..-.MINDY.-. wrote:
Thanks for all the help I have received from you all in the past... but
I now have another situation. In one of my bathrooms I have a plastic
type toilet bowl. It is porcelain on the outer part... but the inner
part of the bowl that the water touches is a plastic. I had been gone &
I noticed that rust has formed through out where the water is. It is
hardened & not where I can just easily wipe or use a toilet brush to
remove it. When I use a toilet brush it has the effect of getting the
water brown & so I know I am getting something off... but this can take
ages. Is there anything I can use that is not caustic or harmful? I was
thinking of using the product called Soft Scrub. Would that be okay to
try??? Thanks! ..Mindy

The problem is that rust (iron oxide) is not soluble in water. Trying
to remove it with bleach and a number of other products will likely
exacerbate the problem.

Go to a good hardware store, or paint store and look for wood bleach.
Make sure that it is oxalic acid, not some other composition. Pour a
cup of this in and let it dissolve and wait several hours, or a day.
You may need to repeat the process to get all of the rust out.

Oxalic acid, a white powder, when dissolved reacts with he rust (iron
oxide) and creates iron oxalate. Iron oxalate is one of the few iron
compounds that is water soluble.

Note, although present in green leafy vegetables, oxalates are poisonous
so don't eat it.

Boden