An indelicate subject, we in the West use toilets everyday, multiple times a day.* If your home or toilet is old, it may start running slow, slowly, flushing poorly, not flushing completely. The culprit?...The culprit of the slow flush is often MINERAL buildup in the holes that fill the bowl as you flush, often around the rim, otherwise low in the toilet bowl.
Do you have to go to the expense and trouble of replacing your toilet? NO! If it is fine otherwise, it may well be superior to many modern toilets, especially if you prefer not to buy the high end ones. So how do you fix it, instead of replacing the toilet? You have to: ⇉⇉Dissolve or remove the minerals.
To remove them brute force, flush the toilet, then when the bowl is empty, turn off the water, & scrape away at the holes under the lid, using a strong wire, for example a wire clothes hanger. You can use a hand mirror to aid you in seeing what you are doing with the holes under the lid—Family Handyman has pictures here.
To {dissolve} the minerals, which come from 'hard' water—basically calcium deposits like you might find in a kettle, also known as calcifcation or lime scale—use commercial products like CLR or generic versions, that contain the key ingredient of hydrochloric acid, or the hazardous muriatic acid, OR more natural products like vinegar or lemon juics, possibly with the addition of baking soda, mixed into a paste, for added oomph.
However...it takes time for any product to work, up to half hour for the commercial preparations, and up to a half a day, or at least a few hours, for the vinegar (& it may take several applications), and because these deposits are in awkward spots, you may need to rig up a way to keep the vinegar in contact with the deposits (as in when a shower is calcified, a classic solution is to tie a baggy with vinegar around the shower head for a few hours to let it soak).
Another, very slow, but very easy method of dissolving vinegar (& this is my OWN idea, I have NOT seen it anywhere else on the interwebs) is to use a very slightly leaky container of vinegar in the tank, so that with each flush, a very dilute acid (vinegar is an acid, acetic acid) will keep eroding the calcification of the holes. I will work on various implementations, and report back later....
WORKAROUND: WHILE you still have calicifcation, use a gallon jug that's had it's top cut off to make a bigger opening, in your sink, to catch the 'gray water' (soapy water) from when you wash your hand. When you flush, you can dump this gallon of water in at the same time, and the toilet will work much better.
Happy fast flushing...it's the little things in life, isn't it?!!😄
*One of the reasons girls don't go to schools in areas where there are no toilets, is they often don't have access to sanitation materials. See the World Bank article discussing this here.
Do you have to go to the expense and trouble of replacing your toilet? NO! If it is fine otherwise, it may well be superior to many modern toilets, especially if you prefer not to buy the high end ones. So how do you fix it, instead of replacing the toilet? You have to: ⇉⇉Dissolve or remove the minerals.
To remove them brute force, flush the toilet, then when the bowl is empty, turn off the water, & scrape away at the holes under the lid, using a strong wire, for example a wire clothes hanger. You can use a hand mirror to aid you in seeing what you are doing with the holes under the lid—Family Handyman has pictures here.
To {dissolve} the minerals, which come from 'hard' water—basically calcium deposits like you might find in a kettle, also known as calcifcation or lime scale—use commercial products like CLR or generic versions, that contain the key ingredient of hydrochloric acid, or the hazardous muriatic acid, OR more natural products like vinegar or lemon juics, possibly with the addition of baking soda, mixed into a paste, for added oomph.
However...it takes time for any product to work, up to half hour for the commercial preparations, and up to a half a day, or at least a few hours, for the vinegar (& it may take several applications), and because these deposits are in awkward spots, you may need to rig up a way to keep the vinegar in contact with the deposits (as in when a shower is calcified, a classic solution is to tie a baggy with vinegar around the shower head for a few hours to let it soak).
Another, very slow, but very easy method of dissolving vinegar (& this is my OWN idea, I have NOT seen it anywhere else on the interwebs) is to use a very slightly leaky container of vinegar in the tank, so that with each flush, a very dilute acid (vinegar is an acid, acetic acid) will keep eroding the calcification of the holes. I will work on various implementations, and report back later....
WORKAROUND: WHILE you still have calicifcation, use a gallon jug that's had it's top cut off to make a bigger opening, in your sink, to catch the 'gray water' (soapy water) from when you wash your hand. When you flush, you can dump this gallon of water in at the same time, and the toilet will work much better.
Happy fast flushing...it's the little things in life, isn't it?!!😄
*One of the reasons girls don't go to schools in areas where there are no toilets, is they often don't have access to sanitation materials. See the World Bank article discussing this here.
