If the actual bowl of your toilet looks brown, you are probably dealing with limescale. Limescale forms as a result of the buildup of mineral deposits from the water – an extremely common problem in the UK. Over time, the mineral deposit stains can turn brown due to iron in the water and also because a chemical reaction occurs when urine comes into contact with limescale.
Cleaning influencer Beckie, who regularly posts regular cleaning tips and tricks, has taken to her Facebook page, Beckies bit of Sparkle, to share an “easy hack to remove limescale from the toilet”. She demonstrated in a video that with the help of citric acid, the stained mineral deposits can disappear “overnight”.
Beckie pointed out that citric acid can be used to clean the toilet bowl and the rim.
She said, “Limescale can be a right pain if you live in a hard water area, like I do. But citric acid has become my best friend. For the toilet bowl, I just add a scoop and leave it to work for a few hours, or if you can overnight.
“For the rim, I dilute some citrus acid into a bottle and spray tissue. Then pop under the rim and leave for a few hours. The results are always great. You can use any citric acid.”
Citric acid is a naturally occurring acid found in a variety of fruits and vegetables. As you may deduce from its name, citric acid is particularly in lemons and limes. You can also pick it up at stores in powdered form.
Although you can add the citric acid straight to the toilet bowl to remove limescale, it works better if most of the water is removed first, according to the cleaning experts at Smol.
It is best to plunge out as much water as you can and then pour in a scoop of citric acid and leave it overnight.
Without the dilution of the toilet water, you should find the product gets to work directly on the limescale.
To remove limescale from the toilet rim, add a scoop of citric acid to a spray bottle with a small amount of water before applying it to some kitchen roll.
Apply the citric acid-soaked kitchen roll to the rim of the toilet and let that sit overnight, or for a minimum of several hours – the longer the better.
The next morning, give the toilet a flush, and the stains in the bowl and rim should have all melted away.
