Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

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. I've tried lime cleaner but that doesn't work. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Fran from Racine, WI

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RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

I'll third the pumice stone, it works like a charm. Oxy clean, I believe, is simply a mix of hydrogen peroxide and any old cleaner. You can buy HP for about a dollar at Walgreens.

Editor's Note: Oxyclean is made from sodium percarbonate. Although hydrogen peroxide will work for many stains, it is different.

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

The Mr. Clean Eraser works for me after trying every chemical known! You have to use it each week when you clean the toilet, but it gets the rust off! The Mr. Clean Eraser is the best invention. Don't ask me why it works on nearly everything, without harmful chemicals, but it does. You can also now buy Safeway brand Erasers, just like Mr. Clean, but cheaper. Good luck!

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

We have hard water and use the toilet brush to "plunge" quickly for a few minutes to lower or even remove the water in the toilet (a trick from a custodian friend). We use Lime Away, the thick, green, stinky stuff. Pour it around the exposed ring and let set a while and brush. This works great on bathtubs too. But ONLY if they are porcelain. It will eat anything else. Occasionally we plunge the water out of the toilet and rub with a pumice stone. They are available in many markets. A lot of people in Home Depot type stores don't know what pumice is so ask for "one of those scrubbing stones or bars".

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

"The Works" is the best cleaner I have found for my toilet and not very expensive, I bought my at Wal-Mart

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

I use a pumice stone and rub the stain out. It is gentle, but make sure your toilet is porcelain and not plastic. I find them at my local dollar stores.

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

I have to ditto the poster who suggested Oxiclean. Our 5 yr old home had badly stained Kohler toilets. Just down in the deep part. We tried all kinds of things and then my husband just threw some Oxiclean powder in, let it sit about an hour and then used a brush. It worked great! (12/31/2005)

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

A good cup of vinegar before bed every night will do it. The ring isn't dirt, it's from the hard water. (01/01/2006)

By Juanita

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

Chlorine, used for swimming pools. Let it sit overnight, flush and clean as usual. (03/07/2006)

By Willem

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

you can go to www.centurysupply.com type in pumice and there you go or you can also go to www.grainger.com and type in plumbers pumice and its there as well. I've used it, it's great stuff

By Melissa

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

I am actually a Zep Manufacturing Rep so I might have a little more insight on how to get the rust off. If it is indeed rust, products like Oxyclean etc will not get them off. You need an acid- acids are what will eat up rust. Most toilet bowl cleaners you will buy in stores are very weak in terms of acid. Even the Zep products sold at Home depot are not that strong. The products Zep Reps sell (generally only to businesses) have high levels of acid depending on the product used. If you are able to let your product sit in the toilet overnight, then it is cheap crap. A decent product would harm the toilet. jzoelln AT hotmail.com for questions (08/18/2006)

By Joe

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

The rings could be either stain or mineral deposits or combination of both. Stains are usually easier to clean since they are thin. Mineral deposits however are much harder to clean and the older and thicker they are the harder it would be to clean. Mineral deposits can be removed either chemically using acids or mechanically using pumice. Bleach and baking soda are both non-acidic, they are basic and will not remove the mineral deposits. (As an experiment you can try to put egg shells which are minerals, in vinegar which is acidic and see what happens to it after a day). Anyone who has found good results using bleach or baking soda or any other base chemical products most likely removed stains and not mineral deposits of any significant degree. So the reason everyone reports different results is mainly because of the degree of the mineral deposit or stain. (08/22/2006)

By ToiletScience

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

Due to hard water, we get toilet bowl stains that are hard to remove. The cure-all for me is to remove the back reservoir lid and place a funnel into the over flow pipe then pour muriatic acid down the pipe. This cleans the flushing vents around the rim and then flows down the side of the bowl. About 6 ounces does the job. After a couple minutes, the bowl is brushed clean. Warning: this is truly an acid and proper ventilation is needed and be careful not to splash any on your carpet or clothes! (11/25/2006)

By

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

I empty out the water and use Lime-away and a razor blade. This sounds really funny but you can use a razor blade to scrape the ring and it works! It scrapes them right off if they are hard water stains. Again only on porcelain though. (12/05/2006)

By traci

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

The pumice stone and good old fashioned elbow grease will remove the stains. THE TRICK is to not allow the stains to return -- and you do that by swishing the bowl every day or two. You do not need to use cleaner, just leave the bowl brush right next to the toilet and every day or two give it a swish (in clean water of course) and flush. The stain will not have a chance to build up and come back. (01/18/2007)

