White deposit

What is the white deposit on the inside bottom of glass vases, toothbrush glasses, my dish drainer, etc., and is there something simple that would dissolve it? Is it the same substance that deposits an un-scrubbable line at the top edge of the water in my toilets?

A related question - I can remove the line in the toilets by scrubbing with a pumice stone. My daughter tells me that doing this will scratch up the bowl and make the problem worse. Is this true? I always thought that pumice stone is much softer than porcelain and wouldn’t harm it.

Trini

Hey Trini. Good to chat with you. My “boss” has these suggestions:

  • For the white deposit pour some white vinegar over the deposit and let it sit. You can try lightly warming the vinegar. If this doesn’t work try a little baking on a soft cloth to scrub.

  • For the pumice try a product called “Pumie” Heavy Duty Scouring Stick made especially for hard water rings. Check your hardware store.

Hope this helps.

Later,

ImAGolfer

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Thats usually mineral deposits from hard water. One solution is to install a water softener–usually on the water to your hot water heater.

It can usually be cleaned with an acid. Vinegar should work. An acid toilet bowl cleaner such as The Works from Walmart should work better. It contains hydrogen chloride (ie hydrochloric acid). Keep it away from metals and rinse thoroughly.

There are also toilet bowl cleaners that contain sulfamic acid. That should work too.

Do not mix acid cleaners with bleach. They are not compatible

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Do not put chemicals in the toilet tank. I don’t know exactly which chemical some cleaning people started putting in our toilet tanks about 10 years ago - but I observed a few months into that experience that the brass screws that held the tank on the toilet bowl were being chemically dissolved.

Pumice is not going to harm porcelain in my opinion. Other options include Bar Keepers Friend and Comet brand cleaner.

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The white deposit is mineral buildup from water that has evaporated and left the natural minerals behind. Vinegar works, or CLR or LimeAway. The white deposit is sometimes called “hard water deposits”.

Pumice works fine on porcelain. It will scratch brass or grout but you won’t find any of that down in the toilet.

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I think the white stains are hard water deposits. I think vinegar would work, as the other poster suggested.

Probably the green scrubby part of the yellow/green kitchen sponge would work, also.

What is the white deposit on the inside bottom of glass vases, toothbrush glasses, my dish drainer,

Those are minerals (usually calcium of some type) that were dissolved in your water. As the water evaporates, the calcium can’t stay dissolved in the water, so it comes out of solution and leaves a deposit.

and is there something simple that would dissolve it?

As already mentioned, vinegar is one solution. Stronger acids are another, but can be nasty to deal with.

I have stumbled on a different fix. I leave a pitcher of water on my counter to top off evaporation from my fish tank. I’d let it sit for up to a week to let the trace amounts of chlorine the water company puts in the water come out of the water. (Chlorine is bad for fish) Since I have to leave the water open to the air, there would always be a bit of evaporation. And that left lots of hard water deposits on the plastic pitcher. A while ago, I started running that make up water through a Brita water filter before letting it sit out. In pretty short order, all of those hard water deposits disappeared. I figure that the water filter was removing a lot of the hardness (the dissolved minerals) from the water. That much softer water was now dissolving those old hard water stains and removing them for me with no work on my part. In a couple of months, the pitcher was as clear as the day we bought it.

You could replace the filtered water with distilled water. It should have the same effect. Try filling the vase or glass with distilled water, then wait a week or so. See how much of the stains disappear. Dump out the water (use it for plants or something similar), then repeat another time or two. My guess is that the stains will get rid of themselves with little or no work on your part.

I can remove the line in the toilets by scrubbing with a pumice stone. My daughter tells me that doing this will scratch up the bowl and make the problem worse. Is this true?

No. Pumice stones are safe to use on porcelain. You don’t want to grind them in with heavy pressure. Just press a bit more than lightly on the stone and rub it back and forth, keeping the stone wet. There will be no damage to your porcelain bowl. Once cleaned of the ring, keep the ring from coming back by cleaning the bowl every 2 - 4 weeks with a bowl cleaner.

I used a pumice stone on our toilet bowl when we first bought the house almost 25 years ago. It’s looked great since then - even through the times we weren’t the most diligent house keepers.

–Peter

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It can usually be cleaned with an acid. Vinegar should work. An acid toilet bowl cleaner such as The Works from Walmart should work better. It contains hydrogen chloride (ie hydrochloric acid). Keep it away from metals and rinse thoroughly. - pauleckler


I have tried all sorts of things for that waterline discoloration in the toilet bowel. Various bowel cleaners, chlorine bleach, oxy clean powder paste, comet paste (but no scrubbing, CLR, all with minimal effect, the faint line was still visible.

Finally as a last resort, I reached for the hydrochloric (muratic) acid, the high strength stuff used to adjust PH in swimming pools. Multiple applications, No effect. If straight HCl won’t work, I don’t see how a wimpy vinegar product would stand a chance. Just sayin’

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I have tried all sorts of things for that waterline discoloration in the toilet bowel. Various bowel cleaners, chlorine bleach, oxy clean powder paste, comet paste (but no scrubbing, CLR, all with minimal effect, the faint line was still visible.

Finally as a last resort, I reached for the hydrochloric (muriatic) acid, the high strength stuff used to adjust PH in swimming pools. Multiple applications, No effect. If straight HCl won’t work, I don’t see how a wimpy vinegar product would stand a chance. Just sayin’

I see several in this thread have said pumice won’t harm porcelain. That was something I haven’t tried because I was afraid of scratching the porcelain and making the problem worse.

But now I will give that a try. Maybe there is hope after all.

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I have tried all sorts of things for that waterline discoloration in the toilet bowel. Various bowel cleaners, chlorine bleach, oxy clean powder paste, comet paste (but no scrubbing, CLR, all with minimal effect, the faint line was still visible.

What sort of discoloration was/is it?
If it’s white and on the surface of the porcelain, then acids are likely to remove it.
You can tell if it’s on the surface by touching it - it should be glass smooth.

If something has etched away the surface - or if the discoloration has stained the surface (may be possible for rust molecules to migrate into the glass) then acids probably won’t help.

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My mom used pumice. I don’t know where she got it. It never scratched the porcelain. It was soft enough to crumble slowly, so little bits would be wherever she was scrubbing. It lasted a good while, but eventually has to be replaced. I suspect that’s why it didn’t scratch.

FWIW.

Thanks all. Pumice does work - I just needed to know that it wouldn’t harm the porcelain. Amazon has a nice one on a stick, looks like an ice cream pop, and it has a string loop so I can keep it hanging from the toilet’s water shut off.

I have to say - it’s really nice to see so many responses from familiar old fools whose posts I’ve been reading for so many years, some for over two decades! I used to spend a lot of time every day reading posts on TMF and now when I go to my list of favorite boards I often see a string of 0 posts. Rest assured - if you keep posting, I’ll keep reading!

Trini

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I’m also on canonian’s Discord. And there is a home maintenance board. Not quite as necessary when we thought this board was going to close, but it is available.