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Author:
adkroot (NY)
Toilet suddenly began flushing poorly and not at all. No clog after snaking, and bucket poured in flushed it fine.
A couple months ago I cleaned out quite a bit of dark grey brittle buildup that had formed in the large siphon jet opposite the bowl exit drain and that corrected the issue. It started again, and this time I was able to flake off a large piece that had formed in the exit drain at the bowl, but I’m still not getting much of a flush. I’m thinking there’s more that’s out of reach.
But my question is this: I have relatively low ph well water (6.24) so it seems unlikely that it would be limescale, right? My hardness is 17 mg/l so there doesn’t seem to be a high level of minerals (iron is .030 mg/l), although I didn’t test for magnesium.
Any ideas what might be causing this buildup? Thanks, Daniel
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Author:
george 7941 (Canada)
Don't know about the cause of the buildup but I remove minerals deposits by first scraping off deposits as much as possible and then letting warm water and muriatic acid (pool supply aisle at the big box stores) sit in the bowl for fifteen minutes.
Edited 2 times.
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Author:
Curly (CA)
Most likely the cause of the build up is urine.
In an effort to save water a lot of people do not flush the toilet each time they use it and the urine salts will build up. I have seen them close up a 1" or bigger hole.
When you have nothing better to do pull a urinal off the wall and you will see what I'm talking about.
You can remove them as George suggested. In my experience the longer the acid sits in the toilet bowl the better.
It goes without saying you need to follow all safety precautions when using any type of acid.
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Author:
george 7941 (Canada)
Yes, Curly, urine salts can build up. At home I tried not flushing after no 1 for a couple of months, in an effort to be environmentally friendly and cut down on water use. The chemicals I had to use to remove the urine salts buildup and the scrubbing it took made me change my ways.
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Author:
ArthurPeabody (NM)
When I bought my current home the toilet had a lot of mineral deposits. It didn't clog the toilet, but I didn't like it. I scraped it with a plastic blade and put borax in the toilet every night. It took a few weeks but eventually it was as clean as a whistle. I don't like dealing with the strong acids.
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Author:
adkroot (NY)
That seems to hit the nail on the head. I’m on a septic system and hold to the old adage, if it’s yellow let it mellow. Thanks for input. I’ll have to modify old habits. Dan
Edited 1 times.
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