By Kris

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

In my cleaning business I use pumice stone. (01/18/2007)

By #1Karen

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

Regarding the ring in the toilet bowl, I tried using most of the methods and products recommended, above, but none would get rid of the ring. What finally did do the job was a product called "Zud". It is a heavy duty cleanser and it did a great job. I have used this product before for difficult stains and thought I would try it in the toilet bowl. I rubbed the ring using a damp cloth with "Zud" on it. It worked beautifully. It is nice to know I finally can get the toilet bowl really clean. Note: I had already let Lime Away sit in the bowl for a couple of hours, but the ring still remained. That was when I decided to try "Zud" as a last resort. It could be the combination of the two, but I suspect it was the "Zud". Good luck!! (04/14/2007)

By Patricia

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

On the Rachael Ray TV show they said to pour old soda pop (like a can that's been sitting in your garage for too long) onto the bowl, let it set at least 2 hours, then scrub with a brush and flush. The acid in the old soda helps to eat away at the buildup. Well, it can't hurt to try and you weren't going to drink it anyway. (04/15/2007)

By cookwie

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

There are some good recommendations here. I only ask that everyone use a little common sense. Consider what you are putting down the drain. In some cases acids are being prescribed as the only effective method to remove stain. Sure the waste water is treated in most cases but, the acid remains and makes its way back into the environment. It might be back in your drinking water some day. Or maybe your kids drinking water. Saying acid is the only effective method to remove stain is like saying a nuclear bomb is the only way to effectively end the war in Iraq. Both will work very well but, consider the consequences. I have found that a little good old fashion elbow grease works. Pumice stones and the razor blade techniques works without harm to the environment. (06/05/2007)

By Steve

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

Bar Keepers Helper in the Powder not the liquid. It's very cheap. Best thing for well water rust stains I found so far. Lime Away and all like products have been no use to me. (07/08/2007)

By cleanfreak1

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

I tried every product I could think of for a hard water scale in my toilet and scrubbed forever. Finally I drained it to about half a cup, poured in some CLR in the grey bottle and let it sit for a few hours. Finally--stain gone. (07/08/2007)

By Sheraone

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Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

I have a black ring around my toilet. Any suggestions to get rid of it. Bleach does not seem to work. I have even tried the blue tablets and other toilet bowl cleaners.

Rose Smith from Malvern, PA

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RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

Pour two cups of Spirit of Salts into the toilet, close the lid and let it sit for two hours. Flush and clean as usual. Repeat if necessary. Be sure to ventilate very well, SoS is very corrosive. I have said this a million times and will keep on saying so, because I know from experience this WILL work!

Spirit of Salts is known as hydrochloric acid in the states. (07/30/2007)

By gurth

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

If all else fails, try this. Turn off the incoming water to your toilet. Flush toilet until all water is removed. Manually, fill toilet bowl with about 1 gallon of white vinegar. Vinegar must cover the stain line. If necessary, add enough water to raise the level of vinegar/water solution above the stain. Allow the vinegar to remain in the toilet for 24-hours. Now, use your toilet brush to scrub the stain. This will work on severe lime buildup, hopefully, it will work for you. (07/31/2007)

By CJ

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

I found a wonderful product last week, we had awful rust stains in the bowl and black ugly stuff in the tank. I purchased this product called "The Works" it came in a green bottle. I got it at Wal-mart for about $5.00. I then found it at Dollar General for $1.00, the same stuff. Empty the tank, squirt it on the sides of the tank/bowl, let sit for a few minutes, but don't inhale the fumes!, scrub with a brush, turn the water back on and flush 3-4 times. I bought 5 bottles at the Dollar General this week! (07/31/2007)

By booklady2228

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

If it's a porcelain toilet, go and buy the cheapest denture cleanser tablets you can find. Add 5-6 to your toilet, and let sit over-night. It might be a bit unconventional, but it does work. It will also kill 99% of the germs in your toilet. (07/31/2007)

By Cheri

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

Simple, TRR. You can find it at Lowe's or Home Depot. It'll work like magic! (08/19/2007)

By Ryan

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

Pumice (and some elbow grease) works well, and you should be able to find pumice stone in any good hardware store; you can even find it in some drugstores. The chemicals recommended on this website probably all work in one way or another, but just randomly throwing harsh chemicals into your toilet is kind of ridiculous. Where do you think all that poison is going when you flush it? It's a high price to pay to remove a few stains. (09/12/2007)

By Sandra

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

I tried almost every recommendation made on this site. The ONLY product that removed built up water stains from our ceramic toilets is pumice. I found a bar at True Value Hardware. Turn off the water supply, then flush the toilet. It will some serious scraping, but that's just the pumice sloughing off. After 5 years of looking at nasty rings and stains, they're gone! (12/03/2007)

By John

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

I've had hard water/mineral deposit build up for years, just waiting to find the right solution, I guess. Today, I found it. The pumice stone idea has worked effectively! I have tried some chemicals to no avail, and hate spending money on things that don't work (I tried the Magic Eraser which did not work.).

