Cleaning mineral deposits from Sanigloss

[Reach4]

We have had 3 of these for about 10 years. It has never been a simple swish to clean. The enhanced bowl cleaning that induced be to buy them is also not particularly effective. In my mind Toto has been doing some false advertising. These won't collect dirt; but if they do you can't use anything available or useful to fix it without ruining the non-stick quality; which did not work. Similar argument for cleaning the bowl when flushing. A major consideration for my bowl.

We have had only one clog; from an over achieving paper user. And that was the primary reason for selecting the Toto's. So I am happy overall.

My wife eventually refused to follow the requirement of not using a cleaner and snuck in some Lysol. From inexact observation, her bowl is no easier to clean than mine, and I have not used Lysol. With my bowl, I can never really get the ring off. We have well water without unusual chemical content.

Nothing in https://www.totousa.com/product-faqs says Lysol bowl cleaner is not appropriate the way I read it.

 

[Derek87]

thanks guys. i finally gave up in waiting for an electronic reply and called Toto directly. after a bunch of pushing me around, i finally got to talk to one person (Chris) who was willing to have a somewhat intelligent conversation with me about it. some bullet points from our conversation:

- hard water area: might be wise to go without CEFIONTECT. this is good advice except that all the models we are currently considering only come in CEFIONTECT except for the black/ebony toilet (that's a non starter)

- powdered cleansers are out

- for hard water, they recommend CLR, and even putting in the tank and letting it sit overnight. to get better performance on the water line ring, they suggest putting toilet paper around the water level line, and then spraying CLR and letting it sit.

- a senior colleague of his (no name given, but Chris spent time talking to him while i was on hold) suggested the liquid barkeeper's friend should be ok.

in short, it sounds like acids are probably fine on the CEFIONTECT. it is the abrasive nature of powdered Comet and Barkeeper's Friend that are the issue.

i'm still not sure what we'll do. we will likely just go ahead, then hope and pray we can keep the mineral deposits from getting bad using the above mentioned methods. i'm guessing liquid barkeeper's should work well so long as we use it regularly enough. CLR is pretty nasty stuff if i recall from my past experience (ph of 2, i just found). (BKF is listed as 1.5-2.5 on their website, so i guess it's pretty acidic too!)

it does sound like there is some hope here if one doesn't let the mineral build get to extreme (that was the case for me when i first bought this house -- single guy with 3 toilets...the unused toilets developed a major build up that took tons of elbow grease and powdered BKF after 6-8 months)

 

[Sponsor]

 

[DoomRabbit]

thanks guys. i finally gave up in waiting for an electronic reply and called Toto directly. after a bunch of pushing me around, i finally got to talk to one person (Chris) who was willing to have a somewhat intelligent conversation with me about it. some bullet points from our conversation:

- hard water area: might be wise to go without CEFIONTECT. this is good advice except that all the models we are currently considering only come in CEFIONTECT except for the black/ebony toilet (that's a non starter)

- powdered cleansers are out

- for hard water, they recommend CLR, and even putting in the tank and letting it sit overnight. to get better performance on the water line ring, they suggest putting toilet paper around the water level line, and then spraying CLR and letting it sit.

- a senior colleague of his (no name given, but Chris spent time talking to him while i was on hold) suggested the liquid barkeeper's friend should be ok.

in short, it sounds like acids are probably fine on the CEFIONTECT. it is the abrasive nature of powdered Comet and Barkeeper's Friend that are the issue.

i'm still not sure what we'll do. we will likely just go ahead, then hope and pray we can keep the mineral deposits from getting bad using the above mentioned methods. i'm guessing liquid barkeeper's should work well so long as we use it regularly enough. CLR is pretty nasty stuff if i recall from my past experience (ph of 2, i just found). (BKF is listed as 1.5-2.5 on their website, so i guess it's pretty acidic too!)

it does sound like there is some hope here if one doesn't let the mineral build get to extreme (that was the case for me when i first bought this house -- single guy with 3 toilets...the unused toilets developed a major build up that took tons of elbow grease and powdered BKF after 6-8 months)

Funny, I also called Toto today to ask about safely removing scale buildup; I probably talked to the same guy. He said their official stance was to use nothing harsher than vinegar, but unofficially he said to use CLR or Simple Green lime descaler to get the hard water deposits off. He added it wasn't good to make a habit out of this as it could damage the CEFIONTECT finish. I asked if Limeaway was OK to use and he said if it had the same active ingredients as CLR it would probably be fine (I don't know off the top of my head if the two are equivalent in this regard).

