I have a seriously scaled up toilet bowl, the problem's below the water line only. Have been trying Viakal left overnight to soak, but tbh it's useless. Is there a better option - what about baking soda, is that alkaline enough to touch it?
In article , randallnhopkirk writes
You need acid not alkali!
The blue Harpic descaler works well for me. Empty as much water out of the u bend as you can then splurge it on and leave for an hour. Give it a good scrub with a brush, and it magically all comes off.
If it's in a bad way, the scale is normally a mixture of hard water mixed with organic matter, and both can protect solvents from the other.
Use a proper descaler (like Fernox DS-3) predisolved in hot water, with washing up liquid added. Leave it overnight. Run around the pan with the loo brush before flushing away next morning.
If it's rather more organic matter than scale, then cloths or dish washing detergents can work quite well.
Oh, and when trying different chemicals in the loo, always make sure you have very well flushed away any previous ones you tried, as some combinations can generate large amounts of toxic gas very quickly.
yup, household bleach mixed with acids or ammonia-based cleaners being the classic deadly concoction.
yup!
that's the way I do mine when it gets bad and it works. As you say, get rid of as much water as possible - this lets the harpic get directly to the scale, Don't know about really built up scale though - it might need two or three goes.
Roger (my reader sometimes loses mail/newsgroup messages
just use a descaling bog cleaner. Pick one with HCl in, thats the fastest. Squirt it on, brush it over, repeat repeat as many times asnecessary. It may take many goes, but the cleaner will strip a new layer off each time.
Or, if youve not done thing since it was built in 1932,why not break the porcelain away and have a working bog made out of nothing but limescale?
NT
Might be eligible for an Arts Council grant ...
Mary
250ml of analytical grade HCL does it for me!
Hit it wirth a load of caustoc to dissolve any greasy organic matter, flush that away and then tip a litre of brick acid in there,shut the lid, open the window. and leave for a day.
Or a liter of brick acid. Cheaper.
A first overnight soak with chlorine bleach will remove most of the organic stuff, making it easier to dissolve the limescale in a second overnight treatment with acid.
But in between, now that it's not so much of a biohazard, curl your fingers around the U-bend and check how much scale has built up there. You may find some really thick deposits, and the acid treatment will work better if you can remove the bulk of those first.
A selection of short screwdrivers should get most of it off in chunks, which you can then scoop out of the bowl. No need to be too thorough - the acid will take care of the rest.
Likewise, flush thoroughly before putting your hands and head in there.
Bleach as an oxidising agent will make the organic stuff invisible for a few days, but it doesn't clean anything. It's better not to make it invisible, so you can see when you've got it off.
Just use the Harpic stuff. It really does work and there is less chance of dissolving your arm off.
I used neat brick acid - bail out the water that's in there, then fill it up and leave for a few hours (but remember not to use it in the meantime). For routine descaling I just chuck a cup of brick acid in the water. Since I tried this I've never been tempted to buy "proper" toilet cleaner.
Really? 50p for 250ml in the volumes I purchase!
You could then donate it to the Tate Modern - they are happy to waste National Lottery money on any old shit that is supposed to be art.
(:-)
Graham
Not so. The greasy stuff does in fact get saponified and go.
And the bleach at least renders most of the bacteria dead, so its not so unpleasnant to work with.
Mmm. I think 5 liter is about 6 quid from memory, so thats ..well you work it out. Its 30% conc anyway.
That's my experience too. It's the alkali does that, rather than the chlorine.
If it is only bleached, but not broken up, either the concentration wasn't high enough and/or it needed to be left for longer... or there was just too darn much of it.
Agreed (though all within limits, of course).
With a notice saying 'crap in here and youll be walking funny for a month'
NT
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