Tenerife forum

[DaveR]

I recently had problems with our loos which I know is not uncommon in Tenerife.

The return valves were not working and the loos were running constantly - wasting valuable water.

I was able to fix this easily and thought I would pass on what I did to save any of you calling out a plumber for what is quickly remedied.

The problem is that limescale builds up very quickly on the mechanisms due to the water make up here in the Canaries.

I turned off the water supply to the cistern and flushed the loo. That left the cistern empty so I covered all the mechanisms in agua fuerte. I left it for 2 minutes then turned the water back on and flushed the loo about three times to get rid of the agua fuerte. Everything is working perfectly again now.

A word of warning be very careful with agua fuerte as it is acid and will burn you badly if you get it on your skin.

[Estate_girl]

Thanks Dave,

I have this problem at home and will be trying it as the water keeps running in both my toilets and is such a waste of water....

[karlb]

I have the same problem and normally 50% of the time take the cistern lid off and give the blue float a knock so it falls down and the cistern fills up.

I had the exact same problem in our previous appt as well!!!
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[DaveR]

If you make sure you put plenty agua fuerte on the mechanism with the blue float that will get rid of the scale and let it run freely again. I would not like to even think about how much water is wasted in Tenerife through this alone.

[Caty]

alternativly you could always place filters on your incoming water supply pipes that will then protect your whole system the filters are not too expensive and can be got from Hidraulica the electic hot water boilers can break quicker if the limescale in the water builds round the elements, also you end up getting less hot water per boiler capacity.
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Caty

[DaveR]

Yes Caty that is another option. A lot of us rent rather than buy though so may not want to go to that expense. When I do decide to buy then filters are somethimg I would consider.

Do they also make the water safe to drink?

[Caty]

The filter systems are not very expensive to fit, and depending on the number that you do fit you can get the water to drinking quality, they have different filters for the removal of different elements in the water supply. We have a grit filter for particles, a carbon filter a limescale filter and one for god only knows what but we get really good drinking water!!
I guess it is a similar system to the one the coffe machines use in the bars and we all spend a lot of time slurping up those dont we I prefer the cortado leche leche personally.
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Caty

[DaveR]

I suppose if you add up the amount you spend on bottled water per year it would add up to a pretty substantial sum. Offset that amount by the cost of fitting filters and it probably makes for a worthwhile expense.

[Caty]

If you use a lot of bottled water there is a company in Los Gigantes that deliver 8L bottles of water to your own home but you do have to buy a stock of them, however it does seemingly work out cheaper than buying them in the supermarket plus you don´t have to carry them
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Caty