I was reading ideas at this site, and remembered I had a pumice stone I use only infrequently on heel callouses and had picked up at Bed Bath and Beyond some time ago. Decided to give it up to the "cause" this morning, and yep it was worth it. Rings are gone in two toilets with 20 minutes work! You've got to drain the toilet, but that's almost the hardest part! Give it a try! (04/05/2008)

By Cathy, Arizona

RE: Preventing and Cleaning Toilet Rings

Someone mentioned that Mr. Clean erasers are totally safe which they might be on any surface other than your skin. A child was helping mom clean with one then noticed something on himself and cleaned it with the eraser. He ended up with horrible chemical burns all over his body. Please be cautious around children. It's not to be used on skin. (05/09/2008)

By Michelle.

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Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

How can I get the ring out of my toilets. I cannot use bleach because I have a septic tank.

My water leaves a ring if we don't use the toilet for a few days (in the bathrooms we don't use as often).

By Sandra

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RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

Go to http://www.vermontcountrystore.com and search on toilet ring eraser. It is a pumice-like ring eraser that will polish your porcelain toilet and get rid of even the most stubborn hard water stains. All you do is wet the stone and rub the ring to remove stains. It will not scratch your porcelain toilet bowl. (03/11/2005)

By Marn

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

Most stores carry "THE WORKS" for toilet bowls. This is great stuff. We have a septic, too, and I use this all the time and have had NO problems with septic. Even our septic man uses The Works. (03/11/2005)

By Beth

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

Use Limeaway Toilet bowl cleaner. Hope this helps! (03/11/2005)

By Linda

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

Try a pumice stick. I got mine at Wal-mart for under $2.00 where the toilet cleaning products are located. It removes the most stubborn of stains. Tori (03/11/2005)

By truerblue

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

We, too, have a toilet we don't use daily. I've found that if I flush this toilet once a day. I don't get the build up. (03/12/2005)

By badwater

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

Have you tried "Coca Cola"? Empty one liter, let it stand for a while, and brush as usual. I have also used Tang, let it stand for a good while and brush! (03/12/2005)

By Ana from Miami

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

I don't know how bad your ring is but I use plain old baking soda and a non scratch scrubby. That is for my toilet in our cottage, which we only get there every other month or so. (03/19/2005)

By toni k.

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

Less than a gallon of bleach a month is okay in septic tanks. (07/05/2005)

By Plumber

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

Wow, thanks for the pumice stone tip, worked awesome! (06/26/2006)

By Dave

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

Pour in two cups of Spirit of Salts, close the toilet and let sit for two hours, then flush. Make sure you ventilate VERY WELL, it will take your breath away, literally! Your hardware store will sell Spirit of Salts. It will also remove grease from your driveway. (06/30/2006)

By Willem

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

Spirit of Salts is not the same as epsom salts, it is a DANGEROUS CORROSIVE FLUID containing hydrochloric acid. One is advised to wear protective clothing (I didn't, but rather do as they say and not as I do), and ventilate very well. Even the fumes are toxic and highly dangerous. (07/03/2006)

By Willem

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

I use plastic screen pieces and they take off most rings. If they are really bad, use with baking soda. The plastic doesn't scratch the toilet bowl. (10/12/2006)

By sharon

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

Plain old baking soda & a scrubber usually do it for me. ;] (02/14/2007)

By Emma

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

I tried almost everything on the market, but I couldn't get rid of those ugly rings. I heard pumice stone works well, and I gave it a try. Oh boy, awesome! And it was so easy. (03/23/2007)

By Ileen

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

My sister told me about shaws pads. We bought them on the internet. They worked great & still do. (08/06/2007)

By Ed

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

Can't go wrong with shaws pads (shawspads.com) What else do you need? (03/25/2008)

By Jackie

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

I used a pumice stone to remove the ring in the toilet and it worked wonderfully. (07/19/2008)

By Sandy

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Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

How can a ring in the toilet bowl be removed? I believe it is a lime or maybe calcium ring. I have tried CLR, Clorox, and Ajax at different times. Nothing seems to work.

