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Home and Garden > Cleaning > Bathroom on July 10, 2006

Yellow Stains on an Old Porcelain Tub

One of our bathrooms has the original bathtub, it's 40+ years old. A drab yellowish stain covers much of the interior sides, especially towards the front of the tub. It has also lost any shine on the porcelain, too. I do not want to resurface the tub as I have been told this really doesn't hold up for a tub with daily, constant usage. What could I use to remove these stains? Thanks for any ideas!

Mam from Atlanta, GA

Answers: Yellow Stains on an Old Porcelain Tub

Read answers for this question below.
10/21/2012

After reading about using hydrogen peroxide oral rinse, which I did not have. I tried some Colgate baking soda and hydrogen peroxide toothpaste. It worked! I just put the paste on and let it sit for about half an hour and then came and rinsed it off.

By
07/31/2009

I used bleach to clean my bath tub and it left yellow brownish stains just like your picture. Scrubbed and scrubbed with every product and even more bleach. Nothing worked until I tried Hydrogen Peroxide-oral rinse! I couldn't believe my eyes! All I did was put a little Hydrogen Peroxide on a wash cloth and with one wipe all the stains disappeared. No scrubbing at all.

By
05/08/2009

This is the after picture after one soaking, No scubing at all! The product Iron out can be obtained at most any Home supplie store like Lowes or home depot. Or most any Hardware store would probley order it for you. good luck.

RE: Yellow Stains on an Old Porcelain Tub

By
04/28/2009

Try soaking the tub over night with a product called "Iron Out" this worked great on a terrible rusty yellow stain left on a tub by our last tenets. Nothing else even budged it. This is a before picture.

RE: Yellow Stains on an Old Porcelain Tub

By (Guest Post) 11/28/2008

Try Zud cleaner, it is like Comet but works better. It is awesome and takes rust stains out.

By
07/22/2006

If you have a water condition called "iron bacteria" it will react with liquid clorine bleach (clorox) and will stain clothes and fixtures a nice peach to orange color! What I would try is Sno Bol toilet bowl cleaner. Squirt a small amount on the stained area and scrub it around with the toilet brush. If it appears to remove the stain you can gradually work on the whole area. Remember this is a strong chemical. Don't get it on your skin or splatter in your eyes or breathe the fumes! Rinse well with lots of water. It can be hard on the metal drain components and gaskets if allowed to be in contact very long, so rinse it away quickly! An even stronger chemical that may work is muratic acid. That is what I used.....and it worked.......but be warned that this is a very strong chemical and you should not be careless with it or breathe the fumes!!!!

By Paula Jo Carr (Guest Post) 07/16/2006

I fill my sink/tub up with warm to hot water pour in a small bottle of clorox, stir from side to side and front to back to mix. Close the door (so pets & children will not get in it) go to work, bed or out for the day. When you come home after a near 8 hours you will have a white tub again, I promise!

By Carol in PA (Guest Post) 07/14/2006

After you get your tub cleaned you can put auto paste wax on the sides to make them shine. I wouldnt do the bottom as someone could fall.

Also, try cleaning your tub with window cleaner like Windex to remove soap scum and make shine.

By (Guest Post) 07/14/2006

Our tub is like this also and I have tried everything....and nothing helps. It'e embetted in the tub itself. I just try to spray it down with Clorox clean-up or bleach water and rinse often and it does lighten it a little. At least it smells clean!

By chas (Guest Post) 07/11/2006

have you tried the mr. clean magic eraser? With it and a lot of elbow greese it might work. I have used it to remove old stains from a porcelain sink used outside in a waterfall. There is another product you might try it's called The Works..it's a very strong cleaner but I don't know if it will work for this but it's worth a try. Hope this helps.

Questions

Here are questions related to Yellow Stains on an Old Porcelain Tub.

Removing Stains from a Porcelain Bathtub

I have tried Tilex and Clorox. The Tilex made it worse. Any suggestion what else I can try?
The Clorox did take a little off, but I put the Tilex on after and it got worse. It is a yellowish brown. Any suggestions?

By James

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Most Recent Answer

By bunneemail 08/16/2012

This stain was made by rust. Bleach will set the rust stain in, making it almost impossible to remove it. Thanks to those who suggested Barkeeper's Friend, I'll have to give that one a try. I've use Mr. Clean Magic erasers on other stains, don't know if it will work on the rust.

Bleach Left Yellow Stain in Tub

I am moving into a new apartment. The cleaning crew came in and could not take off these black marks. So I put bleach with water into the tub and I let it sit for 2 days and now I have a yellow ring around the tub and the black marks are still there. Please help. I think this tub is over 60 years old.

By Stephanie C

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Most Recent Answer

By skf620 01/27/2012

Straight peroxide should remove the yellow stain...

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