How can I clean this toilet? (Horrible photo!)

[Sexisthairdressers]

Just that really. It's old and gross. I would prefer to avoid nasty chemicals. Any ideas welcome! Thanks all :-)

Voilà

Hope that photo is clear!

Is it limescale? If so a LOT of vinegar left for a long while would help.

Another pic

Pour a bottle of Coca Cola down it. I had a toilet like this years ago.. didn't believe it would work when a friend suggested Coke, it looked brand new after.

Not sure how to avoid nasty chemicals, but caustic soda would do the job. It is a very harsh chemical though.

Not sure! It's dark brown/black.

It’s stained limescale - my DPs house share had this years ago 🤢

I lowered the water level so more was exposed above the water and then used loads and loads of viakal and a good scrubbing brush. Took a few applications but came up fine

a large or small bottle of coke?

A pumice stone and some elbow grease!

DO NOT DO THIS!

I hear this often because it does work. But my husband is a chemistry professor and he says risking coke coming into contact with other toilet cleaners is a very bad idea as it produces chlorine gas. So if you don't want to die for a clean toilet, don't do it.

Same with vinegar.

I live in an extremely hard water area so I've seen this before
The best toilet cleaner is Harpic max 100% limescale remover with the red cap
Don't waste money on any other( bale out as much water first) leave overnight
A bottle of vinegar left over night
Citric acid powder
It will come off, so don't over scrub with anything first

Citric acid....fill the toilet with hot water, tip in the citric acid...leave several hours....Wilkos or hardware type shop will sell

I use this pure magic recipie from Nancy birtwhistle you will probably need to buy citric acid from the supermarket but it’s cheap and eco friendly and it works! I’ve switched all my toilet cleaning to this and it’s brilliant https://metro.co.uk/2022/07/20/how-to-make-cheap-non-toxic-cleaning-products-for-your-home-17021863/amp/

That’s a touch melodramatic!!!

I don’t think that toilet has seen much in the way of cleaners for a while. A couple of flushes to ensure clean water, pour in coke, open window and close door, it will be absolutely fine.

Coke won't touch that. The house I moved to at uni had a loo like that after a year of lads living there that didn't clean it once. It took a couple of bottles of harpic max and some scrubbing but came up fine. Pushing the water down the ubend first so expose more of it to the neat harpic is a must though - make such a difference

And your chemistry qualification is ...?

Not coke, even if it works it can stain.

It looks like stained limescale to me. Soc citric acid as mentioned before (stronger than vinegar). Put thick rubber gloves on then remove the water using a sponge to soak it up. Then add citric acid and water and leave overnight.

Non eco-friendly version is Domestos Zero Limescale. Very effective. Also leave overnight and keep the room well ventilated. N.B. even though the bottle is bleach bottle shaped, it is an acidic cleaner.

Be sure never to mix acid cleaners (citric acid, timescale removers) with alkaline (bleach) as this creates a potentially lethal gas.

Honestly, just use the harsh cleaners.

Harpic max is good, or the drop in tablet version. You might need to do it a few times. I've recently tried denture tablets in one which are slowly doing the trick (can't use anything stronger as it's a macerator toilet)

Citric acid will work fine, she doesn't have to use the harsh cleaners if she doesn't want to.

The poster didn't say "coca cola + other toilet cleaners" They said just the coke.

Spirits of Salt will leave the bowl pristine. Read the information on the bottle carefully, it's strong stuff.

I have cleaned 2 toilets like this I used a pumice stone, those metal spongy things, bottle of limescale remover from Amazon it was a professional one. I did have to really scrub, it took a while but eventually cleared, think it’s more the scrubbing than the product

An edited post? Whaaaaat?