RUST PROBLEM

[.-.MINDY.-.]

Thanks for all the help I have received from you all in the past... but I now have another situation. In one of my bathrooms I have a plastic type toilet bowl. It is porcelain on the outer part... but the inner part of the bowl that the water touches is a plastic. I had been gone & I noticed that rust has formed through out where the water is. It is hardened & not where I can just easily wipe or use a toilet brush to remove it. When I use a toilet brush it has the effect of getting the water brown & so I know I am getting something off... but this can take ages. Is there anything I can use that is not caustic or harmful? I was thinking of using the product called Soft Scrub. Would that be okay to try??? Thanks! ..Mindy

[Frank]

We use "Iron Out" in toilets but also in dishwasher and clothes washer where there are plastics.

Frank

[trader4]

Go to any hardware or home center store. In the plumbing section they have rust stain remover products. They work so fast, I was amazed. When I did it, I just poured some on and in a few secs the stain was gone.

[cshenk]

".-.MINDY.-." wrote

I think I know the contruction you mean. It's polyurythane I think but yes, a sort of heavy 'plastic'. I lived in a trailer for several years as a college student and had one of those. RV's have them too I think.

Sure! There's other things but that would be my first choice as it cant hurt anything. If you follow the other folks suggestion as the hardware store, be sure to check the label carefully for it's use with your 'plastic' type. Some of them can be damaging if not the right product, especially if used frequently. To get at hard to reach areas, consider a baby bottle brush . Cheap but effective for where a regular toilet bowl brush cant reach. Not very strong, but you shouldnt need much.

[Robert Allison]

CLR or a generic equivalent. CLR stands for Calcium, Lime, Rust. Very good product.

[Boden]

The problem is that rust (iron oxide) is not soluble in water. Trying to remove it with bleach and a number of other products will likely exacerbate the problem.

Go to a good hardware store, or paint store and look for wood bleach. Make sure that it is oxalic acid, not some other composition. Pour a cup of this in and let it dissolve and wait several hours, or a day. You may need to repeat the process to get all of the rust out.

Oxalic acid, a white powder, when dissolved reacts with he rust (iron oxide) and creates iron oxalate. Iron oxalate is one of the few iron compounds that is water soluble.

Note, although present in green leafy vegetables, oxalates are poisonous so don't eat it.

Boden