Scrubbing a toilet bowl till it is sparkling white may not be your favorite household job, but it’s essentially the one task you shouldn’t neglect. Though we install branded toilet bowls and seats, we end up having yellow and brown streaks and patches all over in no time.
No wonder the staining bowl will call out your attention to scrub it clean, but if you find this work tedious, check out the following tips to wrap up the job in a jiffy!
Reasons for tough yellow stains
1. Prolonged action of hard water
Calcium-rich hard water or mineral-rich water with higher quantities of copper and iron often leaves mineral residues that turn into dark stains. The major compound is calcium carbonate, commonly termed limescale formation which gets stuck to the surfaces constantly in contact with hard water.
2. Improper cleaning after use
Improper cleaning or inadequate flushing can leave urine marks in the bowl or the seat that dry off and turn into tough stains. The persistent accumulation can also lead to a foul smell and an unhygienic toilet, unsafe for subsequent use. Often clogged outlet drains can also push back the flushed wastes staying stagnant, thus contaminating the toilet bowl.
3. Rust from pipes
Copper and iron pipes are prone to internal rusting if they’re old and constantly used. Powdered rust dissolved in the inlet water pipes can accumulate in the nooks and crannies of your cistern and toilet bowl if not scrubbed regularly. The fine powder remains stuck to the porcelain even when the water flushes away.
4. Reaction to sunlight
If your toilet bowl is placed near the window, direct exposure to the sun’s UV rays can create a chemical reaction and turn the surface yellow. It is a comparatively slow yet persistent process that can gradually discolor the sparkling white shade.
Instant home remedies to get rid of the stains
Home remedies are always available at hand to try instantly. Being kitchen ingredients or laundry cleaners used at home, they are super harmless and efficient even if you wish to use them repeatedly.
1. A mixture of vinegar and baking soda
Acidic vinegar and bubbling soda make the best mixture to react and dissolve the tough stains and marks. Pour a cup of baking soda into the toilet bowl and two cups of vinegar on top of it. It will release carbon dioxide and create a fizzy reaction.
Leave the solution to act on the stains for 10-15 minutes and scrub clean using a normal brush. This acidic mix is also effective in cleaning the drain if it’s clogged in any way.
2. Liquids with acidic soda or acid wash
Aerated soft drinks, having soda produce carbon dioxide and fizz, which are sufficient to erase the toughest stains. Laundry acid wash containing hydrochloric acid is also reactive enough to scrape off the stains.
However, the reactive acids in such liquids are often unsuitable and corroding for ceramic toilet bowls. Thus, it’s better to use them as mild solutions or in fewer quantities if used directly.
3. Borax powders
Sodium borate and tetra-borate-filled borax powders are slightly alkaline cleaners compared to the acidic mixtures discussed so far. Borax can also be found as acidic boric acid, which is equally efficient as alkalies to scrub and clean the stains.
There’s no need to make a liquid mixture as you can simply sprinkle the powder on the stains, let it sit for a while, and wash it off by rubbing with any brush.
4. Swimming pool bleach
Bleach is generally used as a sanitizer or disinfectant to kill germs and bacteria. Many often use it in pools instead of chlorine solutions to treat the water. If your supply is loaded with minerals or is dirty, you can use bleach in your tank and cistern to clean the inlet water.
Pouring a concentrated mixture of bleaching powder and water is also effective in dissolving the tough stains off your toilet bowls and seats. But you must make sure to properly clean it off later to avoid skin allergies or porcelain damage.
5. Scrub and rub frequently with a brush
Tough yellow stains are results of prolonged deposition and improper care, which you can avoid with regular cleaning. Make it a habit to clean your toilet once a week with simple brush scrubbing and at least once a month with a cleanser to avoid the accumulation and rigid stains.
Which commercial products are worth trying?
If home remedies aren’t working enough, and you need strong assistance, you can surely try out the best commercial cleaners available in the market. Though you can check the reviews and get the best brand, ensure the following facts to get the appropriate ones.
