I came to live in my stepmother’s mobile home to care for her. The toilets are brown. They look filthy when they are clean. Is there any way to get them white again, or do I have to replace them? New toilets are expensive, and I’m afraid used ones will have the same problem I already have.
If acid does the trick, is it safe for a septic tank? Better to remove the toilet and clean it outside? Can they be enameled to make them white again? I really know nothing of plumbing stuff.
I’ve used acid to clean an old bath, but hey, we’re only talking about things like vinegar and lemon juice. Forget about battery acid.
For the part of the stain that’s under water, you can dump a cup of vinegar into the toilet and leave it for an hour or so. For the stain above the water line, try rubbing with half a lemon.
I used a lemon to clean the old bath. It took many applications over a few days.
Good luck.
The Works Toilet Bowl Cleaner.
http://www.limeosol.com/toilet.htm
Good stuff. Kept my toilet, sink, and shower white when I lived in the apartment with the yicky-water.
I was just headed in here to say The Works, but I see Alyssa beat me to it. Its good stuff.
One of the houses I clean has a septic tank, and they also have really crummy well water (which means rusty, brown, grungy toilets).The Works really cuts through the crud, and I was assured by the homeowners that it was safe to use. It comes in toilet bowl cleaner and a bathroom cleaner in a spray bottle. I use the spray on the tub, sinks, and the toilet and its great.
Does your gram have really hard water? You might ask one of the neighbors what they use, if you are really concerned. But the Works is marked ‘septic-safe’, and ought to do the trick.
Hope that helps…
Have you tried a pumice stone? It’s like lavarock, but it flakes easily. Yopu can get it in the cleaning asile of most grocery stores. We had really hard water in one house and that fixed it right up.
We live in the boondocks and our well water is very “hard.” I guess that’s the reason for the stains in the first place. We distill water for drinking here and the residue looks like drywall. Thanks, all. I’ll try The Works.
Ok, so now we are calling them “deep rust stains.” I wish someone would come to our office and clean the “deep rust stains” that the boss leaves every morning. What a mess.
The best way to remove any rust stains from anywhere is Oxalic Acid. Its available in the form of crystals/powder, just add it to water as you like, its a weak acid. All Iron Stains are due to the Ferric State (Fe3+) of Iron and Oxalic acid is a good reducer to change the (Fe3+) to ferrous (Fe2+) which is soluble in water.
So use Oxalic Acid to remove the worst of stains.
I found some once & felt them & they seemed to be raised lime deposits so I just got a hammer & gently banged at them with a screwdriver to get them off.
Zombie thread, FYI.
I’ve had a persistent rust stain in my toilet right where the top of the water line usually is. Finally decided to try to do something about it this weekend. Bought some ‘The Works’, squirted it on there, wiped, etc. Nothing. Not sure exactly how that is supposed to work…
What I finally did that did work was this: turn the water off, reduce the water in the bowl to below its usual level, make a fairly thick paste of oxalic acid (Barkeeper’s Friend) and water, apply the paste to the rust line in the toilet, wait 15 minutes, and work it off with the scratchy side of a sponge. Now, no rust line. Oxalic acid is awesome for nearly everything, I swear…
How much cancer could I expect to cure with it?
Just rub it on the cancer, wait 15 minutes, and presto.
How much should i expect to pay for this remarkable system?
Pumie worked well for the iron stains in my upstairs toilet. It took a little scrubbing but it got rid of years worth of stains that no liquid cleaner would touch.
Apparently I purchased that product in 2009! I recall it never seemed to work for me, and it seemed really harsh on the toilet’s porcelain. Not sure if there was a real problem or not, but intuitively it seemed like it had to be scratching it…
Yeah I expect it would be somewhat harsh, but nothing else I tried was working. Luckily it isn’t something that needs used routinely.
No. 7 Polishing Compound, also available from hardware and auto stores. Soft/gentle enough to use on car finishes, so it shouldn’t mess up the porcelain. When I visit the bathroom after metalworking I often inadvertently drop ferrous dust on the toilet, where it makes rust stains; this stuff readily removes those stains.