It may not be your favorite job, but it just might be one of the most necessary. That’s right, we’re talking about cleaning your toilet bowl. Specifically, we’re talking about cleaning the toilet jets on the underside of the bowl.
These jets often become clogged with mineral deposits from hard water, bacteria, and more. These jets play a crucial role in helping your toilet flush, and we’re explaining how to get them back into proper working order.
The most popular method for how to clean toilet jets is to pour a vinegar solution into the overflow tube, flush the toilet, and then manually clean the jets. Of course, the process is a bit more intricate than this, which is why you should read through our step-by-step guide to cleaning rim jets:
Step-By-Step Guide to Clean Toilet Jets – How do you remove calcium deposits from toilet Jets?
In this guide, we’re showing you how to remove the mineral buildup that is clogging your clean toilet siphon jet.
Before You Begin: Gather Materials
First, gather the materials you need, here’s what you should get:
Yes! As you will see, vinegar is our number one recommendation.
Step 1: Heat Vinegar
As mentioned, there are several ways to clean your jets, but our number one recommendation is to use good old white vinegar.
First, you need to heat the vinegar for maximum effectiveness. Take 1 cup of vinegar, and heat over the stove until it is hot, but not boiling. Then, pour the vinegar back into the measuring cup or any vessel that is easy to pour.
Step 2: Pour Vinegar into Overflow Tube
Next, you need to locate the overflow tube inside your toilet tank. Take the lid off your tank, and the overflow tube will look like a large cylindrical tube with an open-top (pictured below). There is usually a smaller tube clipped inside the top of the overflow tube. You want to pour the vinegar inside this overflow tube.
Let the vinegar sit for about half an hour while it drains down into the clean toilet siphons and eventually into the toilet bowl. The vinegar will work to break down the mineral or calcium buildup in the toilet rim hole during this time. Then, flush the toilet.
Step 3: Cleaning Out The Jets
Next is the manual stage of the process. Using your Allen wrench, you’ll manually scrape each water jet hole to free it from mineral buildup or any bacteria. If you don’t have an Allen wrench, you can bend a piece of wire (or clothes hanger) to use.
Hold your hand mirror in one hand, so you can have a view of the jet nozzle and scrape away. You should see the buildup come loose as you go. During the scrape, flush the toilet at intervals, which will free some of the buildup you have loosened.
If you’re having trouble cleaning the jets, try a bigger or smaller Allen wrench. A smaller one will allow you to be more precise, while a larger one will cover more surface area.
Step 4: Clean
Cleaning the toilet bowl is the proper finishing touch to put on this procedure. Take your toilet brush, apply some toilet bowl cleaner, muriatic acid, or vinegar and baking soda, and start scrubbing.
Scrub the toilet brush against the rim where the toilet’s siphon jets are located and attempt to get the bristles inside the jets. While you’re at it, might as well clean the rest of the bowl and wipe down the toilet seat and flush valve with a paper towel!
After this thorough cleaning, you should be good to go. You will have to adjust your approach depending on the extent of the buildup.
We used vinegar as our primary cleaning ingredient in this guide, but there are other approaches to unclogging toilet jets. Before we wrap up, we’ll briefly cover a few. We chose the method above because we believe it is the most effective and also most accessible.
If you are looking for an alternate method, here are some to consider:
Will Bleach Clean Toilet Jets?
Using a bleach solution is a popular alternative to vinegar. Bleach is more effective if you have toilet jets clogged with bacteria rather than a mineral buildup clogged jet. Bleach kills the bacteria, making it easy to wash away.
The approach is similar to the process above. You want to make about a cup of bleach solution (roughly 10:1 warm water – not hot water – to bleach). Then, pour the bleach into the overflow tube and let sit for about 5 minutes. Flush the toilet, and then use the manual cleaning method we examined above.
Will CLR clean toilet Jets?
Yes! CLR is a de-limer and is an industrial-strength chemical designed to remove calcium buildup, limescale, and rust buildup. Once again, the approach is similar to the above. You’ll pour the CLR into the overflow tube and letting it sit before flushing. It’s important to follow the instructions on the specific de-limer that you buy.
Some people would recommend that you cover the toilet jets with duct tape before you begin to trap the de-limer in the jets and make it more effective at breaking up mineral deposits. You also need to turn off the water supply before you do this because the tank needs to be dry to apply the duct tape, which can cause problems in the toilet trap.
We think the duct tape is a bit much and isn’t worth the extra effort for slightly better results. So, unless you have serious buildup, don’t bother with the duct tape. If you have serious buildup from hard water deposits, you can use a water softener to prevent future problems.
If you have a slow flushing toilet, in addition to the above, you can also try refilling the water level in the tank, cleaning around the rim of the bowl, or making sure that toilet paper isn’t blocking the drain. If there is backup, you might have a problem in your septic tank.
How do you keep a toilet clean without scrubbing?
One of the best ways to keep a toilet clean and avoid toilet stains without scrubbing is to use thick bleach. Pour or squirt the bleach on the inside of the bowl at the end of the night and let it sit as you sleep. When you wake up in the morning, your toilet will be clean!
Conclusion
Thanks for reading our guide to cleaning out your toilet jets. By cleaning your jets, you’ll find your toilet flushes more efficiently and effectively. No more slow flushes, and no more toilets that won’t flush completely. Be sure that you thoroughly evaluate the problem and tailor your approach accordingly. Then, follow our steps above – good luck!
