How to prevent toilet bowl stains?

[John Smith]

Hi All,

I'm going to be out of my home for the next

2-3 mo. and would like to know what I can do to prevent toilet bowl stains.

The area I live in has hard water and due to the desert terrain, the water in the bowl evaporates quite a bit. This leaves behind rings of calcium intermixed with the blue from the 1000 flushes. I went on vacation last year (2wks) and came back to find multiple rings that were very difficult to remove.

I have also noticed (blue) stains from the jets where the water enters the bowl. At one point, I found that the flush was fault (leaking a little bit of water intermittantly). However, now I'm stuck with those.

I would appreciate any advice to avoid and fix the two problems mentioned above.

Thanks,

John

[Dawn]

Whenever I go away I turn off the water at the mains and open all taps and flush all toilets. I soak up any remaining water in the bend of the toilet with a sponge then wash all surfaces, sinks and toilets with dilute disinfectant and dry off with an old rag.

[Tom Miller]

The problem with doing this is that it can allow sewer gases to back up into the house while you are away.

[Phisherman]

[Lloyd Randall]

Do you leave the lid closed? That slows evaporation.

If water evaporated for two weeks, I don't know how that would leave multiple rings. I think the deposits were already there, and as the water evaporated, they absorbed blue dye.

AFAIK, vinegar won't damage a toilet bowl. Before leaving, I might add a little vinegar, then pour in a little water to raise the level above normal, then leave the lid closed.

[Dawn]

I don't have that problem with my plumbing but I can appreciate some may do, so thank you Tom for pointing out about the gases. Maybe the u bend can be plugged to stop any gas coming in.

[John Smith]

Thanks! I'll give this a try.

John

[John Smith]

Actually, I have tried with the lib closed but did not notice any discernable difference.

Well, I don't know if the rings were there but that may be true given that some of them seem to be thicker than others.

I have never tried vinegar - I will give it a test run.

Thanks,

John

[Lloyd Randall]

Once guests left the lid up in my second bathroom. I discovered it a couple of months later when two rooms filled with sewer gas because the water had evaporated.

I was thinking of letting the vinegar dissolve existing deposits. Now I got interested and looked it up.

A pumice stick is fast. Bowl cleaners with hydrochloric acid remove rings fastest. Those with phosphoric acid are slower and less likely to do harm. Citric acid is slower. Vinegar is slow but can periodically be left in overnight.

When you go away, you leave just one bowl of water. I doubt one bowl has enough minerals to matter.