gross toilet ! How to get rid of limescale

Agapanthus

clairehi is absolutely right. To remove limescale you need an acidic cleaner. Coke is acidic and will remove it in time, but it's a fairly weak acid and also contains a brown colouring which will stain the limescale and make it show more. Vinegar (which is acetic acid) and citric acid (which is what's found in lemon juice) are stronger and more effective. Spirits of salts is hydrochloric acid and most effective when you have a severe problem, especially when it's very concentrated, but it's terrible stuff and must be treated with great caution or it'll destroy you as well as the limescale! Do not let it touch any part of you - or your clothes.

For best effect, as clairehi says, remove the water first - the acid will work best when concentrated.

Bleach may kill the germs but it doesn't remove limescale - it just bleaches it so it doesn't show as much. As soon as something comes along that stains the limescale it's back again. To remove it properly you need an acid.

Shinyclean

Just tried Parazone on a really badly encrusted loo and it worked really quickly. Got the water level down a bit by pushing loo brush into it a few times and poured in half the bottle - half an hour later everything above the water line was either gone or loosened enough to brush away. Poured the remainder of the bottle in to clear what was left below the waterline - am leaving that overnight to finish the job. Had previously tried white vinegar and Cillit Bang but it was really too far gone for those to work.

debbym

Cola,vinegar, stuff from Lidl all work better if they are not diluted with water, use your toilet brush to push as much as you can down the u-bend ( plunge it into the water like a mad thing and you will find that a lot gets forced out;) )or if your not afraid of putting your hands down the loo then bail most of it out. Choose your weapon and pour it in and leave for as long as possible, weekend sounds ideal, then use the toilet brush and flush through with a bucket of warm water. good luck:D

rosie383

I need to do my loo too. I Have been putting it off, but I may try later. Got some limescale remover from Home Bargains and it worked very well on the sink and taps. I use a plastic disposable cup to scoop out the water. Had been reluctant to do it as I had no gloves, but just used a pair when dying my hair earlier, so I have no excuse now.

Careful_with_that_Axe

I've recently moved house and my upstairs toilet is stained and dirty - I suspect it is old limescale even though I live in an area of soft water.

I don't like using harsh chemicals, but have left bleach down there for 24 hours only for it not to have made a difference.

I've got some plastic scourers and had thought of just getting my hands down there and scrubbing, but can anyone suggest something that might make the job easier?

Many thanks

LittleBrownFrog

Bleaching/scrubbing should work, but you need to get the water out of the toilet bowl first. You can do that by plunging the toilet brush in and out repeatedly, that should get rid of most of the water, then whatever you put in will act on the stains/scale rather than being diluted.
I think white vinegar is good for limescale (we don't have that problem down here as our water is very soft), so maybe a cloth soaked in limescale left down there would help - would put the loo out of action for a while.
Bleach, rubber gloves and a scrubbing brush would be my preferred option.

VJsmum

If you have more than one loo, then empty the water out of the stained one - down past the bend if you can stand the smell :rotfl:and then fill it up with several bottles of white vinegar. Leave as long as possible - at least 12 hours i'd say. Don your rubber gloves (otherwise it stings like mad) and scrub. That should get it off if it is limescale and is the only thing i've found that works.

If you only have one loo then it is more difficult as you can't put it out of action for that long but maybe could have periods in the day when you could do it - kids at school, everyone at work?

silvermaid

Hya Careful,
I find the best way to empty the toilet bowl of most of the water is to get a plastic bag (e.g. of the sort that some junk mail comes in), don rubber gloves, put both fists together into the bag and then push the water towards the U-bend. 2 or 3 pushes gets rid of most of the water. Then I use vinegar and scrubbing on the limescale. I sometimes use part of a wooden BBQ skewer to knock off hard to shift or plates of limescale.

Frugal_Mouse

I have in the past used dampened pumice stone to remove a very heavy build-up of limescale. If you follow up with the vinegar treatment suggested by LittleBrownFrog and VJsmum you might might be able to shorten the 'soaking' time.

Good luck!
FM

McKneff

Theres bleach and there is good old Domestos, which one have you used.