Sandra from San Antonio, TX

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RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

Home Depot has something called Zep, its the only thing that works for me. (10/01/2008)

By Lisa

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

A pumice stone works well, but just before you go to bed at night, put white vinegar in the bowl. Hopefully it can sit all night if you have more than one toilet. Ask family to use the other if you have 2. If not just hope that it can sit as long as possible. In the morning brush and flush and it should be a lot better. I've also had good luck with Kaboom for toilets. (10/01/2008)

By Kathie

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

Buy any toilet cleaning product containing limescale remover. (10/01/2008)

By cazpumpkin

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

Try a product called "Bathroom Cleaner Plus" it is from Amway, it has a big blue plus sign on the bottle. It will clean anything, lime, rust, hard water.

Turn the water off to the toilet, the tap behind the toilet usually on the wall, and then flush the toilet. There will be little or no water left in the bowl. Spray some cleaner on the ring or if it is really bad, spray on an old cloth and let it sit on the ring for approximately 5 minutes. It will come off. (10/01/2008)

By PICO

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

Try a denture tablet thrown in the bowl and allowed to set 5 minutes, and then brushed and flushed. It works wonders. (10/01/2008)

By Deb816

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

I use "THE WORKS". It's a dollar at Dollar Tree and if you get it at Walmarts, it's 2 dollars, but you get twice as much. This stuff is wonderful. (10/02/2008)

By Jean in GA

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

To get the ring out of our toilets, I used the plunger to get the water down real low then sprinkled Comet in the bowl and scrubbed the ring with a piece of fine sand paper. It didn't take long to get the ring off and the toilet looks good as new. (10/02/2008)

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

Get a pumice stone at the grocery store. It is by the Comet, Ajax area and comes in a box. I had the same problem and it worked great. Plus I can use it on many other items as well. (10/08/2008)

By rainy21

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

Mine was really stained so I got Clorox and poured in the bowl and let it sit over night. I did this several nights/days and it took all stains out. Like I said, they were really bad. Sometimes while cleaning the house I'll pour Clorox in the bowl and swish it around a little and then go about my other household chores. Works great. (10/12/2008)

By cmbca5m

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

I have had great results using a emery board. Be sure to wet it first. (10/29/2008)

By ajpinwa

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

Thank you all for posting the pumice stone solution. I am stoked to have a natural solution to this annoying problem. Thanks also for solutions like vinegar overnight and baking soda (those 2 are so useful!)

Something that really disturbs me are the posts from people saying they used things like bleach (Chlorox), Spirit of the Salts (highly toxic) and any other "cleaners" that contain toxic chemicals. Please don't pour this stuff in your toilet. At some point it does enter our water supply. Why would you want to poison the water supply? Please look for "green" cleaning products that do not contain toxic chemicals (most grocery store bought cleaners are toxic) or try down home natural solutions. Thank you. Your children and grandchildren will thank you, too. (01/21/2009)

By surfergirl

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

I bought a pumice-type stone called "BathStone" by Earthstone. I also bought Whink rust remover. Both of these were purchased at Wal-Mart. They worked tremendously well. Possibly one would work without the other. But for the first time in years, my toilet really looks clean. (08/22/2009)

By susanelaine

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Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

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.

By Linda from Dayton, OH

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RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

I used a scouring pad and Bon Ami, which did a decent job of removing the water ring in my toilet, but still had a light brown ring. I followed Kathy's suggestion and got a pumice stone. It's called "pumie stick". I gently rubbed it on the area and poof it was gone. I found it in Lowe's and it was less than 3 dollars. (01/04/2010)

By edNY

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

I was going to suggest a pumice stone, too. It seems like it would scratch the bowl, but apparently the bowl is harder than the stone. I had a ring develop in one of our toilets, and no amount of regular scrubbing removed it. But with a pumice stone, the ring was gone in no time at all. Without chemicals! I found out about it watching that BBC show. I believe it's called "How Clean is Your House?" (01/04/2010)

By mrs.story

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

I removed the ring from our toilets by scrubbing it lightly with black fine grain sand paper and Comet. Now and then, I put an Efferdent denture tablet in the toilet and let it soak. (01/05/2010)

By Hate Litter

RE: Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

Be sure to pour a bucket of water in the toilet, to lower the water level, before scrubbing, too. Then, when you're done, flush! My d/h taught me this trick years ago and now my boys do it too. We've used Comet and a scrubber and the cleanser can stick to the sides with the water out of the way. (01/09/2010)

By mom of towers

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Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

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.

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Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

What causes a red ring in the toilet and how do you get it out?

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Cleaning Ring Out of Toilet

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.