I have well water and have rings in my toilets that I have tried to remove with numerous cleaning products. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what might work? I even have a water softener, but nothing seems to work.
By alice from PA
Buy a roll of plumbers cloth at the hardware store. It's about 1 inch wide and comes in a roll several feet long, for less than $2 (it's similar to sandpaper). Tear off an inch or two and use it to clean lots of stuff, but it especially works well with hard water stains in a toilet. Same principle as a pumice stone, but soft and flexible so it conforms to the curves and you can really get under the rim, etc. I've been so happy about finding this tip! No chemicals needed at all.
Plumbers cloth is really wonderful and because it's flexable it's easier to use than a pumice stone, but I don't like using chemicals or commercial cleaners since you never really know what's in them or what they will do to you or your plumbing ( I've had some bad experiences) so I use plain old Borax. Flush the toilet and turn the water off so it doesn't refill, then sprinkle the borax all over the stains.
When I had well water the best thing I found to clean my toilets was Muriatic acid. It is available from any hardware store (you have to ask for it). Just pour in the toilet wait a few minutes, brush and you're done. This stuff is extremely strong so be careful when opening it.
These mildly abrasive stones are the perfect cleaning tool to remove calcium deposits from tubs and toilets. This page talks about using a pumice stone for removing calcium buildup.
ThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.
We a have major calcium deposit rings around our toilets from our hard water. They were there when we moved in the house.