Looking online there's a product called Viakal limescale remover that has amazing reviews but since it ships out of the UK it would take a month to arrive here in California. There's another one called Ecover that also has high reviews but would similarly take a month to arrive. CLR/Simple Green descalers don't seem to be as effective as these other two products, at least based on reviews.

After the scale has been removed, the Toto guy said it was important to clean the toilet every 2-3 days to keep the scale from reforming. Using something from the 7th Generation cleaning lineup was best for this (I would imagine other organic non-abrasives would be fine as well).

Overall I like the look and function of our Toto Drake II but honestly the mental overhead associated with not harming the finish is getting to be pretty cumbersome. It's a friggin' toilet, for Chrissakes - with all this amazing technology, could they really not make it easier to maintain?

 

[Terry]

I've used liquid bowl cleaner and a nylon bristle brush. We've cleaned up stuff that looked bad. One was carpet glue that someone dumped in the bowl. I do believe they worry more than they should. If you use them, they will get wear and tear from cleaning. Though the oldest one in the home from 2005 still shines.

 

[Jadnashua]

FWIW, before I replaced my toilets with Totos and CEFIONTECT, I had to scrub them quite a bit to get the crud off that grows there from our water supply. After replacing them, that stuff comes off with an easy swish of the brush, so at least for me, it is a good investment. FWIW, many of the other toilet manufacturers have a similar, sometimes optional, glaze, they just don't call it CEFIONTECT, but is a similar product. Hard water is a problem for any toilet over time. It can clog the internal workings of them as well, and is one big contributor to them failing to work well as they age.

 

[DoomRabbit]

Update - I started trying to clean off the mineral ring last night. Here's what I've done thus far:

-Poured 3/4 bottle of white vinegar into the bowl and put toilet paper around the ring in an effort to get a lot of vinegar on the mineral. Left this overnight. The next morning the ring didn't appear to be diminished, even after scrubbing with a nylon brush.
-Put Green Shield organic toilet bowl cleaner (claims to decalcify) in the bowl and on the ring, left this for about 30 minutes. Came down and scrubbed again with the nylon bristle. One area of the ring (about 1 inch towards the front of the bowl) looks a lot lighter now, may be gone. The rest of the ring is still there, may be lighter (hard to tell but it's definitely still present).

Next up, will try 7th Generation organic bowl cleaner tonight. Working my way up towards the 'harder' stuff (CLR, Limeaway). May also order Ecover toilet bowl cleaner, which I found on
Ecover Toilet Bowl Cleaner Pine, 25 Fluid Ounce
This has better reviews than Green Shield and Simple Green equivalents.

I'm also considering using PBW (my friend is a brewmaster and uses this to clean fermenters, kegs etc) -
PBW by Five Star- 1 lb
. If anyone has any opinions on this & CEFIONTECT please share.

 

[DoomRabbit]

Another one I'm considering - Everpure ScaleKleen (designed for descaling kitchen equipment like coffee makers, etc) - any opinions of this & CEFIONTECT please share.

Everpure EV9798-35 Scalekleen Scale Remover

 

[Reach4]

Another one I'm considering - Everpure ScaleKleen (designed for descaling kitchen equipment like coffee makers, etc) - any opinions of this & CEFIONTECT please share.

Way too mild for you. That is citric acid based.

To use your stronger cleaners, empty the bowl of water. Hold the solution to the ring with wet paper towel or TP.

I have thought of making a waterproof shelf that fits just under the ring to hold cleaner. Another thought is a flat piece to hold a ring of absorbent material against the ring. Then wet the material.

