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STAINLESS FOUNTAIN has RUST formations. Please Advise

We would appreciate advise on cleaning hard water deposits and rust formations off of a 7foot stainless fountain located in an outdoor courtyard. The fountain sits in a satellite pool that circulates its water with a swimming pool so harsh chemicals are to be avoided if possible. Any suggestions on cleaning the existing rusty/hard water deposits off? Better still, slow the formation of future deposits?

Thanks in advance for help,

Leah K. Bacon

2006

I think you would need to use a mineral acid to remove the stain which of course would not be possible if people were swimming in the same water. You would have to shutdown the system to do this. You could remove the staining mechanically, but this would also mean shutting down the system to turn the water off, etc. To stop the stain from re-occurring, you would have to determine what was causing the staining. Is the stainless steel properly descaled and passivated before use? Is there iron contamination coming from another component of the system that is made from carbon steel? What is the chlorine content of the water? Possibly this could be causing the stainless steel to corrode/stain. I don't know if the chlorine content required for swimming water would corrode stainless, I know chloride (which will be present if you add chlorine to the water) is corrosive to stainless. Sorry I couldn't be more definitive, these are possibilities based on specifics of your situation. You may need to consult the manufacturer/ supplier or somebody else familiar with this equipment and application.

Thomas Kemp

2006