Clear your siphon hole in the toilet

[CarLuver]

i was having an issue with a toilet in my house. it would flush ,but the water would just swirl and most of the time needed 2 or 3 flushes before it would clean. i thought i may have a plugged toilet , and was ready to pull it and snake it if needed. before i did that i check online for any info on this. i found some info about the siphon hole can get plugged and cause slow flushes. hmmmm . so i took a screwdriver to the hole and it was plugged . i scraped out quite a bit of what seem to be calcium.

now it flushes like new. i have done many a toilet and flush valves, but never knew of this hole being an issue . So if you have a slow flushing toilet you might consider checking the siphon hole

 

[Kira]

Yup. The siphon hole is what starts the outward flow of effluent.

If your stool mass is large enough (think first dump after a chili con carne eating contest) and lays over the siphon hole, the incoming water from the tank will be real slow to exit. You could even get to an overflow level.

They should make an emoji for that one.

 

[brianl703]

Newer toilets don't usually have that hole. Not sure when they stopped making toilets with them, probably about the time that the low water use toilets became mandatory.

 

[y_p_w]

Newer toilets don't usually have that hole. Not sure when they stopped making toilets with them, probably about the time that the low water use toilets became mandatory.

I was wondering why this was referring to. I've got a couple of 1.28 gpf toilets and they work way better than the old 4-6 gallon toilets they replaced. Those would plug up easily. While the newer low flow toilets can be plugged up, it will take a lot of TP (and my kid had a habit of that) but a plunger usually takes care of that.

But the newer ones have fully glazed traps and wide flapper openings, or maybe something like a flush tower. Newer toilets function much better than older toilets. I remember staying in hotels that somehow still had 3.5 gallons toilets with float valves and they would plug up pretty easily.

 

[oilcandave]

Washdown potties are usually the home center cheapies. Quality potties still have the jet.

To clean bowl get some muriatic acid..pool acidifyer or equivalent. Empty bowl of water. Pour gallon onto overflow tube in tank. Becareful of fumes as they are nasty..

 

[CarLuver]

Newer toilets don't usually have that hole. Not sure when they stopped making toilets with them, probably about the time that the low water use toilets became mandatory.

the toilet i had an issue with is an old toilet that too lazy to change a low water use one. But i do have a low flush one thats about 10 years old and it still has the siphon hole.

 

[hrv]

Washdown potties are usually the home center cheapies. Quality potties still have the jet.

To clean bowl get some muriatic acid..pool acidifyer or equivalent. Empty bowl of water. Pour gallon onto bowl. Becareful of fumes as they are nasty..

How long to you leave it in the bowl also do you just let it stand or do you swish it around in the bowl with a brush?????

 

[oilcandave]

How long to you leave it in the bowl also do you just let it stand or do you swish it around in the bowl with a brush?????

Usually hour or so. Depending on deposit makeup the fumes can kill so need to be careful. Ive done them for 40 years and sometimes i still get caught by the fumes. So swishing is optional.

Pour acid down overflow tube so the rim holes will get some acid. Leave tank full of water. Just empty bowl.

A leaking potty will lime up alot quicker...

 

[vavavroom]

Must....not.....snark.

 

[brianl703]

Pour acid down overflow tube so the rim holes will get some acid

Can also pour toilet bowl cleaner into the overflow tube, it's acid as well.

 

[y_p_w]

Can also pour toilet bowl cleaner into the overflow tube, it's acid as well.

Not all toilet bowl cleaners are acidic. I've used quite a few that aren't. And I've had urine stains on the edge of the bowl and they simply don't come off without something really nasty (even CLR doesn't remove it) or with scraping with something like a putty knife. Mineral deposit are a real pain to remove unless you've got something like concentrated hydrochloric acid, and as someone who helped dilute that in a chemistry lab, I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[brianl703]

Not all toilet bowl cleaners are acidic

All the ones I buy (blue liquid in a dispenser designed to squirt underside the rim of the bowl) are.

. I've used quite a few that aren't.

They probably don't work very well on hard water stains, either.

What's the point of such a product? You might as well use laundry detergent.

