Iron accumulation (I think) in a toilet bowl

[Curt Harms]

I have a toilet bowl that was connected to hard water for a while if I recall correctly. There is an accumulation of hard rust colored coating which does not want to come off. The bed rock around here is red so I assume iron bearing. I checked with the local ACE hardware and they recommended trying a pumice stone stick affair. I have one of those, it didn't touch the deposit. Would something like muriatic acid help? Any suggestions welcome. I don't really want to have to replace the toilet.

[Mel Fulks]

Try BAR KEEPER’S FRIEND, PAUL HARVEY told me about it ,” Good Day”. It will not scratch, it’s some kind of powdered soft rock. Some
of the products that say they “don’t scratch toilets” , do scratch . I would not try muriatic acid. Comet used to be all over TV with the
doesn’t scratch claim , but it does scratch.

[Stephen Tashiro]

I have a toilet bowl that was connected to hard water for a while

What does the inside ot the toilet tank look like? Cleaning the bowl alone may not be sufficient.

[Jeff Clode]

Similar problem with rust stains in a plastic type “slop sink” in my garage - excellent results with a product called “Rust Out”…a powder used to remove iron accumulation from water softener resin beds. I used a fairly small amount ( didn’t measure but possibly 2 tbsp?) of the powder in an inch of water in the bottom of the sink - let it soak there couple hours and bingo.
jeff

[Bill Howatt]

Try CLR (Calcium Lime Rust) remover. Safe for porcelain and septic systems.

[Jim Becker]

Curt, we have similar here at our new place near DelVal...CLR that Bill mentioned worked reasonably well to clean things up after we moved in. This was an issue in the two older toilets upstairs as they date back to when the house was built.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

+1 on both Rust Out/Iron Out products and Bar Keeper's Friend. Our well water is quite quite atrocious to say the least. I buy a steady supply of both Bar Keeper's Friend (found cheapest at W---- stores) and Iron Out in both powder and spray form whenever I can find it at local grocery & hardware stores because the prices are much higher on Amazon. I have also combined both Bon Ami and Bar Keepers Friend to do some deep scrubbing. Avoid pumice stones if you can. While they will clean it, use them as a last resort or you can scratch up the toilet bowl in the process. While a lot of people swear by CLR, I have never had much luck with the product. Last week I bought that Pink Stuff in both toilet cleaner and paste. It's supposed to be a "miracle" product but Bar Keeper's Friend does a better job. It's very similar to Quick N Brite

[Bruce Wrenn]

Unless you treat your water to remove iron, scrubbing the toilet bowl is a waste of time. Stain is coming right back.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Muriatic acid will ruin the glossy surface of porcelain in a jiffy. We are starting to have similar problems even though our water is very soft. The water plant has had to up the treatment process and uses ammonia in conjunction with chlorine which leads to de-zincification and copper erosion in the pipes. This shows up as red stains and residue in plumbing fixtures as well as pipe and fitting failures.

[John Ziebron]

I've used many of these products over the years and the best one by far is Whink Rust Stain Remover. It's a liquid that doesn't even require any scrubbing, the rust literally washes away.

[Curt Harms]

Unless you treat your water to remove iron, scrubbing the toilet bowl is a waste of time. Stain is coming right back.

It has softened water in it now. Better late than never I guess? I'll have to look in the tank, never considered that.

[George Yetka]

Soft scrub/CLR/Pumice stone will work a couple times but all will eventually remove the glaze and the fixure/sink/cooktop will stain easily and be very hard to clean.

A good softener does the trick

I live right off Iron Ore rd. So I have off the chart iron in the water. I run a 2 tank(lead/lag) softener and an activated charcoal filter with hydrogen peroxide backwash. My water at the tap is perfect.

[Curt Harms]

What does the inside ot the toilet tank look like? Cleaning the bowl alone may not be sufficient.

I took the lid off and there's a little what looks like rust powder on the bottom but nothing significant. I seem to recall doing the pumice stone thing years ago. I wonder if doing so removed the smooth finish and left a rough surface for rust to stick to. I'll try the suggestions above and if they don't work new toilets aren't outrageously expensive. This is from the mid '90s when low water use toilets were new. I wonder if new toilets would be better.

