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nelles_gw

Toilet hard water stains

nelles_gw
11 years ago

We have a 1/2 bath that rarely is used, so there's a hard water stain on the beige toilet bowl. It's not noticable, but I know it's there. What do you suggest to get rid of the hard water deposits?

I told DH that we're going to have the flush that toilet on a semi-regular basis to prevent this from happening again.

TIA,
Ellen

Comments (27)

  • emma
    11 years ago

    If and when you get it clean flush it every day or two and clean that stool just like you do the others in your home and you shouldn't have that problem. I have one downstairs, that is what I do and it is not stained.

  • cathleen_ni_houlihan
    11 years ago

    I have really hard water and get stains. I struggled with them for a long time, but Sno-Bol toilet cleaner is what finally worked for me.

  • nelles_gw
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thank you all for your suggestions!

  • azzalea
    11 years ago

    I've had very good luck with just pouring about a cup of bleach into the bowl, shutting the lid and letting it sit for a couple of hours. Had a hard water deposit in my old house that absolutely NOTHING would touch. Finally did the bleach thing, and it was gone for good. Now, that's all I use to clean my toilets

  • donnainmontana
    11 years ago

    Wouldn't bleach be bad for septic systems?

  • emma
    11 years ago

    Porcelain stools do not stain it is the calcification of the water sitting in it. I am sure you have seen it in containers where the water has evaporated and left a ring.

  • bobnabq
    11 years ago

    I had horrible stains on mine and the only thing that worked, and worked easily, was a pumice stone. I bought it at Walmart, in the household cleaning supply section for a couple bucks. Rub it on the stains and flush. Doesn't harm the porcelain bowl.

  • Tmnca
    11 years ago

    I am wary of the pumice stone because it might scratch the porcelain. Scratched porcelain will collect stains and hard water even worse than before...

    I used Lemishine in our toilets when we had hard water, just add it to the water and swish around, let sit overnight. It is just citric acid (fruit acid). Putting lots of vinegar in the toilet might work as well, but we had this for the dishwasher and it's concentrated so worked well.

  • bobnabq
    11 years ago

    Quote: tinan
    "I am wary of the pumice stone because it might scratch the porcelain."

    I used the pumice stone, and it didn't scratch mine Also, it's sold for the purpose of removing stains from the toilet bowl. As for putting Lemishine or another product in the bowl's water, I had rust stains above the water line, up to the rim. I tried a wide variety of toilet cleaning products with no help but a few minutes rubbing with the pumice stone got rid of them permanently.

  • WholJanitorialProduc
    10 years ago

    I have also had good experiences using a pumice stone to remove the hard water stains. I haven't had a problem with it scratching the bowl.

    This post was edited by WholJanitorialProduc on Tue, Apr 2, 13 at 14:10

  • bulldinkie
    10 years ago

    Ive had this problem for years.On the toilets we use, our water has ironstone in it,hard ,hard then to make matters worse I can't use toilet bowl cleaners, it eats something in there it makes toilet keep running,costs like 40 dollars to fix .Im between a rock and a hard place literally..

  • lexie1397
    10 years ago

    I recently read that cola flavored soda will react with the mineral deposits, eating them away without harming the porcelain at all. I can usually find 3-liter bottles of a generic brand at my local Dollar Tree.

    I will get to put this to the mother of all tests next week when I treat 8 toilets that could pass for coral reefs! A month-long soak in bleach, and two weeks in vinegar had no effect whatsoever.

  • Yorkies2
    10 years ago

    I had a rental that the toilet hadn't been cleaned by the tenant for years. The only thing that would clean that nasty toilet was a pumice stone. It came out looking just like new.

  • Yorkies2
    10 years ago

    I had a rental that the toilet hadn't been cleaned by the tenant for years. The only thing that would clean that nasty toilet was a pumice stone. It came out looking just like new.

  • beaniebakes
    10 years ago

    I've also used pumice stone to remove rusty mineral deposits from sinks after trying every other product sold for this purpose. The pumice stone sold in hardware stores is different than the one for personal use (i.e., removing calluses from feet.) It's coarser and tends to crumble into a paste during the scrubbing process. It worked well and didn't damage two antique porcelain sinks.

  • Lynn0668
    10 years ago

    1 bottle of Classic Coka-Cola. Pour around the rim and into the basin. Let sit for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Flush. Leaves the toilet bowl sparkling clean. Make sure to do maintenance cleaning every week.

