How to prevent toilet bowl stains?

[John Smith]

Hi All,

I'm going to be out of my home for the next
2-3 mo. and would like to know what I can do to
prevent toilet bowl stains.

The area I live in has hard water and due to
the desert terrain, the water in the bowl evaporates
quite a bit. This leaves behind rings of calcium
intermixed with the blue from the 1000 flushes. I
went on vacation last year (2wks) and came back to
find multiple rings that were very difficult
to remove.

I have also noticed (blue) stains from the jets where
the water enters the bowl. At one point, I found that
the flush was fault (leaking a little bit of water
intermittantly). However, now I'm stuck with those.

I would appreciate any advice to avoid and fix the two
problems mentioned above.

Thanks,

John

[Dawn]

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 00:33:29 -0700, John Smith <nospam@nowhere.com>
wrote:

>Hi All,
>
>I'm going to be out of my home for the next
>2-3 mo. and would like to know what I can do to
>prevent toilet bowl stains.
>
>The area I live in has hard water and due to
>the desert terrain, the water in the bowl evaporates
>quite a bit. This leaves behind rings of calcium
>intermixed with the blue from the 1000 flushes. I
>went on vacation last year (2wks) and came back to
>find multiple rings that were very difficult
>to remove.
>
>I have also noticed (blue) stains from the jets where
>the water enters the bowl. At one point, I found that
>the flush was fault (leaking a little bit of water
>intermittantly). However, now I'm stuck with those.
>
>I would appreciate any advice to avoid and fix the two
>problems mentioned above.
>
>Thanks,
>
>John

Whenever I go away I turn off the water at the mains and open all taps
and flush all toilets. I soak up any remaining water in the bend of
the toilet with a sponge then wash all surfaces, sinks and toilets
with dilute disinfectant and dry off with an old rag.

[Tom Miller]

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 21:14:08 GMT, Dawn <dawn@noyoudont.uk> wrote:

> | On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 00:33:29 -0700, John Smith <nospam@nowhere.com>
> | wrote:
> |
> | >Hi All,
> | >
> | >I'm going to be out of my home for the next
> | >2-3 mo. and would like to know what I can do to
> | >prevent toilet bowl stains.
> | >
> | >The area I live in has hard water and due to
> | >the desert terrain, the water in the bowl evaporates
> | >quite a bit. This leaves behind rings of calcium
> | >intermixed with the blue from the 1000 flushes. I
> | >went on vacation last year (2wks) and came back to
> | >find multiple rings that were very difficult
> | >to remove.
> | >
> | >I have also noticed (blue) stains from the jets where
> | >the water enters the bowl. At one point, I found that
> | >the flush was fault (leaking a little bit of water
> | >intermittantly). However, now I'm stuck with those.
> | >
> | >I would appreciate any advice to avoid and fix the two
> | >problems mentioned above.
> | >
> | >Thanks,
> | >
> | >John
> |
> | Whenever I go away I turn off the water at the mains and open all taps
> | and flush all toilets. I soak up any remaining water in the bend of
> | the toilet with a sponge then wash all surfaces, sinks and toilets
> | with dilute disinfectant and dry off with an old rag.


The problem with doing this is that it can allow sewer gases to back
up into the house while you are away.

[Phisherman]

Have someone run the water in all water taps every month. Most toilet
bowl cleaners with using a toilet brush will take care of the hard
water deposits. The "cleaners" placed inside the toilet tank do a
poor job cleaning, harm the working toilet parts, and make it
difficult to detect blood in the urine or stool.

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 00:33:29 -0700, John Smith <nospam@nowhere.com>
wrote:

>Hi All,
>
>I'm going to be out of my home for the next
>2-3 mo. and would like to know what I can do to
>prevent toilet bowl stains.
>
>The area I live in has hard water and due to
>the desert terrain, the water in the bowl evaporates
>quite a bit. This leaves behind rings of calcium
>intermixed with the blue from the 1000 flushes. I
>went on vacation last year (2wks) and came back to
>find multiple rings that were very difficult
>to remove.
>
>I have also noticed (blue) stains from the jets where
>the water enters the bowl. At one point, I found that
>the flush was fault (leaking a little bit of water
>intermittantly). However, now I'm stuck with those.
>
>I would appreciate any advice to avoid and fix the two
>problems mentioned above.
>
>Thanks,
>
>John

[Lloyd Randall]

In article <it86d.84697$9Y5.61938@fed1read02>,
John Smith <nospam@nowhere.com> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I'm going to be out of my home for the next
> 2-3 mo. and would like to know what I can do to
> prevent toilet bowl stains.
>
> The area I live in has hard water and due to
> the desert terrain, the water in the bowl evaporates
> quite a bit. This leaves behind rings of calcium
> intermixed with the blue from the 1000 flushes. I
> went on vacation last year (2wks) and came back to
> find multiple rings that were very difficult
> to remove.
>
Do you leave the lid closed? That slows evaporation.