 

[Onokai]

CEFIONTECT is just a glaze which is fired on the porcelain (I have 40 years of glaze experience in the ceramic world)Its a shiny clear and like all glazes it can be damaged with any abrasive. So if you you use one be careful. (think knife sharpening stone on you ceramic plates)
I have noticed that most issues with build ups are people who do not flush the pee after every use and its a build up of minerals that stick to the glaze.
I suggest draining toilet of all water clean it with the least abrasive you can and still get the minerals off and then rinse it. Make sure the customer flushes after every use from then on.
Each water municipalities has its own water issues some worse than others as far as minerals building up. Well water can be the worse.
We add minerals (calcite to our well water) otherwise the solar system strops copper off the pipes.
Mark

 

[Derek87]

so, after one year of CEFIONTECT on the Ultramax II, I have to say, I'm impressed. the issue of hard mineral build up with had in our other toilets has been a nonissue. our cleaning regime has been simple and effective:

- every few days, a 10 second swipe at the waterline with a toilet brush (no soap, just to brush away any invisible deposits)
- every 2 weeks or so, a thorough bowl and toilet cleaning using a sponge and liquid barkeepers friend.

no marks, scratches, and still white and clean.

 

[Barnham]

I don't know about Saniglos but for my porcelain toilet- Zep commercial acidic toilet bowl cleaner from Lowes works great. I had a bad stain at bottom of toilet. I drained most of the water and poured about half of bottle of Zep in and it all came off easily after a few hours. I used Mr Clean magic eraser to clean it off but I do not think that mattered. Of course, Use gloves when dealing with acid.

 

[Sergio B]

I read what you wrote about using CLR to remove calcium buildup from your Toto toilet. We have the Neorest 550 and after 3 years it wasn't flushing completely well. A plumber specializing in Toto came out and used CLR to fix it. He warned us not to try to save water, to flush every time because the urine causes the calcium to build up. He emptied the toilet, poured in CLR, let it sit for a couple minutes, scrubbed the plumbing then repeated. So here we are 8 months later with the same problem and just repeated the process. It seems to be working well again.

 

[mitpol15]

Been using Lysol toilet bowl cleaners for 20+ years, and won't buy anything else.
Does what it is intended to do, quickly, easily and fairly messlessly.
I also use this in some water to disinfect sponges, or rags that I'm not ready to throw out.

 

[Sting]

I've been using the liquid bowl cleaners from the grocery store.
The bowl downstairs, the oldest one, is shiny like the day I installed it. Clorex and Lysol

https://terrylove.com/pdf/cefiontect_instructions.pdf

• Use a mild dish detergent to clean your lavatory.
• Use a gel-based toilet bowl cleaner.
• Use a soft cloth to clean your lavatory.
• Use a soft-bristled plastic brush to clean your toilet.

Hi!
Since this post is from Jan 2012, I am not sure if @Terry is referring to toilet bowl cleaners with or without Bleach?

I have been using Lysol with Bleach gel toilet bowl cleaner, since 2013, on a non-coated Aquia 2 and it still looks shiny and new. No dulling whatsoever.

I installed 2 Aquia 4 toilets with CEFIONTECT in Jan 2020 and have been using Lysol with Hydrogen Peroxide (Bleach Free) on these bowls. One bowl is perfect - looks as good as the day we installed it. The one that we use in the main bedroom, almost immediately after installation, got a yellow mineral/urine streak from the inside front of the toilet bowl down to the waterline. I have tried every mildly-acidic or mildly-alkaline cleaner (Simple Green, Greenworks, Vinegar, Toilet bowl with Hydrogen Peroxide, Dawn dish soap, CLR, Bar Keeper's Friend foam, etc., etc.) over the past 2 and a half years and the best they would do is make it lighter but you could still see the staining. Not sure why I was so triggered in the past month, but I wanted that stain gone - It was just an eyesore that I could not stand anymore. I tried a host of new cleaners with no improved results.

Finally, this past weekend I slowly dripped a few drops of Lysol with Bleach gel bowl cleaner directly over the stain and as it flowed down to the water line it simply erased the stain!!! I was standing over it in happy disbelief! I washed it immediately and the stain has not returned in the past 2 days. My plan is to continue using Simple Green (as recommended by TOTO) for the general cleaning and spot clean with the Gel Lysol Bleach as required. I can compromise with a little dulling for a non-stained bowl.

Thanks, as usual, to Terry for this wonderful forum!