[Jim Becker]

If it's a mid-90s toilet, it's probably VERY similar to the two in the upstairs of our home. Maybe even the same. Ours did clean up which is good because the one in the guest bath has to stay...the previous owners put the darn new floor "around" the toilet rather than pulling it. The one in the primary bath is going to go bye-bye at some point when I get to that minor refresh project.

[Bill Howatt]

Better for what?
FWIW:
I have been told the original 2-flush toilets were just the regular toilets with not much difference apart from the flush water "volume used" ability added. The later ones were designed for much better flushing performance using less water.

[Brian Elfert]

I have a toilet that was installed several weeks before my new water softener. The house was vacant so the water just sat in the toilet for a few weeks until I moved in. My water is so bad without a softener that the toilet is permanently stained. I have tried just about everything to get the stain out. I have used a scrubbing block for toilets, but it just lightens the stain a bit. I think a new toilet is the only answer.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

I took the lid off and there's a little what looks like rust powder on the bottom but nothing significant. I seem to recall doing the pumice stone thing years ago. I wonder if doing so removed the smooth finish and left a rough surface for rust to stick to. I'll try the suggestions above and if they don't work new toilets aren't outrageously expensive. This is from the mid '90s when low water use toilets were new. I wonder if new toilets would be better.

You may simply need to replace the hardware in the tank. If that is heavily corroded, it will be adding to the stains. When we moved into this house 8 years ago, everything water-related was heavily stained, as well as white chunks of minerals building up. We promptly replaced the useless Culligan softener and installed better filtration. Last year we thought our filtration was starting to fail because the toilet bowls were staining. We looked in the toilet tanks and saw how incredibly corroded the original hardware was. Once we installed new parts, the toilets were once-again clean.

[Ken Combs]

I would try vinegar. Plain white kind. Mild acid that will disolve rust and many mineral deposits and not nearly as destructive to finishes as other acids. And a gallon is cheap. Just pour it in and let it set overnight. I do the same to shower heads that get partially plugged. Fill a plastic bag with vinegar and tie over the head overnight. Always clears it up.

[John Stankus]

If it is iron in the bowl, you may want to try a chelating agent (key-lating) like in Evap-o-Rust and see if it sequesters the iron.

John

[Alan Lightstone]

I get this strange black ring in my toilet bowls. This despite a water softener. My neighbors get it too. Easy brushes off, but annoying and unsightly. I had read somewhere that it's a bacterium, but really not sure that's true.

[Mel Fulks]

Could be Victorian names for rooms. Fronterium , Backterium , front hall, back hall, small dining room , main dining room , servants
room. They liked Latin. Try putting in some bleach , doesn’t take much. Stir with toilet brush….

[Jim Becker]

There is indeed different kinds of bacteria in water supplies...they are not unsafe for people and pets but can be frustrating. In this area, we often get a "bloom" of a bacteria that gives off hydrogen sulfide in the spring. Our well actually has an injector that sends a dilute solution of chlorine bleach into the well which helps to control this "iron eating" bacteria and the chlorine is then filtered out by a charcoal filter when water is drawn from the well before it hits the softener. This bacteria is brown. It likes warm water so it can be an issue for water heaters. We had that initially when we moved in because the previous owners had not kept up with the chlorine solution. This year...so far...we've been lucky to not get the smell.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

I get this strange black ring in my toilet bowls. This despite a water softener. My neighbors get it too. Easy brushes off, but annoying and unsightly. I had read somewhere that it's a bacterium, but really not sure that's true.

It is most-likely Manganese.

[Alan Lightstone]

It is most-likely Manganese.
Interesting. Never heard of that, but it appears unlikely in my part of the country:
501666

[Stan Calow]

Alan Manganese (Mn) and Magnesium (Mg) are two different elements. Ask your public water supply for their annual test report. In some places potassium permanganate is one of the water treatment chemicals used. But shouldn't be part of this problem.

[Alan Lightstone]

Alan Manganese (Mn) and Magnesium (Mg) are two different elements. Ask your public water supply for their annual test report. In some places potassium permanganate is one of the water treatment chemicals used. But shouldn't be part of this problem.
Whoops. Google led me astray there.

My local utility measured only 0.002 ppm of Manganese in water here. Certainly no expert, but I think that low a level is probably not the cause of the black rings.