Silica Buildup for Dummies

Silica gel desiccant

Around the Antisocial Network water cooler, conversation is often pretty much of the "Would you ask your plumber how to treat hemorrhoids?" variety. While most of us are well aware that there are people out there who have a good handle on topics for which they weren't specifically educated, but let's be honest: you can be a jack of all trades, but you can't master them all. That's the reason we're suspicious of many freelancers when they start spouting "science," freelancers like poet Cathryn Whitehead tried to when writing "How To Remove Silica Buildup on Toilets and Glass Shower Doors."¹

We weren't all that certain the OQ really meant "silica," assuming that the substance in question was actually lime; but we looked it up and learned that a few locations have water with a silica content high enough to cause precipitation of silica on fixtures. Whodathunkit? That being said, Whitehead's answer left a lot to be desired. For instance, Cathryn introduced her topic by announcing that,

"[Silica is] an oxide found in nature as sand or quartz, and in most types of glass, as well as concrete. It's used to absorb water in food and is used in toothpaste to remove plaque."

Some corrections: silica in gel form is used as a desiccant, but it is not used in food. It's what's in those little packets marked "Desiccant: do not eat" that you see in packaging. Our staff geologist reminds Whitehead that sand is a size description and not a mineral description, but that distinction is lost on most. The silica in toothpaste is hydrated, which is not the same thing as quartz...

Moving right along, Cathryn had only one "reference," and that was for a defunct product called Calcaway®. We found its website with the Wayback Machine, and silica was mentioned only in passing. The product was used for removing lime, which is definitely not the same thing as silica.

Whitehead's suggestions for removing silica deposits then devolve into the following:

"Use Limeaway, a hard-water mineral remover. Hard-water mineral removers remove the deposits of minerals like calcium, magnesium, and silica..." – Lime-a-Way's website does not mention silica. Need we remind you that silica is NOT the same thing as lime? "Steam acts as a good solvent for silica, and can cause it to evaporate along with water." – That's just stupid. The connection between silica and steam is that steam turbines are prone to silica scale; not that you can clean scale off with steam. "Add 4 tbsp. of trisodium phosphate (TSP) to 1 gallon of water. Scrub to remove the silica buildup, then rinse well with water." – That might work on toilets, but TSP is likely to etch glass.

• "Apply Amaz, available from somaca.com, to glass shower doors and toilets." – Maybe, maybe not.
• "Add 1 tsp. of Calgon to 1 gallon of hot water. Scrub the silica buildup." – Umm, Cathryn? It's Calgon, not Silgon!

So only one of Whitehead's "solutions" is likely to work. Aren't you glad you came to eHow to see what our Dumbass of the Day had to say on the subject?

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   http://ehow.com/how_4895928_remove-toilets-glass-shower-doors.html

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