On the Alchemy of Cleaning Toilets
I've a simple approach, I stick to tried and trusted methods. A simple scale of escalation depending on the nature of the problem that broadly goes: bog brush, bleach, limescale remover then bleach, vim and elbow grease, and for really persistent problems vim and silver sand and elbow grease.
My partner, however, believes in all out chemical warfare. She is on a never ending quest for the strongest, most effective cleaning agent, particularly for limescale. This time she may have found it from Odell's in Stoney. This is a very old hardware store that still has lots of drawers behind the counter for the smaller wares. If you've the "fork handles" sketch in your head, you won't be far wrong.
The product in question was "Spirits of Salt" (and this is where those with an interest in the history of Chemistry will probably guess what's coming). The previous concoction if the bowl was flushed away, and good long squirt of this archaically named product applied to the rim and pan. It started to fume. While I'm appreciative of vigorous bubbling from a cleaning product, fuming is right out. Remove cats, open window, leave, closing door behind you.
Spirits of Salt is Hydrochloric Acid. Specifically here in .uk it tends to be around 30%, and needs to be treated with some care. That old saw about always add acid to water kinda assumes it is a large volume of water; a thin film on a toilet bowl doesn't cut it.
So spirits of salt has been determined to be a step too far in toilet bowl cleaning; use for blocked drains only.
The new challenge is how to remove what I can only assume is iron chloride "rust" from the stainless steel cabinet in the same room. I'm going with toothpaste and elbow grease...
My partner, however, believes in all out chemical warfare. She is on a never ending quest for the strongest, most effective cleaning agent, particularly for limescale. This time she may have found it from Odell's in Stoney. This is a very old hardware store that still has lots of drawers behind the counter for the smaller wares. If you've the "fork handles" sketch in your head, you won't be far wrong.
The product in question was "Spirits of Salt" (and this is where those with an interest in the history of Chemistry will probably guess what's coming). The previous concoction if the bowl was flushed away, and good long squirt of this archaically named product applied to the rim and pan. It started to fume. While I'm appreciative of vigorous bubbling from a cleaning product, fuming is right out. Remove cats, open window, leave, closing door behind you.
Spirits of Salt is Hydrochloric Acid. Specifically here in .uk it tends to be around 30%, and needs to be treated with some care. That old saw about always add acid to water kinda assumes it is a large volume of water; a thin film on a toilet bowl doesn't cut it.
So spirits of salt has been determined to be a step too far in toilet bowl cleaning; use for blocked drains only.
The new challenge is how to remove what I can only assume is iron chloride "rust" from the stainless steel cabinet in the same room. I'm going with toothpaste and elbow grease...