I north London here the water is quite hard (i.e. a lot of chalk in it), so we easily get limescale build up in the bend of the wc bowl.
Using Harpic Limescale Remover has shifted most of it, but that seems to have left the porcelain area under water a kind of a dirty colour. I then used a lot more Harpic, but nothing has improved. Although it does seem to come off a bit with lots of hard brushing. Anyone any idea if this Harpic could be causing this?
Limescale remover doesn't work under water. Empty the water out the pan then use the limescale remover again
Scale is composed of many chemicals and the harpic simply removed the easily dissolved ones leaving a harder one behing. You removed it with hard brushing.
Acid, including vinegar, dissolve lime. Bleach could be used to remove iron stains. Frank
Harpic used to advertised it's toilet cleaner (post 1940s) under the heading "Clean around the bend".
Unfortunately that expression was also used to describe (slangily) someone with a mental problem! Politically incorrect perhaps!
So instead of saying, as we might today "He/she is nuts" or "Like crazy, man" the Harpic expression was sometimes used as a nickname!
PS. What's that other cleaner advertised on TV as a rust, lime,scale remover? Something like RLS or RSL ??????
Terry,
CLR is a common cleaner in the US for this.
Dave M.
thanks to all. i've never seen CLR here in the u.k. would anyone translate what it is, and would it be good for my application? Other wise i see myself getting the water out of the bend (any tips on the best way to do this other than spooning it up?) and using the harpic limescale remover.
I have used muriatic acid,
first plunge toilet, then sponge remaining water out of bend.
then pour most of acid down overflow tube in tank. this cleans the interior toilet passages espically around the bowl rim. do you have brown deposits around rim that clogs the holes and causes poor flushes?
pour remaing acid in bend area wait say 15 minutes and flush noramally say 10 times to dilute and move along any remaining acid.
use normal safety precautions open bathroom window. wear safety glasses, pour acid into water NEVER water into acid, wear rubber gloves avoid splashing, and take deep breathe, apply acid, get out of room and close door promptly.
wait the time which gives acid time to work.
this is espically effective for toilets where the water swirls but solids dont go down well.
Not long ago I fixed a friends toilet that had been broke over 2 years in 15 minutes.
the acid dissolves the hard water sediment
The scale is a mixture of limescale and organic matter which has embedded itself in it. They require quite different chemicals to shift them. In the UK, buy a descent scale remover. Sulphamic acid is the most common scale remover, and you can buy a large tub of it at a builders/plumbers merchant under the name Furnox DS-3. This will work out about 100th of the price of all those kettle descalers you buy which are diluted with sand and other rubbish. (Sulphamic acid isn't the best choice for descaling plastic parts, as it can make them go brittle.) Empty the U-trap by oscilating the water back and forth with a toilet brush. Dissolve some DS-3 in warm water, and refill the U-trap with it. A few drops of washing up liquid as a wetting agent might help. Leave it to do the work for as long as you can. Brushing will not much help beyond the occasional stir, although at the end, it might break away undissolved material. Flush away.
If you've still got any dirt left, this will be organic. For this, repeat the task above using washing machine detergent (Europe only) or dishwasher detergent (Europe or US). This will benefit from some light brushwork, and this will also clean up the toilet brush nicely. Dishwasher detergent can give you alkali burns, so be careful not to splash it around.
When switching between chemicals, make sure the previous chemical is completely flushed from the pan and pipework to avoid any danger of a reaction giving off fumes. Don't use bleach -- it doesn't clean anything and just makes dirt go temporarily transparent so you can't see something is still dirty. It can also react very badly with many other cleaning agents.
Get a mop (old type) or a big towel and pump it in the bowel until all the water is out or soaked into the towel/mop. Dry bowel with tissue. Apply limescale remover. Wait. Wash off and check results.
Harpic (or other brands) will help keep your pan clear of limescale if applied regularly but it doesn't work too well under water to remove existing scale.
Use a pumice stone.
It works and alot cheaper than the chemicals. :-)
Have you tried cola? Sounds daft but I pushed out most of the water with the loo brush and filled with cola. Did it when I went to work, flushed when I came home...and voila...a clean loo bowl. Have used white vinegar in the past as well, works well.
Have you tried cola? Sounds daft but I pushed out most of the water with the loo brush and filled with cola. Did it when I went to work, flushed when I came home...and voila...a clean loo bowl. Have used white vinegar in the past as well, works well.
Thanks for all suggestions. With regard to the pumice stone idea, surely that would take the gloss of the glaze?
Limescale aka calcium carbonate (CaCO3) aka Rolaids.
Use hydrochloric acid (HCl) to dissolve it into calcium chloride (aka road salt).
You'd think so, but no it really doesn't. You can always to a test patch if you're not a believer :-)
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