  • benlinus
    10 years ago

    I finally figured it out! It's all about the technique. The 3 things you need are:
    a toilet bowl brush
    a decent cleaner in a spray bottle (the Works, Kaboom, CLR, or any similar)
    a bucket (most important!)
    Here goes:
    First, pour just enough water from the bucket into bowl to get it to flush (I use an empty 33.9 oz. plastic Folgers container, poured as quickly as possible). The water level in the bowl will now stay in the bottom of the bowl, and this eliminates the need to turn off water supply (which can be a hassle). Spray all around ring with cleaner.
    Now go clean the tub, sweep floor, empty trash, get coffee, or whatever. Come back to the toilet ring in 30 minutes or so, and scrub ring with brush. Part of ring will probably be gone...maybe all. A stubborn ring will be lighter. Flush. Repeat as many times as needed. I had a stubborn ring that I'd tried everything on. It took 4 times to get ring completely gone.

  • benlinus
    10 years ago

    I finally figured it out! It's all about the technique. The 3 things you need are:
    a toilet bowl brush
    a decent cleaner in a spray bottle (the Works, Kaboom, CLR, or any similar)
    a bucket (most important!)
    Here goes:
    First, pour just enough water from the bucket into bowl to get it to flush (I use an empty 33.9 oz. plastic Folgers container, poured as quickly as possible). The water level in the bowl will now stay in the bottom of the bowl, and this eliminates the need to turn off water supply (which can be a hassle). Spray all around ring with cleaner.
    Now go clean the tub, sweep floor, empty trash, get coffee, or whatever. Come back to the toilet ring in 30 minutes or so, and scrub ring with brush. Part of ring will probably be gone...maybe all. A stubborn ring will be lighter. Flush. Repeat as many times as needed. I had a stubborn ring that I'd tried everything on. It took 4 times to get ring completely gone.

  • blairgirl
    10 years ago

    Pumice stones work great. The only thing you have to remember is that both the surface you're working on and the stone have to be wet. I just dip it in the nice clean water in the bowl as I work on the ring (and I store it in two zip lock bags with rubber gloves I use just for this purpose.)

  • emma
    9 years ago

    If you have the stain in just one bathroom, that one probably is that way because it needs to be cleaned just like the others do. If it was hard water all the stools would be stained. I flush my basement stool ever time I go down there and clean it when I stay down there for a while, no stain.


  • AtomicJay007
    9 years ago

    Another vote for pumice stone. I usually spray some toilet bowl cleaner around the area to be scrubbed to provide a little lubrication and lessen chances of scratching the porcelain. Wet the stone first as well. I've never had a scratch doing it this way and I've been able to remove calcium rings that no liquid cleaner could.

  • righthere
    8 years ago

    Blairgirl hit a grand slam! Had EXCESSIVE hard water brown stain ring 1" wide all the way around the water line area. I tried scrubbing with comet, clorox, and steel scrubbing pad --- and all it did was begin to scratch the porcelain. This half bath had gone nearly 12 months without being used regularly (between owners).
    I tried Blairgirl's tip, draining all water from the bowl, and saturating the paper towels with pure clorox, so the edge of the paper towels was constantly staying moist from being in contact with the clorox in the bottom of the bowl; rewetted the paper towels 2 - 3 times over about 24 hours, and it worked like magic!!! I was pleasantly stunned it worked perfectly. Nothing else was needed. Thanks Blairgirl.


  • blairgirl
    8 years ago

    You're welcome. :) I'm glad it worked.


  • mhistina
    8 years ago

    Pumice stone is the way to go! It won't scratch as long as you get it wet first!

  • veichler
    8 years ago

    I must share this solution I just discovered, I am so excited I finally found something that works ! Like many of you, I had tried just about everything I could think of : vinegar and baking soda, Clorox, pumice stone (which helped with the hard water ring but there was still a bluish stain below the ring I couldn't get rid of, plus I was getting so frustrated I started to scratch the porcelain with the stone...). I also tried Limeaway, Softscrub... until I had a genius idea to try Barkeeper's friend, my go-to product in the kitchen. I lowered the water level in the toilet by pushing it out with a plunger, then poured a good amount of Barkeeper's Friend powder and started scrubbing with a wet sponge. A little bit of elbow powder later, my bowl is immaculate. I LOVE this product. i had been using it earlier today to clean my bronze door handle, with also looks sparkling now !

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