How to avoid toilet pan stainining from hard water

Sooki

I live in a very hard water area too!

What ever you try and attempt empty the bowl of water first so the chemicals can get some purchase.

My biggest problem is my OH who thinks the toilet cleans itself, and thinks he's helping by refilling the pan, so you have to start all over again

Yorkie1

I've never successfully managed to empty the pan first. What's the technique?

manda1205

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

Fit an electronic scale inhibitor like this or similar on the incoming water main. Not only will it prevent scale build up but will remove any existing scale in a few weeks. We fitted one 15 years ago and no limescale problems since
http://www.eddy.uk.com/

I think it depends on how hard your water is, as to how effective these are. We have one on our combi boiler system and it has done nothing. We still had the heat exchanger totally fur up after 18mnths and our taps were terrible. I know its an expensive option (ours has cost us £650 in total) but I really would recommend a proper water softener. Obviously our reasons were a bit more expensive than yours (a heat exchanger costs £200ish) but the benefits have totally outweighed the initial cost.
Otherwise I can also vouch for the black harpic, works really well.

Ben84

manda1205 wrote: »

I think it depends on how hard your water is, as to how effective these are. We have one on our combi boiler system and it has done nothing. We still had the heat exchanger totally fur up after 18mnths and our taps were terrible. I know its an expensive option (ours has cost us £650 in total) but I really would recommend a proper water softener. Obviously our reasons were a bit more expensive than yours (a heat exchanger costs £200ish) but the benefits have totally outweighed the initial cost.
Otherwise I can also vouch for the black harpic, works really well.

The electronic water softeners are unproven to work and I don't see any reason why they would. Magnetic fields do nothing to the concentration of dissolved minerals in water flowing past them.

Ion exchange or reverse osmosis is the only practical way I know to soften domestic water, but it's fairly expensive.

Biggles

Normal 'thick' bleach around the bowl, left overnight does the trick.

maninthestreet

Biggles wrote: »

Normal 'thick' bleach around the bowl, left overnight does the trick.

Bleach will not remove limescale, though it will turn it white, which may make it less noticeable.

ed110220

I heard on TV that a cheap, ownbrand cola is a cheaper way of cleaning the toilet than most toilet cleaners. Makes sense as one of the main ingredients is phosphoric acid, which will dissolve limescale.

The trick might be to do it several times to dissolve it all if there is a lot.

WestonDave

If you get a toilet brush and use it like a plunger (or use a plunger if you have one), you can push the water beyond the U bend. There will still be a small amount left unless you use a sponge or something to soak it up, but as long as you get it down to a minimal amount it won't be diluting whatever chemical of choice you use to remove the limescale. Using that technique we've generally found most supermarket own brand toilet limescale removers work even in the hard water we have.

TimBuckTeeth

Bleach will remove some colour but the limescale will remain. To remove limescale an acid is needed. Coke may have some effect but most normal toilet cleaners contain much stronger acid.
As mentioned above remove water by a plunger so the acid is not diluted and leave several hours, and use a stronger acid if necessary.

Biggles

maninthestreet wrote: »

Bleach will not remove limescale, though it will turn it white, which may make it less noticeable.

Occasional use of household bleach removes the yellowish stain, which was the OP's problem. There's no sign of limescale as such.