Muriatic acid for cleaning the scale line out of a toilet???

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M

Mesamav

0
Jul 16, 2011
190
Mesa Arizona
Can I use muriatic acid to clean the scale out of my toilet? That's probably a dumb question but I'll ask it anyway.
I'm in the Phoenix Arizona area and we have some of the hardest water in the country here. My toilets look like Crud. lol.
I'm on a septic so I'm assuming MA shouldn't be used but I wanted to get your thoughts on it.

Thanks so much......
 
Re: Muriatic acid for cleaning the scale line out of a toile

You should use something like CLR that is known to be septic system safe. It wouldn't take too much acid to cause problems for the helpful bacteria in the septic system.
 
Re: Muriatic acid for cleaning the scale line out of a toile

I've done it, but I wasn't on a septic tank, either. I'd usually pour it in before I left for work, then leave the door closed and the window open.

I found a pumice stone works faster. Despite the horrible noises it makes, there appears to be no scratching on the porcelain.
 
Re: Muriatic acid for cleaning the scale line out of a toile

I have used a pumice stone to do it. It works absolutely fantastic and won't scratch porcelain, surprisingly. Just make sure you have water in there up to the scum line, as it acts like a lubricant and then just rub away, making sure it & the stone stay wet.
TADA!!!

I can attest to this technique working perfectly. Just make sure your toilet isn't something funky like plastic or glass or what have you. HAHA

I pick up a long rectangular stone for a couple bucks @ the grocery store, FredMeyer, which is now Kroger, so you have Krogers down there, like Fry's and such, or WalNast would work too, I think they have it. It's usually with the cleaning products for your toilet. These are pure, 100% volcanic pumice and they're cheap. If you want to save a bit and use one on your feet or whatever, then cut it in half before using it, just score it then gently whack it and it should split quite nicely.
The ones you buy for your feet would work, but they don't seem to be as good. It's called something like Housewife's Helper, or along those lines. It has very vintage packaging, like from the 60's, white with red lettering, in a cardboard box with a long hang tab at the top, kinda like a medicine tube box.

Good luck, hope that helps you out.
 
Re: Muriatic acid for cleaning the scale line out of a toile

y_not said:
It's called something like Housewife's Helper, or along those lines. It has very vintage packaging, like from the 60's, white with red lettering, in a cardboard box with a long hang tab at the top, kinda like a medicine tube box.

Good luck, hope that helps you out.
Click to expand...
That's the one! I found ours on the impulse rack next to the cashier at the hardware store.
 
Re: Muriatic acid for cleaning the scale line out of a toile

Richard320 said:
y_not said:
It's called something like Housewife's Helper, or along those lines. It has very vintage packaging, like from the 60's, white with red lettering, in a cardboard box with a long hang tab at the top, kinda like a medicine tube box.

Good luck, hope that helps you out.
Click to expand...
That's the one! I found ours on the impulse rack next to the cashier at the hardware store.
Click to expand...

LOL, right on! :goodjob:
I love the vintage packaging, that always tells me that it's more than likely good stuff. Because they don't make things like they used to, for the most part and if it has been manufactured that long, then it's probably awesome!!
 
Re: Muriatic acid for cleaning the scale line out of a toile

I once listened to a demonic plumber who told me to put muriatic acid in the toilet tank..... it ruined some of the parts and the toilet sprang a leak. Dumb, d- dumb dumb.
 
Re: Muriatic acid for cleaning the scale line out of a toile

anonapersona said:
I once listened to a demonic plumber who told me to put muriatic acid in the toilet tank..... it ruined some of the parts and the toilet sprang a leak. Dumb, d- dumb dumb.
Click to expand...
'Demonic plumber' LOLs & more LOLs :lol:

Yeah, it'd be bad in the tank. HAHA!
Porcelain is pretty impervious to just about every chemical under the sun, but I'm not a chemist, so don't quote me on that.
My concern would be if it would get diluted enough when flushed, for the acid not to melt the PVC piping that is often used these days, although a low water use toilet is about 1.5gal/flush, so you may be OK.
The iron pipe on the other hand, HA!!
Wouldn't think it'd hurt that, cause it won't be in the pipe long enough. ;)

Honestly, I wouldn't risk it, even though I can hack it with plumbing and such, but I just hate doing it. LOL

Just get the pumice stone & call it a day.
 

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Re: Muriatic acid for cleaning the scale line out of a toile

I get stains on my 1937 toilets and every few years I polish up the bowls with a little 50/50 MA/water. Soil plumbing is 1937 cast iron and I have a 1937 septic tank only slightly smaller than the pool. I always give a few flushes with my 7-gallon toilets when I'm done and I've been doing this for at least 30 years. No problems so far. Nothing else works, although I haven't tried oxalic acid which is supposed to be good for this. I use chem gloves and eye protection when I do this.
 
Re: Muriatic acid for cleaning the scale line out of a toile

Well, I took someones suggestion with the pumice stone and it worked incredibly well. I was surprised how well it worked. No smell, no chemicals and it only took about 2 minutes.

Thanks again for your help
 
Re: Muriatic acid for cleaning the scale line out of a toile

y_not said:
YAAAYYY!!! :party:
Glad to hear when things work for someone. :goodjob:

Now go enjoy your pool. :)
Click to expand...


