Hello! My bathroom faucet has an insert aerator. We attempted to remove it in order to remove the chalk in the faucet, and broke the bottom part off as a result. The keys we have to remove the aerator are now not working, and we can't quite get it out.
Does anybody have any suggestions? We've tried using thin pliers for electronics to grab it and twist, but we can't get a good enough grip. A few photos attached: the remaining part inside the faucet, the broken off bottom part, and the keys that we have.
I don't know about "chalk" but vinegar dissolves most hard water setements.
Fill a plastic baggy and tie it around the faucet so it's summerged in vinegar. Use like an old toothbrush on it every couple hourswhile letting it soak for a while and it will all come off.
Now that that's gone, try the old methods to remove the plastic piece
If you still can't you have 3 options:
Demolish it, it's plastic and the parts staying are metal, rip it to shreds with pliers.
Use a strong adhesive like super glue to glue something to it, wait for it to dry then unscrew it.
Call a plumber
You could also just replace the whole faucet, at a certain point that's just easier.
It might be lime or calcium. The German word is Kalk, but it's basically the hard water, as you say. Yes, we were doing exactly that (the water is very hard here), and tried to remove the aerator in order to clean that too, which we hadn't done before, and that's how it all broke.
I've now made progress in breaking off another piece, but we're getting closer to just calling a plumber.