Chemical cleaners that can be used include Lime-A-Way, The Works Toilet Bowl Cleaner and Oxyclean. Follow directions and cautions on the containers if you use these cleaners.
Without draining out the water, pour white vinegar into the tank, stopping at least an inch below the top rim. Let the vinegar-water solution sit for 12 hours to dissolve mineral deposits, rust, and mildew. Flush the toilet a couple of times to remove the vinegar from the tank.
Do Not Use Much More Laundry Detergent in Toilet Tanks. Because the laundry detergent will clog, and even damage pipes before long. Experts said that neither your toilet nor septic system will be damaged by the trick, that it is safe to try directly.
In general, plumbers caution against the use of any chemicals inside a toilet tank and suggest instead using bowl-based toilet cleaners. Adding anything but water to a toilet tank could result in potentially costly repairs, Abrams says.
The Bottom Line
Putting a bottle of Fabuloso in the toilet tank is not dangerous, but it's not good for the overall toilet performance. It has a couple of negative consequences – it decreases the capacity of the tank and may even damage your toilet's components in the long run.
Fabric softener could ruin your bathroom plumbing
Godby Heating, Plumbing, and Electrical advises homeowners to ignore this fabric softener fad, since it'll cause a slimy residue coating all over your pipes. Flush that idea down the drain!
Fortunately, there is another method to unclog your toilet that doesn't require using a plunger! Apparently, you can use dishwashing liquid or liquid laundry detergent! Have you ever tried this before?
Why you shouldn't put dish soap in your toilet
“It ruins your system, so don't do it,” wrote one person, and another added, “Please don't do this - the rubber/seals in your toilet cistern can break down when anything else but water is used in there.”
Steps For An Expert Clean
Cleaning toilets and disinfecting toilet bowls is easier with these tips. Pour Pine-Sol® directly onto a sponge, rag or scrubbing brush. Wipe down the toilet tank, lid, seat cover and outside of the bowl, reapplying more cleaner as needed. Rinse each surface with water.
Green or brown stains in the toilet usually indicate lime buildup. Lime scale forms as hard water evaporates and leaves a mineral buildup behind. As it dries, it picks up any dirt particles along with it, and slowly the stain builds, layer by layer, on the inside of the toilet bowl.
Pour a cup of bleach (usually one cup for every gallon) into the tank and scrub the sides to get rid of the mold in the tank. Once you have gotten rid of the source mold, flush it a few times and you are good to go.
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 easiest way to thoroughly clean the toilet tank is to spray it down with a disinfectant cleaning spray such as Lysol or 409. Using a disinfectant spray will loosen much of the build-up, and kill most of the bacteria and germs.
Preparing to Clean the Toilet Tank
"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."
You can use liquid dish soap on its own to clean the toilet. Dawn liquid dish soap works particularly well due to its degreasing properties. Squeeze a squirt or two of liquid dish soap directly into the toilet bowl. Use a toilet bowl brush and scrub the bowl as you would scrub dirty dishes.
While chlorine tablets are safe for pools, they are unfortunately not safe for toilets. In fact, using chlorine tablets in a toilet may cause serious damage over time. Avoid any type of cleaner that will sit in the tank.
Original blue Dawn dish detergent has a wide variety of uses other than its intended one for cleaning dishes. They range from removing fleas from pets, ridding your plants of insect pests, to its inclusion in homemade cleaning solutions.
Coke and Pepsi are loaded with phosphoric acid, which breaks down buildup that can clog your drains! Phosphoric acid can even remove lime scale and other tough buildup that regular cleaners struggle with. This is an effective and refreshing home remedy if we ever saw one!
Clean the Toilet Regularly
There is no need to use harsh and costly chemicals to prevent hard water toilet stains. Borax, vinegar, and baking soda do a great job of cleaning and disinfecting. Used regularly, they will prevent hard water stains from building up.
Vinegar And Baking Soda
You'll need a pot of hot water, a cup of baking soda and a cup of vinegar. Pour the baking soda into your toilet bowl. Then add the vinegar a little bit at a time to avoid overflow. The mixture should start fizzing and bubbling immediately.
If the clog is minor, pour all of the baking soda measured into the toilet bowl. If the clog is severe, pour up to one-half a cup of baking soda in the toilet. Remember to use equal parts of vinegar and baking soda. So, for every one cup of baking soda you use, use one cup of vinegar.
Soak some paper towels in vinegar and stuff them inside the toilet rim and leave them so the vinegar can dissolve the calcium buildup. Remove them after a couple of hours and scrub well using a toilet brush and toilet cleaner; then flush.
Black rings form in the toilet bowl due to hard water. Hard water has minerals that accumulate. When the minerals form in the toilet, they may appear brown, gray or black in color.
You can also let it sit for several hours or even overnight. You can even just pour the vinegar into the toilet bowl's water and let it sit. This is especially effective if there is a toilet ring at water height.