very strong toilet clearer

It's hydrochloric acid that really attacks chromium - used to use it when checking the thickness of plating.

Sodium chloride, shirley.

Neither. Try calcium chloride.

That's a fair point, although in a properly designed system it will be running past any joints, not settling on them. Running washing machine or dishwasher or having a shower after flushing will help. Or neutralise in the pan with a whole bottle of ammonia.

If it contains anything "effective" you should be able to find an MSDS on-line. This will sometimes contain the exact proportion of (say) acid. It's hardly a commercial secret, anyone with O-level chemistry would be able to estimate it in a school lab.

my bad, I was thinking of sulphuric acid, not hydrochloric..

Yes - sorry - I'd just read down-thread re. sodium hydroxide. BTW, HCl doesn't 'burn' intacts skin even at about 50% (DAMHIK); H2SO4 and HNO3 do, the latter leaving a brown stain - the other, more common type of brown stain is less harmful!

Limescale removers usually make use of acids. Acids will react with the limescale to produce soluble metal salts which can then simply be washed away.

For toilets, stronger acids such as hydrochloric acid are used, <=== Hmmm !

whereas for kitchen appliances such as kettles, citric acid, lactic acid, or formic acid are common components of limescale removal powders."

Roughly translating, that means that what is on the toilet, is not limescale :-) Giving Google a poke gives...

"Repeated use of a toilet results in the build-up of a deposit derived from urine and hard water on the surface of the toilet bowl.

The hardened mineral scale is difficult to clean completely, especially in the case of deposits under the rim. A number of studies have focused on kidney stones, which are also caused by urine in the urinary tract; little attention, however, has been paid to the detailed composition and structure of the toilet scale.

To develop powerful products for removing the toilet scale effectively instead of relying on acid-cleaning and scrubbing, the composition and the accumulation mechanism of the scale must be clarified.

Scale samples collected from the bowl surface were characterized by IR, XRF, XRD, ICP?AES, SEM?EDS and HPLC techniques and found to consist mainly of

calcium phosphates struvite calcium carbonate uric acid proteins

After acid treatment of the scale, a film-like structure of protein, produced as a result of the metabolism of bacteria and mold, was left behind. The scale had composite structures that were composed of the inorganic minerals and the organic materials listed above. This structure might be critical to making the scale *resistant to removal by acid-containing cleaners* . <=== Aha!!! damn those scientist

And everyone has an angle grinder to grind. Imagine a public organ using a commercial product as "educational" material.

Hydrochloric Acid PEG-2 Hydrogenated Tallow Ammonium Chloride surfactant Tallowtrimonium Chloride surfactant Isopropyl Alcohol Laureth-10 surfactants/emulsifier 2-Propanol NaCl flavor for the soap

water lactic acid gluconic acid lauramine oxide propylene glycol n-butyl ether glycolic acid sulfamic acid disodium capryloamphodipropionate ethylene glycol n-butyl ether citric acid (phosphoric acid in old version)

I guess that makes the perfect toilet bowl cleaner, a mixture of HCL and liquid oxygen (for the protein) :-) Or taking a stronger piss.

Paul

Brick cleaner. Very strong so be careful, don't leave it in too long.

IME it does get it off, though a good bit slower than HCl. I presume it turns it into non-adhered powder or fine grit.

NT

Don't think I've ever seen 50% HCl, 34% is fuming

NT

Well having recently had the pleasure of cleaning a toilet that had not been dealt with for many months due to a failing of social services I can say that you need very little acid, I actually used phosphoric acid as I had been derusting my gates, an egg cupful was enough with a bit of agitation and scrubbing with the toilet brush. If you do small and often it neutralises itself. Not a bad job compared with tackling the 2ft pile of rotting vegetable and eggshells on the kitchen counter and the strange growths in all the cooking pots and pans. Fridge next.

Yep - this was about 50 years ago - it was 50% of the concentration in the bottle, so ~17% then.

How much boiling water we talking about here?

Never tried it but... given that's only 2 large mugs of boiling water - is there really a risk of cracking what must be far thicker clayware than a tea mug?

Shurely the thicker the ceramic at the start will mean more (cold) thermal mass over which the heat of 500ml of near boiling water will be spread?

It might have done what it says on the box

but it didn't do what it shows in the picture

my significantly less stained bowl than the one in their pictures is only about 60% cleansed from one bottle of the stuff

Going to take a second bottle of something to finish the job off

HCl 34% is about as effective as it gets. Nasty fumes, nasty liquid, but very quick.

The key thing with bog acids is to let them soak overnight.

NT