterline in the toilets. Now, we have a water softener system (salt treatment) but the mineral deposits still remain after 4 years. How can I get rid of these deposits without replacing the toilets?Karlton:One of the weaknesses (there are many) of conventional water softening is that the system will not remove existing mineral scale. This is because the ion exchange process simply substitutes salt for hard water minerals. The end result is that the hardness is removed from the water but the surface tension of the water remains high. High surface tension means that the water loses it ability to be a natural solvent. Muriatic acid is a rather extreem measure and not to environmentally friendly. Had you installed a magnetic water conditioning system instead of the conventional water softener, your scale problem would have dissappeared in 3-4 months! Please review my web site for detailsDennis
