One of our three toilets is brown. Mostly in the very bottom, it is dark there and has been since we moved in, and it gets brownish stuff all over the inside of the bowl (very quickly). I've always been able to clean the rest off (everything except the very dark stuff at the bottom), but now I can't even do that. Any suggestions? I've emptied the bowl out and scrubbed, used cleaners, let cleaners sit on it... Any ideas??
K.
Thanks for all the advice! I am really careful to keep our house as "green" as possible, so I tried vinegar first. A couple of times I emptied the water out of the toilet and let just vinegar sit in it (I had to do it a couple of times, as someone always went ahead and used the toilet!) and then I could just scrape the stuff away. It really did the trick, thanks so much for all of your ideas!
K.
My favorite toilet bowl cleaner is The Works. I moved into this apartment some years ago and the toilet bowl, looked horrible. I used The Works, let it sit for a little while, scrubbed and flushed. It looked awesome!
Good Luck!
Mine were stained and I bought the LIme and rust remover-CLR or something like that. I emtied some of the water out with a cup and then let this sit. Worked wonders.
someone told me that Watkins has a product that gets toilets clean like new. I don't know what the name of it is but know it is a Watkins product. i think it has acid in it that eats through anything.
Sounds like you've tried lots of cleaners, etc. so it may just be time to replace the toilet if the porcelain is so stained that it can't be scrubbed off. Even though you know you've cleaned it, others may not realize that and it would bother me if my toilet constantly looked like dirty, poopy water was sitting in it. Or a cheaper fix, depending on how much area you need to cover, is to actually buy white paint made for porcelain and try that. I've actually used porcelain paint before for a chip in the tank cover and it helped.
Sorry, I wished I had a better recommendation but I felt bad that no one had responded to your request yet. Hope it all works out and that you're able to "flush" your problem away. :)
Hi K.!
I have had the same problem. It is super annoying! My mom is the one who suggested this to me, Vinegar!!!! Regular household vinegar. It works wonders even on soap scum in the bathtub.
You can pour a (not good on measuring) I eye it, and let it sit for awhile and then scrub.
Hope this helps!
M.
K.,
Use a cup to get all of the water out of the bowl. Then use a pumice stone to get it clean, or a baking soda paste.
Have you tried using Bar Keepers Friend? It is not abrasive so you don't have to worry about it damaging the porcelin. You would need to let it sit awhile to give it a chance to dissolve whatever is making it brown (rust maybe?).
I hope some of our suggestions work so you don't have to buy a new toilet.
Good luck!
J.
There is a place in North Kansas City called something like the Mop and Bucket. They sell commertial cleaning supplies to the public. They have an acid based toilet cleaner. It even smokes when you use it and you can't use it everyday. It isn't harmful as long as you keep it away from the kids. If that can't clean it, I don't think anything could! But the people who own the place know their stuff so they may be able to recommend something also
Hi K., Have you tried the denture cleaners that bubble or Alka seltzer? They do work when you let them set. But sounds like the potty you are trying to clean is maybe in a basement area? That is where my brown one is. It has to do with it being closer to the main drain. And it doesn't get used as often as ones on main living area's.
Its a pain
Good Luck to you
K. Nana of 5
K. - when you drained the water did you notice if the porcelien (sp?) was cracked? If it is, and has been chipping off, no amount of scrubbing will make it white again. You'll either have to learn to live with a brown toilet or replace it. The good news is you can get an entire toilet kit at Lowe's or Home Depot for $80-$85 - not horribly expensive.
Hi K., Have you tried CLR. It gets rid of rust and stuff. I don't know if it will work but it's worth a shot! Good Luck!!!
I would try the vinegar first. If not, use CLR or Iron-Out. Whatever you try, be sure to rinse between tries.....do not mix any of these chemicals! That can produce fumes.
Good luck!
try a pumis stone - you can buy them in the cleaning section with the other cleaners
Poor clorox into the tank along with some baking soda, give some time between pouring one then the other, should help within after doing this at least once a day. Do this at night so it sits longer too. Hope this helps.
We have had this problem and I put a small chlorine tablet used for swiiming pools in the tank. i was told the brown and mineral spots come from the water not having enough Chlorine in it ecspecially if you have a water softner.
Have you tried the Magic Eraser? It does really good in my showers.
K., I have this problem, too. We have a water softener, do you? I did notice that one day when I let bleach sit in there, it did get some of the way down brown off. So I vote for the chlorine solutions. I'm going to try it again. I'll let you know how it turns out.
We have high iron in our water and what I've found to work is Lysol toilet bowl cleaner in the BLUE bottle. I don't know if it will help for your particular problem, but after going through dozens of cleaners, I found this one to work the best at getting rust stains out. Good luck to you!
H.
wow! after all that hard work and it was still discolored, if it were me I would just replace the toilet. they make very inexpensive models and it's not that difficult to do. are you currently using a water softener or have you had your water tested for hardness? is this the only one with the problem?
good luck!
I work with a company than manufactures healthier, safer, "green" products for your home. They are amazing and can usually get out more stains than the "caustic, toxic" chemical based products. I would love to give you more information. Please feel free to call me at ###-###-#### for all the awesome details!
What you have are mineral deposits. I have had that problem from time to time with our toilets. Drain off as much water as you can and pour a gallon of white vinigar in. Let it soak for at least 24 hours. A lot will come off the rest you can pick off with a screwdriver or as I do, a dinner knife. You can repeat the process until it is all off.
Did you try letting straight bleach set on it? I can't think of any other way, besides (as the other poster suggested) replacing the toilet. Sorry, I've never had this experience, but I know bleach does wonders on some things. :o)
We had a problem with mineral stains at our old house, and the only thing that really worked was a pumice stone. They make long pumice stones with handles specifically for this purpose. You can find one at any hardware store or home center in the plumbing or cleaning supplies section. There may be some subtle scratching of the surface, but we preferred that to the stains.
Sounds like corrosion or Rust, have you tried the bleach tablets from clorox. Put one on the tank and see.
Drain it an put clr in it an let sit. You can purchase that at any hardware store. Diana Z
