cleaning hard water deposits in toilets

[mlleoiseau]

We just bought a house that's been unoccupied for six months or longer. All of the toilets had the ring thing around the top of the water line, but that came right off with a pumice stone.

One of the toilets has iron and hard water deposits all in the bottom part of the toilet where the water goes in and out. It looks quite gross. I've scrubbed and scrubbed at it with a pumice stone. I have a few clean spots there now, but it still looks bad. Plus with the curves, I don't think I'm going to be able to clean it all with a pumice stone.

I had read that coke will sometimes eat things away, so I tried that. I poured in 2 liters of coke and scrubbed it 14 hours later. It didn't work. I've read that hot vinegar can take deposits off of chrome, so I boiled a gallon of vinegar and poured it in. I haven't tried cleaning it yet, but I don't think it's going to work. An aunt suggested using a magic eraser, but that did nothing to it.

What alternatives do I have besides CLR or Limeaway? I really don't do well with chemical odors. Plus, I don't know how well they'll work because I can't get all the water out of the toilet, so it will be diluted when I try it.

Any ideas?

Tia!

[lovemysunshine]

: We have this same problem. I chipped some of it off recently with the handle of my cleaning toothbrush (it was hard!), but it hadn't been 6 months either. Interested to get some ideas too.

[artemis33]

One of my natural cleaning books has a recipe for this....I'll look it up to be more specific but basically you dump in a bunch of Borax and some drops of pine and lemon EO's and leave it sit overnight. Then it supposedly dissolves all hard water deposits and is conisdered a 'no scrub' solution!

I'll find the book and come back with the recipe.....

[annettemarie]

Signing on because we have similar issues.

[scbegonias]

pumice stone...but mine doesn't have the plastic handle...just the stone. voila!

(although, i might give the borax thing a whirl.)

[lovemysunshine]

Originally Posted by artemis33

One of my natural cleaning books has a recipe for this....I'll look it up to be more specific but basically you dump in a bunch of Borax and some drops of pine and lemon EO's and leave it sit overnight. Then it supposedly dissolves all hard water deposits and is conisdered a 'no scrub' solution!

I'll find the book and come back with the recipe.....

Ooooo, I can't wait for the recipe; it sounds great!

[maciascl]

Originally Posted by annettemarie

Signing on because we have similar issues.

:

[artemis33]

Originally Posted by artemis33

One of my natural cleaning books has a recipe for this....I'll look it up to be more specific but basically you dump in a bunch of Borax and some drops of pine and lemon EO's and leave it sit overnight. Then it supposedly dissolves all hard water deposits and is conisdered a 'no scrub' solution!

I'll find the book and come back with the recipe.....

Okay here is the recipe:

No-Scrub Tiolet Bowl Cleaner
This is for toilet bowls that have an everlasting ring around them. (Like the kind you find in the bathroom of your vacation cabin after six months of non use.) Employ this recipe before bed and by morning even the toughest of stains will have disappeared.

1 c borax
1 c vinegar
10 drops pine or lavender essential oil (EO)
5 drops lemon or lime EO

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and pour all at once into the toilet bowl. Allow to sit overnight. In the morning, just flush!


This is from The Naturally Clean Home by Karyn Siegel-Maier. I can't vouch for this recipe specifically but I would love to hear any results!!!

[swellmomma]

I have heard Alka-Seltzer tablets work for it, drop 2 in the bowl and let it sit. I am testing it out tomorrow when I buy some, I'll let you know how it works.

[ladyinred]

I'm not sure if this is OT or not but my main problem with my toilet is mildew growing up around the edge of the toilet bowl. It's really gross. I have "natural clean" toilet bowl cleaner with thyme oil in it and that gets rid of some of it but I have to really really scrub the toilets at least once a week or they get super gross up around the edge. Any ideas?

[mlleoiseau]

The boiling vinegar sitting overnight seemed to do the trick. Most of it rubbed off the next day. I scrubbed the rest with a pumice stone and it came right off.

[lovemysunshine]

So did you just pour the vinegar into the water that was already sitting in the toilet or did you need to empty that out as much as possible? TIA!

[mlleoiseau]

I turned off the water and flushed the toilet to try to empty it out. Didn't empty much, though.

My dad suggested adding lemon juice to the vinegar. He thinks it may work a little better. He gargled with lemon juice, vinegar and hot water once and when he spit into the sink, it ate the chrome finish off the drain thing. He doesn't think there should be anything in a toilet that it would harm. I didn't try it though.

[Sojourner]

What is lavender, pine, and lime EO?

[babycarrier]

I've done this by dumping a gallon of white vinegar in after I flushed the toilet with the water turned off. Let it sit over night and in the morning, most debri rubbed right off.

It was almost my last ditch effort before CLR.

[artemis33]

Originally Posted by Sojourner

What is lavender, pine, and lime EO?

Sorry - EO = essential oil. I edited the recipe above.

[lovemysunshine]

Thanks! I am totally going to try the vinegar thing before I resort to the nasty chemicals. It's going to have to wait though as I just found out DH's friend is coming to stay with us for the next 4 days or so (coming tonight, yikes!).

[mommycat2008]

One thing that I know takes rust stains out of a toilet is super fine sand paper. And it's flexible, too, making it easy to take corners. As for mildew, I would try tee tree oil. I understand that it works for mold...perhaps it would for mildew, too!