1. Effective natural cleansers
Your homemade solutions could have been mild and weak, but those compounds are actually worthy of erasing the toughest stains. Look for the products containing similar compounds having additional catalysts and strong chemicals to rev up their effects.
2. In-tank Cleaners
If not the bowl scrubbing solutions, you can opt for in-cistern cleaner gels and tablets to avoid any staining, if you clean once in a while. With every flush, you can get treated aromatic water without hard minerals to avoid any deposition at all.
3. The effect depends on the cleaner’s medium
Products are available in varieties, like, liquid cleansers, sticky dispersing stamps, jelly scrubbers, or solid dispersible cubes to select from, but you opt for the effective ones. Sometimes, the cubes may just dissolve immediately, the gels don’t absorb the dirt and stains, or the liquids aren’t dense enough with cleaning compounds.
4. Ensure their reaction to the toilet bowls
Bowls are generally made of vitreous china clay, ceramic or bone-white porcelain, and seats of plastic or wood that quickly react and corrode with harsh chemical treatment. Thus, before you purchase, check the reaction of the active compounds in the cleaners to avoid damaging your shiny toilet bowls.
Advanced tools and products for sparkling toilet bowls every time!
1. Disposable toilet cleaner kits
These cleaning brushes have spongy detachable heads filled with cleaning liquids like bleach or acidic soda. The sponges are bio-degradable and can be flushed into the drain after a single-use.
You don’t have to pour the cleaner or scrub strenuously but can simply rub the entire bowl with the wand and detach the head to flush it down.
2. Hands-free cleaners
Many of us don’t like taking up a brush and scrubbing the tank frequently but can’t deny the task entirely. If you are also struggling alike, you can switch to hands-free cleaners to entirely avoid the staining itself.
These products are small tablets, gel dispensers, or stamps that you can drop into the cistern tank or hang to the rim of the toilet seat. They contain strong cleansers and wash off the accumulating particles with every single flush.
3. Multi-directional cleaning brushes
Scrubbing under the seat’s rim or in the drain becomes difficult if your brush is solid straight. Multi-directional brushes are now available with flexible necks to bend and twist at any angle.
They even have soft silicone bristles that clean the tough stains easily, reducing your stressful efforts. You can find the latest models with double-sided brushes and even the cleaner filling wands for an effective wash.
4. Electronic spinning scrubbers and plungers
If you are tired of manual scrubbing, no matter how flexible the brushes might be, you can take the help of electronic spinning scrubbers. Designed similar to mops, these brushes with handles work on a push-button system to vigorously scrub the spot they are placed.
The scrubber heads are nylon bristles or silicone buds, suitable for delicate porcelain toilet bowls. Along with scrubbers, you can also find plungers that go somewhat deep into the drain to clean intensively.
5. Robotic toilet cleaners
This option is perfect for those who don’t have any time to scrub for long or can’t possibly do it due to a bad back. Robotic cleaners are equipped with impressive features and automatically clean up the toilet bowl and seat.
You just need to load the cleaner in the tank, attach the bot’s hook to the seat, place it inside the bowl and hit the start button. Within the programmed duration, the bot will scrub and clean in all directions and will finally notify you.
6. Water sterilizing devices
If the root cause behind the yellow stains in your toilet seat and bowl is that your hard water supply is loaded with minerals and chemicals, you can seek to filter it before it reaches your cistern or taps.
Instead of installing bulky candle filters or a whole new setup in your washroom, you can buy cistern sterilizers to attach them to the tank itself. They are generally battery-powered, compact devices to hang onto the tanks such that the filtering sticks are suspended inside to purify the water.
Conclusion
Maintaining a sparkling toilet bowl is quite essential to ensure overall sanitation and a hygienic bathroom. While regular flushing and washing keep it clean, we ultimately find tough yellow stains one time or the other.
There are plenty of quick home remedies, commercial products, and automatic tools to ease your job of tiresome scrubbing. The tips discussed above are easy to implement and eliminate stains entirely. Here’s to a sparkling toilet!