I enjoy my pool EVERY DAY. Here in the Phoenix Arizona area, it's almost a necessity. It was well above 110 all last week and the lows only got to the low 90's so I was in the pool a LOT. Gotta love that........
 
Re: Muriatic acid for cleaning the scale line out of a toile

My cousin lives down there, it sounds insane, he's from here, he's tired of the heat there, he wants out.

He said when it hits into the 80's, the natives start dawning coats, sweaters & turning their heat on. WHAT THEEEEEEE??? WOW!!!
I'd die!!

Our highs are barely over 80 atm, lows are hitting 50 at night, about 5-6am, sometimes mid 40's.
Just a week or so back, it was in the low 100's. Oy vey!!! :cry:
 
Re: Muriatic acid for cleaning the scale line out of a toile

y_not said:
My cousin lives down there, it sounds insane, he's from here, he's tired of the heat there, he wants out.

He said when it hits into the 80's, the natives start dawning coats, sweaters & turning their heat on. WHAT THEEEEEEE??? WOW!!!
I'd die!!

Our highs are barely over 80 atm, lows are hitting 50 at night, about 5-6am, sometimes mid 40's.
Just a week or so back, it was in the low 100's. Oy vey!!! :cry:
Click to expand...


Hey, I just moved last year from Florence Oregon. I couldn't hack the rain anymore.
Yeah, it gets warm here but it doesn't last THAT long and most of the year the weather here is fantastic. Winter temps in the high 60's usually.
I look at the hot summers like this. Summer are our winter here where the severe weather has to be tolerated but 8 or 9 months of the year is heavenly.
My swim season lasted until mid-November last year and I had my pool open in mid-March.
 
Re: Muriatic acid for cleaning the scale line out of a toile

I think that moving between Arizona and Oregon would be perfection itself. All winter in Arizona, spending spring and fall in the mountains hiking. Then in the heat of summer move to Oregon.
 
Re: Muriatic acid for cleaning the scale line out of a toile

We have dry heat here too, I'm in Central Oregon, the valey-ites call it Eastern Oregon, but that's incorrect, because that would mean that 3/4 of Oregon is Eastern and that's just bad directional orientation. LOL There is an Eastern Oregon, it's east of us and there's almost nuttin out there, it's quite the wasteland. But there's the cool painted hills, fossil beds, desert lake bed, Fort Rock, etc..

Don't get me wrong, AZ is nice to visit, I have been there, GORGEOUS sunsets, but so are ours. ;) The valley's sunsets suck! LOL
I just couldn't live there in AZ. I can't handle the heat is why, it gets to hot here in CO for me as it is.
I'm from the Willamette valley (Pronounced: Will (Guys name) Am (Pronoun) Ette (Like the last part of the female name 'Lyn-ette', it's not 'etty' like p-etty.)
Rains a lot there, but I'm pretty sure it's not as much as Florence, the rains on the coast are insane and it's not even so much the rain there, it's all the dismal sky and icy cold rain.
UGH!! I hate the Oregon Coast, lol
California coast all the way!!

I do like that the nights cool off A LOT here, doesn't do that in the valley, it has it's pluses. But ultimately, climate wise, it's the heat I hate, the intense sun!!! It can be 100deg in the Willamette Valley and it feels like upper 70's, lower 80's here, it's more humid, less arid, sure, but it's the elevation, that's the big deal. The sun here just bakes your skin, I feel like I'm on fire and I sweat like a stinking pig!!

So that might give you some idea of my internal climate control switch. ;)

I do like the way you look at it there though, that your summer is like winter, it's your extreme. That's a pretty sweet winter temp, wish it were that way all year round. How come you don't swim in the winter? You don't get snow or icy cold winds do you?

Here, I have learned to climatize to the cold, you can just bundle up and keep yourself warm, my body has also adjust to being out in it too. I'll go out & shovel a foot or so of snow, start out in a hoodie or snow cap, jacket, gloves, pants, swarm socks & boots + sunglasses. By the time I'm done, I'm breaking a sweat & down to a tshirt, boots + socks, pants and sunglasses. The jacket, hat/hoodie and gloves just got too stinking HOT!! LOL
I have stood barefoot in a foot+ of snow at 2-3am in shorts, and a t-shirt taking photos of icicles and the like. Maybe like 30-40min, feet got really red, but never lost any feeling or anything. But there was no wind, the wind will kill ya! HAHA
I just never could adapt to the heat very much. I'm like the wicked witch..
IIIIiiiiiii MMMMmmmmmeeeeellllllttttttttiiiiiiinnnngggggggg!!!
:lol:

You guys able to use swamp coolers "evaporative coolers" down there? They use 'em in the Outback where it hits 150+ and they work fantastically!
I use one here, works pretty good, up to 20deg. difference during the day & the hotter it gets, the cooler it becomes inside due to the dropping humidity. Yes, it's arid, but there's some. Then the humidity rises in the evening, so all it does is make the inside temp match the outside, but that's OK, because without it, the heat gets trapped in the house, no matter how many powerful fans you have. LOL
 

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