gross toilet ! How to get rid of limescale

kerri_dfw

My housemate has tried absolutely everything to shift our London hard water caked on limescale from our loo, she's been here a year longer than I have and never seen it completely blue (the whole unit is blue), there's always been this brown scum on the bottom. So I thought "what the 'eck" and chucked 1/4 cup of citric acid powder into it last night, I'd bought it for making bath bombs then I left it overnight, got the loo brush and gently brushed the limescale off. It's all completely gone! She's going to be dead chuffed when she gets home later and I'm amazed that I used such an environmentally friendly product when so many people use really harmful things to do the same job.
I'm going to make some mini bath bombs to chuck into the loo overnight, these should help soften the water and as they contain citric acid they should prevent any further limescale build up.
Ooh and I didn't need to get rid of any of the water so it was all rather clean and tidy

timothyskinner

After Harpic didn't shift some bad limescale I looked for my pumice stone, but couldn't find it. So I used a piece of chalk... any "soft rock" will loosen the limescale. Then Harpic finished the job.

aloiseb

Bleach (eg Domestos) mixed with other chemicals (eg whatever it is in Harpic) will give off chlorine gas - this is the gas they used in the trenches in WW1 to kill people :eek: :eek: (And it turns my hair greenish if I go swimming too often :eek::eek::eek:)
This is why it's not a good idea to mix more than one kind of cleaner at the same time - in case the chemical reaction produces gases which in a small room could be bad for you.

I use Harpic (blue bottle) regularly - I think it's based on an acid of some sort, which would dissolve the yucky deposits. The stronger, black bottled one must be just a more concentrated version.

Icey77

My DH is a specialist squad police officer and CBRN trained (chemical, biological, radioactive, nuclear) and tells me that people combine bleach and toilet cleaners all the time and this results in the person fainting due to the fumes given off and then an incident that paramedics, CBRN police etc have to attend to ensure that the person is OK, the fumes are sorted out and that it was all an innocent mistake and not a bomb making experiment!! :eek:

gosport

try pouring good old coca cola down and leave overnight if possible, it will help. or try soda crystals diluted overnight bit coke is a good one hope it helps

Ron_McDon

We had an old toilet when we moved into our house which was pretty stained and horrible looking - no amount of bleaching and cleaning would make it look nice.

Then I bought some Kilrock multi-purpose descaler (it's in a clear plastic bottle with yellow and black writing) for my kettle. I was amazed at how quickly it got rid of all the kettle scale, and I tipped the same water into my husband's work flask. Big flakes of old limescale that nothing else would shift came off and it was like new. So I then tipped the same water into the toilet, left it on there for about half an hour then went to scrub - well, I didn't have anything to scrub! All the limescale had just peeled away and all the stains etc that had never come off were gone too! :j

I really can't praise it enough, it is like miracle liquid! I don't use the amount it says to on the bottle, I use about half the measure they say to use, which descales the kettle, the flask and the toilet. Honestly, try it - you'll be amazed. And in a way it's money saving because I use it to descale the kettle and flask first (we live in a very hard water area) - so it's not just wasted by being tipped down the sink.

phizzimum

I know this is an old thread, but I just wanted to bump it to say...yay! vinegar works! my loo looks lovely again!

kittywight

how can i get the water out of the toilet????

xx

craigywv

what vinegar do i use, white, malt ? pls let me know thanksxxx

kempiejon

I've used both vinegar and cola to clean limescale around the house, kettles, show heads, taps, splash backs and of course the toilet. Cola left in the toilet overnight worked for me.

A couple of months ago a friend told me he'd recently used a citric acid solution to clean his metal kettle, he thoughtfully helped out at his father in law's and added a teaspoon to the kettle full of water and left over night. It corroded through the kettle and it leaked all over the counter.

I have since switched to citric acid solution for most of my household limescale removal not on plastic or rubber though, only porcelain and metals. Citric acid is about £4 for 500g from brewshops and as you only need a teaspoon a time will last me ages.