Grunge Develops Out of the Main Toilet Jet

[jim evans]

I keep having to clean the area in front of the main jet in one of my toilets. There's no problem with the rest of the bowl but almost immediately after cleaning a grunge begins to grow starting at the main jet and moving out from it almost like a liquid slowing draining out.

Picture

It may take a couple of weeks to grow from the jet to the discharge area. This time I've let it go for about 3-4 weeks.

Every time I clean it I pour bleach into the bowl and let it sit for

10-15 minutes, but it doesn't prevent this.

Before the unclever cracks begin this is not crap, it's some kind of fungus or algae, etc.

-- jim

[jim evans]

Oh yes. The question is, what causes this?

-- jim

[Art]

Have you checked inside the toilet tank to see what is going on in there? If this is a regular toilet, not a powerflush mechanism, you could throw in an in tank toilet clearner and see if that kills whats growing in there.

[BobK207]

I'd agree with Art, checkout the condition inside the tank.

Just a WAG but looks like rust....... does the bleach get rid of it or do you have to scrub it? DO you have galv pipes or high iron content in the water?

Maybe you have a very slow leak at the flapper / pig nose that lets stuff slow flow over this area?

I'd clean out the tank with bleach, then CLR then bleach....rinsing well between chemicals.

I have toilet (really old) that occasioanly grows some black agae? in the crazing of the glaze in the water spot. A splash of bleach left for a few minutes gets rid of it for weeks but it comes back once in awhile???

Cheers Bob

[jim evans]

The tank looks pretty clean. Not spotless but not covered with this grunge either. I'm afraid to put bleach in the tank for fear it will harm the rubber goods and even maybe the plastic parts.

This only happen in this one toilet. It doesn't happen in the other toilet. It's not rust. I guess I don't know if the bleach gets rid of it because I clean it off with a toilet brush and then add the bleach to kill the spores. I have copper piping.

The tank does not cycle. Food coloring put in the tank does not migrate to the bowl.

-- jim

[hallerb]

Perhaps its not flushing well.......

Check the bowl rim holes for deposits...

if they clog the flush isnt as good and may leave stuff to grow on......

you can drain the bowl then put acid down the overflow. this will clean the interior toliet passages.

[Larry Jaques]

On Wed, 20 Sep 2006 11:02:48 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, jim evans quickly quoth:

It looks as if you didn't quite get the bowl clean, Jim. Mineral buildups are hard to fully remove.

Once you have it clean and dry like that again, pour about half a cup of pool muriatic acid in the toilet and swish it around. This will take all the lime and other buildup off it. (A friend showed that one to me for an ancient toilet) Rinse with water and feel the bottom of the bowl. Is there any roughness at all there? If so, the toilet has lost (or never had) a good ceramic coating on it. Replace the toilet.

If it's smooth as a baby's butt, you finally got it clean and it shouldn't do this to you again.

Bleach will take the color out but it won't remove physical scale.

P.S: If you're on a septic, neutralize the muriatic acid with some baking soda, then flush. Muriatic acid is $3 at a pool supply store.

[Stubby]

It looks like algae to me. Algae is easy to remove with a brush, so the question is why does it return so quickly. I can't answer this question.

Stay away from acids and bleach. They might remove the stain but you will have to keep applying it and it will ruin your bowl.

If it turns out to be mineral stains (usually permanganates), a cleaner containing oxalic acid (Stainless Steel Cleaner, Bartenders Friend) might help. Again this attacks the symptom without affecting the root cause.

Look into some sort of filter to remove the algae. At least chat with a plumber.

jim evans wrote: