Bicarbonate in the Bathroom?

Baking soda is one of the less damaging items that can be used to clean around the house. I mix baking soda with white vinegar to clean the bath-tub drain, sink drain and in the toilet bowl. It is an excellent all around cleaner and better environmentally and for pipes (plastic and metal).

For what it's worth, I sometimes use hydrochloric acid, especially if there's heavy mineral buildup. Obviously, it's quite corrosive, and will take the plating off of chromed parts, but otherwise, no problem. I never add it directly to the tank, though. Valve out the inlet, flush till the tank is about empty, and pour about a cup of concentrated acid under the flapper. That cleans the minerals from under the rim.

If hydrochloric isn't handy, go to a lumber yard or hardware store, or something that deals with cement and commercial contractors. Ask for muriatic acid.

The answer is for Miller. I'm not sure the rest of you know how to handle strong acids.

Baking soda is better cleaner than almost everything else. I have actually "cleaned" bathrooms with those horrible smelly and, most likely, dangerous bathroom cleaning products with terrible results. I then recleaned with baking soda. Ta-da!

Why are you worried about the tank?

Baking soda is great for cleaning stainless steel and all bakeware whether glass, metal or ceramic.

Hopefully, it does a better job than Mr. Clean.

Well, folks, I did buy a new toilet recently, and I do remember reading some warnings about what not to use. Unfortunately can't find the piece of paper right now. I remember the what-not-to-use surprising me, but no further than that.

I suppose one can look up a specific website and chase it downnnnnnnn.

I recently had a new shower & bath tub installed in my bathroom and the paper that came with the tub/shower specifically said to use Mr. Clean, so as not to ruin the finish.

The lemon flavored Mr. Clean doesn't do a good job in my tub and the blue-colored Mr. Clean, had such a strong odor, I nearly
passed out from the fumes. By the way, the blue-cleaner was slightly more effective than the lemon type.

If you are talking about cleaning the bowl, you don't need to worry about anything affecting the tank. Water comes into the tank, is stored until flushed, and fills the bowl. What's in the bowl goes directly to the sewer system, not back up into the tank.

I've used baking soda for years, on new and old toilets, with no problems. I use it when I need to clean under the rim of the bowl. But my usual method of cleaning the bowl itself is to toss in 3 or 4 denture cleaning tablets (cheap generic brand) before going to work or whatever. The tablets safely do their thing and when I get home, I just give it a quick swish and flush. Both dentures and toilet bowls are made of porcelain.

Your shower and tub on the other hand may be made of resin or other plastic. These are relatively soft surfaces that may be dulled by any abrasion.

I remember an interior decorator who worked for a large scale remodeling supply vendor telling me many years ago that the floor washing product, Mop 'n' Glow, dissolved vinyl flooring.

There are products that are dangerous to use on vinyl for just that reason.

I like the cleaning chart that can be found on the Martha Stewart website -- includes a great many harmless cleaning agents, including vinegar, denture tablets, lemons, baking soda, cream of tartar.

"cream of tartar"?

Now, that sounds interesting.

I can't remember what cream of tartar is supposed to clean. I've only used it to make whipped egg whites stiffer. It is probably not a substitute for Viagra, however.

Does sound like something, you'd paste on fish.

Cream of tartar (potassium bitartrate) is an excellent cleanser for metal and glass that you don't want to dull. (Dulling is cause by microscopic scratches from abrasion.) Usually it's made into a paste with equal parts lemon juice or vinegar. Excellent for baked on stains on aluminum, copper or steel pots and glass casserole dishes. It's big drawback is that it is relatively costly.

I haven't tried it on plastics, but I think it would work fine there too.

Cream of tartar is also used in laxatives:

http://www.answers.com/topic/cream-of-tartar

I looked it up on google and it is used in a lot of pot cleaning, and burner cleaning. With and without other stuff.

I'm going to have to try some cream of tartar on my Apilco baking dishes which have tiny scratches and one or two random brown spots that Bartender's Friend and/or baking soda will not remove.

Scorched food on ceramic pans can be lifted by putting the pan, with about an inch of water and a teaspoonful of baking soda into the oven and allowing the oven to rise to 350 degrees. Shut it off and let it cool. The burned food should be floating or else easily removed with a sponge and a little more baking soda.

This is good for those times when you forget to shut off the oven after plating dinner!

Be sure to rinse your goodies, well before you use them again.

we use bicarb and vinegar for cleaning out the basemant trap about once a month .
1-2 cups of bicarb followed by about a pint or two of vinegar does a great job . you don't have to get your hands dirty and gives a clean smell too -
recommended by a plumber friend .
hbg

Is that bicarb concentrate?

usually it's 'arm & hammer" or 'president's choice' (loblaw house-brand) ;
also good against indegestion ( ) .
as kids we used to make our own 'sparkling' drinks by mixing a little bicarb into fruitjuice .
hbg