Drop-in toilet cleaners are chlorine-based cleaning tablets that you drop into your toilet tank. Drop-in toilet cleaners can corrode your toilet part and reduce its functionality. The ideal way to clean your toilet is by hand, with a non-abrasive cleaner or baking soda and vinegar.
Introducing Scrubbing Bubbles® Drop-Ins™ Toilet Cleaning Tablets. Just drop a tablet into your tank to help keep your toilet bowl stain-free up to 4 weeks. With every flush, your toilet enjoys glorious relief from stains caused by hard water, minerals and limescale.
You may like the fresh blue look of the water when using in-tank tablets, but you are actually damaging your toilet — and the long-term cost of repairs and replacements to your toilet far outweigh the short-term ease of dropping in a cleaning solution.
TOILET CLEANERS SAFE FOR SEPTIC SYSTEMS
Many toilet bowl cleaners contain bleach and some are even made with hydrochloric acid. But natural, plant-based cleaners are tough enough to clean your toilet and are safest for your septic system's health and the health of your family.
We've all seen toilets with a vibrant pool of blue water — courtesy of those tank cleaning tablets. While they may seem like the perfect way to sanitize your “throne” and keep it clean, the reality is that they are quite harmful to your toilet.
Vinegar is a great toilet cleaning solution. Not only is it free of chemicals and naturally antibacterial, it's also an acid, so it will remove minor lime and calcium deposits. All you need to do is pour a couple cups of vinegar in your tank and let it sit for an hour or so, then scrub and flush to rinse.
The problem with this hack is that fabric softener is not water-soluble, especially in cold toilet water. This means that the fatty compounds of the softener will stick and build up on loose pieces and pipes, loosening them and ruining your toilet's flushing system.
Fluidmaster's 8202 Toilet Cleaning Refills for Septic Tanks are the perfect solution! These automatic toilet cleaners are specifically designed to work with septic systems, so you can enjoy a sparkling clean toilet without worrying about damaging your septic tank. Plus, they're incredibly easy to use.
Spray the inside of the tank walls and floor with a disinfectant cleaner. A foaming bathroom cleaner works well and will cling to the surface. Avoid spraying the cleaner on any metal components that may rust. Allow the cleaner to work for at least 10 minutes before scrubbing it away with a long-handled scrub brush.
Vinegar is safe and milder than caustic cleaners designed for the toilet, and those commercial cleaning agents can eat away the good bacteria in your septic system. To safely and inexpensively clean your toilet bowls, pour a generous glug of vinegar, followed by a heavy sprinkling of baking soda, into the bowl.
This is a huge inconvenience, especially if this happens unexpectedly. Bleach-containing tablets are harmful to your toilet. They damage your toilet more than they keep it in pristine condition.
DIY Zero Waste Toilet Bowl Cleaner
The best natural alternative you can use is baking soda and white vinegar. Pour equal parts (about one cup) of each into the toilet, let it sit, and then scrub. The vinegar will help eliminate any odor and disinfect your toilet bowl. Citric acid or lemon juice also does the job.
My solution is one of your favorites: white vinegar. I recommend pouring 1 cup of white vinegar into the overflow (the skinny pipe that stands up in the tank). This will allow the vinegar to circulate inside the rim and dissolve buildup when the toilet is flushed.
Short-term: Pour a half cup of chlorine into the bowl (not the tank). Long-term: Do the same. Have a friend periodically flush the toilets while you are gone.
It's easy to let that toilet slip your mind, but it's important to give it a flush at least weekly to keep it flowing and free from sediment and unsightly toilet stains.
Despite the absence of ammonia in most Scrubbing Bubbles products, they still contain other active ingredients that may cause harm if ingested or mishandled.
"The biggest don't when it comes to toilet tanks is bleach—do not use bleach or products containing bleach inside the tank, as it can corrode the internal parts of your toilet. If you are aiming to remove tough stains from the tank, I also recommend white vinegar diluted with water."
Cleaning your toilet, and the entire bathroom, with a solution of ¼ cup of baking soda to ½ cup of vinegar can protect your septic system from damage and keep it running like new.
Toilet bowl cleaners and bleach/chlorine based cleaners should be avoided or minimized. Look for chlorine bleach or chemical sodium hypochlorite on product labels. Using these products could result in your septic tank backing up, creating costly repairs, contaminating your drinking water, odors and much more.
Baking soda and vinegar are safe and effective cleaners for your household drains and, best yet, they are 100% safe for your septic tank and drain field. Bleach and ammonia-based cleaners (i.e. most of the cleaning aisle at the big-box stores) can be harmful to the good bacteria in your septic tank.
According to Abrams, an ordinary bar of soap placed inside a mask, a net, or any other porous material should be a perfectly safe way to keep a toilet bowl clean when you flush it. But there are a few caveats to consider.
Cleaning your toilet regularly with vinegar will prevent hard water stain buildups. Add a little vinegar to the bowl and scrub away stains with your toilet brush once weekly. Since you'll likely have hard water buildups in your toilet tank, a monthly vinegar application up top can keep the whole system clean.