How to Clean Rust in the Toilet Tank

Guess where the rust is?

Even for people who keep an immaculately clean house there can be areas that are simply left uncleaned for long stretches of time. The toilet tank, being covered with a lid, is out of sight and usually forgotten about. Forgetting to clean your toilet tank regularly can lead to rust buildup and staining. If you have discovered rust lurking in your toilet tank you can use a few simple household items to fix the issue.

Things You'll Need

• Steel wool
• Dish detergent
• Ammonia
• Paper towel
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon ammonia (or any cleaning product with a high concentration of ammonia)
• WD40 (or a similar product)

Instructions

1. Use the steel wool to scrub as much of the rust off of the area of your toilet tank as you possibly can. Really apply a good amount of pressure, but also be cautious not to break any of the moving parts within the toilet tank.

2. Apply a thin layer of dish detergent to the areas where rust is visible and allow the detergent to soak in the toilet tank, undisturbed, for at least 30 minutes.

3. Wet down a few sheets of paper towel and gently blot at the dish detergent, almost as you would try to blot a stain from your clothing or carpet. Don't push hard and grind the rust in, but gently blot at it, dampening your towel again as needed. If all of the rust is gone then you're done; if not then you'll need to continue to the next step.

4. Mix together one cup of water and one tablespoon of ammonia, then apply the solution to the areas in your toilet tank that still display rust stains. Let the ammonia react with the stain for one to two minutes, then rinse away, flushing the toilet as you go to remove any buildup of ammonia.

5. Repeat this ammonia application and rinsing process until the stain is gone. Then, after allowing the area to dry fully, apply a good coating of WD40 to all exposed areas of your toilet tank to prevent rust problems from occurring again in the future.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't use bleach on rust stains. Doing so will often only make the problem worse and result in a toilet bowl with worse rust problems than before you started. Make sure the area you're working in is properly ventilated because ammonia is a hazardous and toxic substance. Also, follow all warnings that come with your ammonia product and read the bottle carefully before use.

Resources

• How to Clean a Toilet