If water evaporated for two weeks, I don't know how that would leave
multiple rings. I think the deposits were already there, and as the
water evaporated, they absorbed blue dye.

AFAIK, vinegar won't damage a toilet bowl. Before leaving, I might add
a little vinegar, then pour in a little water to raise the level above
normal, then leave the lid closed.

--
Best Regards,
Lloyd

[Dawn]

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 22:04:02 GMT, jebainc@xxoptonline.net (Tom Miller)
wrote:

>On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 21:14:08 GMT, Dawn <dawn@noyoudont.uk> wrote:
>
>> | On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 00:33:29 -0700, John Smith <nospam@nowhere.com>
>> | wrote:
>> |
>> | >Hi All,
>> | >
>> | >I'm going to be out of my home for the next
>> | >2-3 mo. and would like to know what I can do to
>> | >prevent toilet bowl stains.
>> | >
>> | >The area I live in has hard water and due to
>> | >the desert terrain, the water in the bowl evaporates
>> | >quite a bit. This leaves behind rings of calcium
>> | >intermixed with the blue from the 1000 flushes. I
>> | >went on vacation last year (2wks) and came back to
>> | >find multiple rings that were very difficult
>> | >to remove.
>> | >
>> | >I have also noticed (blue) stains from the jets where
>> | >the water enters the bowl. At one point, I found that
>> | >the flush was fault (leaking a little bit of water
>> | >intermittantly). However, now I'm stuck with those.
>> | >
>> | >I would appreciate any advice to avoid and fix the two
>> | >problems mentioned above.
>> | >
>> | >Thanks,
>> | >
>> | >John
>> |
>> | Whenever I go away I turn off the water at the mains and open all taps
>> | and flush all toilets. I soak up any remaining water in the bend of
>> | the toilet with a sponge then wash all surfaces, sinks and toilets
>> | with dilute disinfectant and dry off with an old rag.
>
>
>The problem with doing this is that it can allow sewer gases to back
>up into the house while you are away.

I don't have that problem with my plumbing but I can appreciate some
may do, so thank you Tom for pointing out about the gases.
Maybe the u bend can be plugged to stop any gas coming in.

[John Smith]

Dawn wrote:
> On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 22:04:02 GMT, jebainc@xxoptonline.net (Tom Miller)
> wrote:
>
>
>>On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 21:14:08 GMT, Dawn <dawn@noyoudont.uk> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>| On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 00:33:29 -0700, John Smith <nospam@nowhere.com>
>>>| wrote:
>>>|
>>>| >Hi All,
>>>| >
>>>| >I'm going to be out of my home for the next
>>>| >2-3 mo. and would like to know what I can do to
>>>| >prevent toilet bowl stains.
>>>| >
>>>| >The area I live in has hard water and due to
>>>| >the desert terrain, the water in the bowl evaporates
>>>| >quite a bit. This leaves behind rings of calcium
>>>| >intermixed with the blue from the 1000 flushes. I
>>>| >went on vacation last year (2wks) and came back to
>>>| >find multiple rings that were very difficult
>>>| >to remove.
>>>| >
>>>| >I have also noticed (blue) stains from the jets where
>>>| >the water enters the bowl. At one point, I found that
>>>| >the flush was fault (leaking a little bit of water
>>>| >intermittantly). However, now I'm stuck with those.
>>>| >
>>>| >I would appreciate any advice to avoid and fix the two
>>>| >problems mentioned above.
>>>| >
>>>| >Thanks,
>>>| >
>>>| >John
>>>|
>>>| Whenever I go away I turn off the water at the mains and open all taps
>>>| and flush all toilets. I soak up any remaining water in the bend of
>>>| the toilet with a sponge then wash all surfaces, sinks and toilets
>>>| with dilute disinfectant and dry off with an old rag.
>>
>>
>>The problem with doing this is that it can allow sewer gases to back
>>up into the house while you are away.
>
>
> I don't have that problem with my plumbing but I can appreciate some
> may do, so thank you Tom for pointing out about the gases.
> Maybe the u bend can be plugged to stop any gas coming in.
>

Thanks! I'll give this a try.

John

[John Smith]

Lloyd Randall wrote:
>
> Do you leave the lid closed? That slows evaporation.
>
> If water evaporated for two weeks, I don't know how that would leave
> multiple rings. I think the deposits were already there, and as the
> water evaporated, they absorbed blue dye.
>
> AFAIK, vinegar won't damage a toilet bowl. Before leaving, I might add
> a little vinegar, then pour in a little water to raise the level above
> normal, then leave the lid closed.
>

Actually, I have tried with the lib closed but did not notice any
discernable difference.

Well, I don't know if the rings were there but that may be true given
that some of them seem to be thicker than others.

I have never tried vinegar - I will give it a test run.

Thanks,

John