Shower hose
A flexible sleeve over an inner tube, with a washer at each end. The outside is cleaned like the fittings it matches; a long soak is the risky part.
Precautions
- Check the manufacturer's instructions
- Limit the contact time
Start here
What this is, what tends to go wrong with it, and what to do about it.
Made from
What tends to go wrong
A hard, chalky calcium carbonate deposit left by hard water. Dissolved by acids, essentially untouched by detergents.
Why it is difficult: Water hardness, Crystallisation, Adhesion and cohesion
- Mouldvia its material
A living growth, not a stain. Killing it and removing the staining are two separate jobs, and neither addresses the moisture that caused it.
Why it is difficult: Porous and non-porous surfaces, Moisture control and recurrence, Cleaning, sanitising and disinfecting, Organic load, Surface roughness
- Soap scum· no established method
Not scale and not dirt: a metal soap formed when hard water meets true soap. It is the reason a shower screen films over in one house and not another.
Why it is difficult: Insoluble metal soaps, Water hardness, Evaporative deposition, Adhesion and cohesion, Why different surfaces get different dirt
The science behind this: Polishing removes metal, Solvents and polymers
Part of Shower.
In detail
A shower hose is usually a flexible plated-metal or plastic outer sleeve over an inner tube, with a washer at each end. It scales on the inside like everything else in a hard-water system and collects limescale and soap film in the grooves outside. For the outside, one maker of bathroom fittings excludes abrasive cleaners and solvents from nearly all of its metal finishes, excludes acid from its PVD finishes, and asks for water to be blotted dry rather than left to evaporate into deposits. Solvents also attack rubber, which is a reason to keep them away from the washers. Where a hose is genuinely blocked with scale, replacing it is cheap and reliable. A hose that holds water between uses can also grow a film inside, which is a reason to let it drain after use.
Related
- Shower hose is made from Chrome plating
- Shower hose is made from Natural rubber
- Shower hose is commonly affected by Limescale
- Shower hose is commonly affected by Soap scum
Hacks and claims involving this
Sources for this page
Sources
KALLISTA (Kohler Co.) · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That abrasive cleaners and solvents are excluded from the maker's metal finishes, that PVD finishes must not meet acid, and that water left to evaporate on metal forms deposits, so it is blotted dry. (states this directly)
Right to Know Hazardous Substance Fact Sheet: Stoddard Solvent (RTK 1736)
New Jersey Department of Health, 2008 · Government or regulator
Relied on for: That solvents attack rubber. (background and mechanism only)