How to remove stains from toilets??

[Mojo]

Have some old Dux toilets that are badly stained inside. Have tried the usual supermarket-bought toilet cleaners, brushing, bleach, but these have made little difference....

I'm guessing I'm not the only one who's had this problem, so hoping someone in this forum might have some tips for me about how to get rid of the stains? Know of any 'hardcore' remedies I can try??

(And if the stains can't be removed, what should I do??!! Any ideas about the cheapest and/or easiest way to replace a toilet? Has anyone done it themselves and if so, does one have to seal the new ones in in some special manner and if so, how is this done - we've done this abroad but not here and not sure what if any requirements apply? We've got to deal with this ASAP, rather urgent)

Thanks

[wenlee]

Think its called Spirit of salts anyway go to mitre 10 and ask them. Its great.

[Mojo]

Thanks wenlee, think I'll hop on over to Mitre 10 right now and see if I can get my hands on some of this 'salts spirits' - fingers crossed...

[TheFlash]

what about denture cleaner for teeth - block the hole so water cant escape with a cloth and fill up the bowl

[drelly]

The problem is possibly not staining but calcium build up which has become stained. The best solution I came up with was a hammer and chisel... I kid you not!

[Aston]

Remove the water from the bowl then:

Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl. Let the "real thing" sit for one hour, then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitrious china

[Mojo]

OK - the Mitre 10 guy wasn't going to let me walk out of his store with ' Spirit of Salts' in hand if my intention was to pour any of it down my toilet! Bit of an environmental hazard I gather - were you aware of that Wenlee? If not, you are now...

I was pointed towards 'Calcium, Rust & Lime Remover' instead, which claims to remove 'deposits' of any or all of these 'that occur from water'. Don't have high hopes for this product though - apparently the fumes are a health hazard and I'll need to use rubber gloves with it.... which sounded promising until I remembered that the same goes for bleach, which didn't work, LOL.

Aston, If this stuff doesn't work, and coca cola does... I'll be rather concerned!!

Denture cleaner - have you actually tried this method out yourself, TheFlash?

The hammer and chisel solution would be tempting if I hadn't had a go at a toilet once with similar tools and noticed too late that I was removing bits of toilet along with the stain! Is there some right way as opposed to wrong way to go about using this technique? Or have you got a stain-free but scratched up toilet now drelly??

Thanks for the suggestions so far, and do keep em comin'...

[muppet]

Refer to Chapter 27 of Phil Jones and Ron Hoy Fong's book Massive Profits in Real Estate where there are several suggestions on removing stains in toilets.

Probably the best one is and I quote from p/295:

It is possible to remove stains from toilets, even those that have not been used for some time - but only make the effort if the toilet itself is in otherwise great shape.

[TheFlash]

Got the denture cleaner from the radio - so no i havnt tried it.

Some lady that does stain removal on radio live saturday was talking about it.

[drelly]

Hey Mojo,

I think it was actually an old screwdriver I used rather than a chisel. Perhaps yours was too sharp? The toilet looked like new after I'd finished with it but the tenants don't seem to clean it as much as I'd like so not sure if it's going to stay that way. IME, the calcium removers aren't worth a damn. Have tried them on various different surfaces and the scrubbing seems to do more than the chemicals.

[whitt]

I am with Drelly on this.
Last week tried many things and the best , quickest , cheapest and most effective was the long handle screwdriver.
A bit of gentle scraping and only a few minutes later they were clean.

[Kay]

Loos Clues

Hi there, we have used the long-handled screwdriver method, which was very effective, but then had to remove all the calcium deposit lying in the bottom - it is very heavy and
won't flush away.

The denture cleaner is great for antique porcelain china and collectables - brings them up like new, but I haven't tried it on toilets - it's pretty expensive.

If all else fails, there are toilets being advertised for about $120 at the moment. The trick is to buy one exactly (or nearly) like the one you are replacing, then you should have no problem.

All the best,
Kay

[ream]

We've done it with rubber gloves & sandpaper - safer than a screwdriver! Tried coca-cola but it didn't work, think it's an urban myth that one.

[ActionMan]

Cleaning suppliers sell 3M Scotch Brite (something like sandpaper).

Use dilute sulphuric acid (sold at Cleaning suppliers).

Spray over the area, leave for 5 - 10 minutes then rub off with scotch brite.

Elbow grease will be needed.

Use gloves to protect from dilute acid and infectious diseases.

Whereabouts are you Mojo?

[optocarol]

A friend of mine says Wet & Forget type stuff does it, haven't tried it myself.