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.