Scale when soaking in percarbonate/metasilicate?

[Kev888]

I got caught out a couple of times by soaking things in bleach solution for too long, with the vessel getting scale on its walls. I'm now thinking of soaking my plastic conical in a percarbonate/metasilicate solution for some time - does anyone have any idea if I'm likely to suffer the same thing with that, and/or how long is safe?

Cheers
kev

[steve_flack]

Eventually you probably will. An acid rinse will get rid of it (StarSan/Saniclean for example) and for stainless stuff it's a good idea anyway to leave it in an acidic state.

[Kev888]

Ah, thanks - I'll keep the duration reasonable then. Good tip on the starsan/saniclean too - I used citric acid last time but it'd be costly on a larger tank.

Cheers
kev

[Wolfy]

Is the scale related to your water or what you clean with?
(I thought it was related to Calcium Carbonate deposits from hard water rather than cleaners).

While sodium percarbonate does break down into sodium carbonate (washing crystals, soda ash) I've soaked stuff in it for many days/weeks without any noticeable scale/deposits, however the tap water here is very soft and so thats why I guess that is the major factor.

[Kev888]

I 'believe' it to be scale from the water, though I don't actually know for sure. In the past I've scaled up the inside of demijohns by soaking with bleach solution for a few days; I've not had that with percarbonate solutions but I haven't soaked for so long with them, so I wasn't clear if it was merely time or if the percarbonate prevented it. I guess from these replies it may reduce the effect but not eliminate it.

I'm really only asking because with time pressures on my spare time it would be a lot more convenient to leave things for longer sometimes; as I understand it the percarbonate solution isn't actually effective for days on end so there's probably little to be gained in terms of cleaning. I'll just have to start getting up earlier..

Cheers
kev