And I've had urine stains on the edge of the bowl and they simply don't come off without something really nasty (even CLR doesn't remove it) or with scraping with something like a putty knife. Mineral deposit are a real pain to remove unless you've got something like concentrated hydrochloric acid

Lysol toilet bowl cleaner that I buy in a 6-pack from Costco is 12% hydrochloric acid per the label (the label advertises "20% more limescale removing power!"), and works fine to remove mineral deposits. It works about as well as CLR (maybe even better) and I use it in place of CLR for cleaning things other than toilets..(it's also less than half the price, CLR is quite expensive for what it is). I use a plunger to lower the water level in the bowl, apply the cleaner, wait 30 minutes, apply some more, leave it overnight and by the next morning the hard water deposits are gone.

I have very hard water, it's well water.

 

[y_p_w]

All the ones I buy (blue liquid in a dispenser designed to squirt underside the rim of the bowl) are.



They probably don't work very well on hard water stains, either.

What's the point of such a product? You might as well use laundry detergent.



Lysol toilet bowl cleaner that I buy in a 6-pack from Costco is 12% hydrochloric acid per the label (the label advertises "20% more limescale removing power!"), and works fine to remove mineral deposits. It works about as well as CLR (maybe even better) and I use it in place of CLR for cleaning things other than toilets..(it's also less than half the price, CLR is quite expensive for what it is). I use a plunger to lower the water level in the bowl, apply the cleaner, wait 30 minutes, apply some more, leave it overnight and by the next morning the hard water deposits are gone.

I have very hard water, it's well water.

I've tried several of the cleaners with sulfamic acid or HCl. Barely does anything with urine stains unless there's scrubbing involved.

But the ones I was thinking of are like this one. The list of potentially hazardous ingredients seem to be disinfectants.

SmartLabel - LYSOL® LYSOL® Clean & Fresh Toilet Bowl Cleaner - Country (Discontinued Aug. 30, 2019)

Alkyl (50% C14, 40% C12, 10% C16) dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride​

Octyl Decyl Dimethyl Ammonium Chloride​

Didecyl Dimethyl Ammonium Chloride​

Dioctyl Dimethyl Ammonium Chloride​

​

 

[brianl703]

I've tried several of the cleaners with sulfamic acid or HCl. Barely does anything with urine stains unless there's scrubbing involved

They work very well on hard water deposits, which is the main problem with my toilet. Never noticed any issue with urine stains, though I can't determine for sure whether the mess is a urine stain or iron deposits (got those, too).

At one point I was gonna try to get some sodium bisulfate (sold as ph minus for swimming pools) and see how that works. That was the active ingredient in "crystal" powder toilet bowl cleaners like sani-flush before they discontinued them.

But the ones I was thinking of are like this one. The list of potentially hazardous ingredients seem to be disinfectants

They probably work fine if you have soft water. Useless for what builds up in my toilet.

 

[y_p_w]

They work very well on hard water deposits, which is the main problem with my toilet. Never noticed any issue with urine stains, though I can't determine for sure whether the mess is a urine stain or iron deposits (got those, too).

Oh - I know that what I've got are urine stains. It's pretty obvious. The dry up into these hard crystals that remain stuck, even on the glaze. The only thing I've found that works to remove them (that I feel comfortable using) is a tool and elbow grease.

 

[Lubener]

I have had success letting a bottle of CLR sit in an empty bowl overnight to dissolve those calcium deposits.

 

[oilcandave]

Another plumber awhile back got mixed up and started to pour sulfuric acid (Blastout drain cleaner)in the potty to clean it. Mixed with small amount of water at the bottom of potty..got real hot and cracked the potty...acid ran all over the floor...vapors caught him and almost didnt make it out of the bathroom he was working on.

Wholesalers stopped selling it..insurance company issue..

 

[Rand]

buy the works classic clean toilet bowl cleaner.. at walmart or DG.
cheap works great.

 

[Kira]

IRONY: "The Works" was considerably stronger just a short while ago. It was the 'wonder find' in dollar stores.
It's still good.

I used it to clean my wife's office thermos (0.5l). The coffee residue it removed resembled a sheet of cellophane.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Toilet bowl cleaner for men. (I didn't know there was such a product.)
Flush the toilet. When it stops running, place some TP over top any iron stains. Squirt some of the cleaner on the TP. It will help adhere the product for hours.