Find out the easy solution so you can Flush Hard Water Stains Down the Toilet. You’ll love how simple this is, say goodbye to ugly water lines.
No one really wants to talk about it, no one wants to admit it, no one wants to clean it … but some of us (raising my hand over here) have terrible hard water stains in our toilets! Our area has especially hard water; even treated with a water softener system, you still get a mineral build-up that is unbelievably difficult to remove. I’ve been a good consumer, bought loads of products that claim to clean “hard water stains” even tough hard water stains, but to no avail. All I wound up with was a ring around the water line in the toilet that was occasionally stained blue from random cleaners that didn’t do the job. I went the earthy route too, tried natural cleaning methods such as vinegar … nope, I told ya, we’ve got some “knock you on your butt” hard water around here.
So for all the potions, cleaners, magic solutions that I tried, I’d still end up with this unsightly ring. I’ve scrubbed until I could scrub no more, and pretty much had just given up. I figured I’d just clean the toilets using conventional cleaning, knowing that I tried and just accept the fact that I had an ugly ring that wouldn’t be conquered … UNTIL one day I was in the cleaning product aisle at my local Home Depot. Now mind you I was looking for mildew remover (that’s a whole different issue in a shower manned by an 18-year-old male … ugh)! I caught this little box out of the corner of my eye, picked it up and was as skeptical as you’ll be. It’s a PUMICE stone, yes the volcanic rock like stuff used during a pedicure to take off layers of unsightly dead skin from your feet! My first thought was “No way, that’ll scratch the surface of the toilet bowl!”
But after reading the box & a quick Google search, I decided it was worth a try. Plus it was less than $3, which almost instantly sold me, since I’m fairly frugal.
So I armed myself with a pair of yellow cleaning gloves (load up on these bad boys at Dollar Tree, love that place) your Pumie Scouring Stick and some elbow grease. Yes, this will require scrubbing, but you will conquer this if used properly. If I can do this, you can too. All you do is wet the pumice stick, and rub back & forth over the hard water ring, you’ll see tiny flecks of the stick floating in the toilet bowl, keep scrubbing in one area so that you get a feel for how much you’ll need to scrub. Within 5 minutes, I had one toilet done and was thrilled with the result. I quickly ran around cleaning the rest and was beyond happy! Now on the box it says that you can also use to clean BBQ grills & assorted other things with the Pumie Pumice Stick, I intend to find out what other magic this little stick can accomplish! Let me know if you try it out, I hope you are as happy with your results as I am with mine!
I HATE those stains! I have tried everything! This is a wonderful-natural tip! Thank you for sharing!
I use this thing all of the time. I had the same issue, it was embarrassing! A friend of mine who’s mother has her own cleaning business told me about it and our toilets have been sparkling ever since.
Lori, even though it is giving me the goose bumps right now…I love doing the toilets this way! Well, I don’t love scrubbing the toilets…but this truly works! I used to live in a part of Salt Lake City where they had the hardest water in the country, (true!) and this works like a gem…or should I say, a stone! (=
Can you use the block that you would use to take the dead skin cells off your feet? Or must it be this particular stick
I can’t say from personal experience. Not sure if they are manufactured differently, to be safe I’d only use the type that say they are for cleaning.
I can’t wait to try this, we live in Utah, too, where the water is very hard. We’ve been known to resort to a screwdriver, which did scratch the toilet 🙁 Thank you very much for talking about this “sensitive” topic!
Hard water is such a pain to deal with, I understand :/ Thanks for stopping over!
Had some unsightly limescal building on toilet rim, tried every product going and it just used to colour the lime scale and not get rid of it! Tried this tip and voila the lime scale has gone. Going to try it on cooker racks (obviously a new pumice stone!) wonderful tip!
I’d be interested in your longer term results with the pumice. I, too, thought it was a Godsend after having tried every conceivable remedy including several days of immersion in vinegar and all manner of commercial cleaning products. Then… after about a year of using the same pumice pictured in your post (needed about three times during that year between weekly cleanings with toilet bowl cleaner and a brush) I noticed the ring was reappearing sooner each time. After using pumice the last time I noticed the porcelain glaze in the areas the pumice had been used on was no longer nice and glossy smooth, but had a slightly rougher feel and duller gloss. After calling Kohler to ask about the use of pumice I was told it will damage the porcelain glaze (as would Muriatic acid and a host of other stiff chemicals). Even they could offer no solution. I have since replaced the toilet and have yet to find a solution to the ring – even with a water softener.
David, I can’t give you a long term report as we moved from the house where I tried this method. Hard water is a pain that’s for sure.
Well, I hope you’re in a soft water area now! 🙂
I noticed a few posts back was “Gloria” in 2013. Don’t know if you as the mod may contact her to ask this question. Two years of pumice should tell us if it was the method (pumice) or my particular toilet porcelain glazing at fault.
And, just to clarify: I have a water softener. So we should have no calcium, etc. (the way hard water is typically defined) in our water; just a little sodium. So it is especially perplexing since people say a water softener would be the solution. It isn’t. Today, I’m trying immersing the ring and stains in distilled water for at least 24 hrs. with a 2″ pressurized (bicycle pump) “test -ball plug” (Cherne part # 270-024) blocking the flush exit to hold the water level at the top. We’ll see if this “mineral hungry” water will suck the minerals out of the ring.
I wish you good luck David. Water softeners can only do so much, I totally understand. :/
David, any news on your attempts with distilled water, or anything else you’ve tried?
Actually, yes. I found pumice NOT to be the answer – or distilled water. Pumice too coarse causing porcelain scratching and distilled water too slow and not very effective. What I found that DOES work is fine grain waterproof sandpaper like you can find as “Wet and Dry Sandpaper” sold for “wet sanding” for autobody work. It is also called “waterproof sandpaper.” You can find it in places like Auto Zone and even Home Depot. I tried several different grits: 800 to 2400 and settled on 1600. It takes off the ring quite quickly especially if you don’t let it build up too long. I use regular toilet bowl cleaner and a toilet brush about every 5 days and use the wet and dry sandpaper about every 2-3 weeks. Each spot on the paper is used up fairly quickly so you have to move to a new spot quite often to maintain cutting power as you work your way around the ring – and the whole bowl interior. The sheets typically are one third sheets compared to full sized sandpaper sheets and I use up one of those sheets in one toilet per cleaning. Not bad.
The cleaning gets the porcelain back to its original glassy smooth surface feel and look, and resists soil buildup when in this condition. Haven’t had a problem keeping the bowl clean as new since finding this solution. Hope it helps you too.
David, thanks for the quick response and detailed update!
I’m also trying an experiment with Jet Dry (dishwasher rinse aid). I don’t think it will work for initial removal of the scale – at least not very quickly – but it does seem to loosen the scale better than other things I’ve tried, and I’m hoping for an easy maintenance solution. Unfortunately they no longer make those Jet Dry Solid baskets that you hang in a dishwasher. I was going to find a way to hang one so that it would add a consistent dose to each flush. So now I’m looking into other solid options (citric acid powder, maybe?) and/or ways to dispense doses of liquid (Jet Dry, Lemi Shine, Somat, Wave Jet).
Someone suggested Coca Cola since it has phosphoric acid. It got some of the scale off, but did not work as well as Jet Dry, and I’m not convinced that it was the phosphoric acid doing the little bit of work that did happen. I wouldn’t want to use that for maintenance in a dispenser anyway because the color is just wrong in a supposedly-clean toilet, and the smell – while not objectionable – would have me thinking about toilets every time I drink a Coke. 😀