I finally figured it out! It's all about the technique. The 3 things you need are:
Here goes:
First, pour just enough water from the bucket into bowl to get it to flush (I use an empty 33.9 oz. plastic Folgers container, poured as quickly as possible). The water level in the bowl will now stay in the bottom of the bowl, and this eliminates the need to turn off water supply (which can be a hassle). Spray all around ring with cleaner.
Now go clean the tub, sweep floor, empty trash, get coffee, or whatever. Come back to the toilet ring in 30 minutes or so, and scrub ring with brush. Part of ring will probably be gone...maybe all. A stubborn ring will be lighter. Flush. Repeat as many times as needed. I had a stubborn ring that I'd tried everything on. It took 4 times to get ring completely gone.
Now I keep cleaner, brush, bucket nearby. Once in awhile before bed I'll pour bucket, spray ring, and go to bed. Rings don't stand a chance!
By Rob S. from Fairborn, OH
This page contains the following solutions.
Buy wet and dry sandpaper; not the fine. The one that is just below the heavy grit. Wet it in toilet, and sand away.
Try swishing your toilet every day with a toilet brush. As part of your shower routine. reach over and swish the toilet brush around. It is amazing how little time it takes and how well the bowl looks every day from it.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I have an emergency. We have relatives coming soon. I need to clean a 19 year old ring out of the toilet now. I have used Comet, but it is doing nothing.
By mysterykid
I commented on this before. It is archived below. I had a ring in one of our toilets, and I used a pumice stone on it.
It is not recommended to use Comet or any cleanser with grit or pumice on china toilet bowls/sinks because the grit will scratch/ruin the surface and they will then stain more easier. A easy method to remove iron or other discoloration stains, is to dip all the water out of bowl, take toilet paper and lay around the stain and soak/spray the toilet paper with vinegar, let sit, if the stain persists, use baking soda as a scrub and a plastic scrubby. From a plumbers daughter. Same method works for counter tops, use baking soda and vinegar mix to remove mustard stains etc. Vinegar and baking soda are your best stain removers and cheap too.
Buy a box of false teeth cleansing tablets, drop the entire contents in the toilet bowl before going to bed, put down the lid, the next morning scrub with a toilet bowl brush. This worked great for me when we had rental properties and you would-not-believe the toilet bowls when people moved out.
How do you get rid of a toilet bowl ring that has been there for years? It was there when we bought the lake house 7 years ago. I don't want to change out the toilet bowl, but I can not stand the ring in the bowl.
By ShirleyBH
Use a wet pumice stone. You can find them in hardware stores and grocery stores. Works great!
I use a Pumice Stone and Comet to get any and all stains out of the bowl. I have not had a Pumice Stone scratch my bowl.
How do I clean hard water toilet rings?
By pat
Use a pumice stone (similar to the ones women use for feet) they have them made for cleaning purposes. They work great but you have to make sure the toilet surface and stone are wet before you use or you will scratch the bowl.
We have two toilets in the house. The first one on the line is a standard toilet made by Kohler (very recently installed). The second is an American Standard and is several years old. The Kohler has a ring at the water line that we have yet to get it clean, but the second one, there is no ring. What gives?
By Burney M.
I have used Bar Keepers Friend (powder cleanser) or Pumice Stone. I buy both from Wal Mart. With the cleanser make sure you buy the powder and not the liguid. With the Pumice Stone make sure you keep it wet while you are scrubbing or it can scratch your toilet. Last but, not least vinegar is great too. Soak paper towels with the vinegar lay on top of the ring close lid and let sit as long as possible. Like 4 hours and the ring should brush off.
Warning! Don't use vinegar and Bar Keepers Friend together on Chrome, it will discolor horribly.
My neighbor has always had soft water, whilst I did not. She and I used a pumice stone to remove a build-up of hard scale inside the toilet bowl, even though she had a water softener installed in her house. The pumice stone left black streaks in the porcelain. I eventually replaced both toilets, then installed soft water, yet there is now a ring of hard scale.
The new toilets were not cheap at $560 each. They are not even a year old, so even with soft water this build up of scale cannot be budged even with bleach, Lysol, Lime-away, and vinegar. My neighbour and I will not contemplate using a pumice stone after the damage to the porcelain in the other toilet bowls in our houses. What is a solution?
By Maisie
I have a toilet ring and can't get rid of it. We have soft water. The toilet is only a couple years old.
By Linda from NE
Used properly a pumice stone is the perfect tool to remove toilet rings. This is a page about using a pumice stone on porcelain toilet bowl.
This is a page about "Where can I buy a pumice stone?". Pumice stones can be used for a number of cleaning jobs.
ThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.
I have a light ring around my toilet bowl. I could use Clorox, but hear it is harmful for septic tanks. What could I use? I tried Ajax type stuff.
What causes a red ring in the toilet and how do you get it out?
How do I get rid of the stains in my toilet bowl? When I clean the bowl, there is a ring left behind that just doesn't want to go away.
How do I remove the ring in the toilet? We have well water so our water is hard plus we have lime in our water.
I have a black ring around my toilet. Any suggestions to get rid of it. Bleach does not seem to work.
I have a gray toilet, also a white one that have the bad rings in them that I cannot get out. I need any suggestions with things I might have in my home to use.
