Nobody loves a dirty toilet. Instead, many people prefer using clean toilets. This is why you should put in the necessary effort always to keep your bathroom clean.
You also need to clean the toilet jets because if this part is dirty, then all the parts of your toilet will quickly get messy. Of course, doing this will require more than just a toilet brush and a toilet cleaner.
Cleaning your toilet jets often can affect the speed at which your toilet flushes when you are using it. If you don’t want to experience strain each time you wash your toilet, you should learn how to clean them properly.
How To Clean Toilet Jets
This article has outlined a step-by-step guide on how to clean toilet jets. But before we get to that, let us see some specific tools you will need to help you clean the toilet jets properly. Check them out.
Tools Required
- Sponge
- Baking soda
- Vinegar
- Funnel
- Bucket
- Rubber gloves
- Toilet brush
- L-shaped 3/16Allen wrench
- Duct tape
- Small mirror
Step 1: Drain your toilet
It would be best to drain your toilet tank and bowl before cleaning it. This is especially important as you will be using vinegar to clean the rim jets and siphon jets.
Draining the toilet tank and bowl before cleaning will make the vinegar application significantly more effective on the mineral build-up. Switch off the water supply to the toilet.
Remove the toilet tank’s lid and place it in a safe place to prevent it from falling. Wear gloves on your hands, pick up the sponge and soak up the water in the toilet tank, do the same thing for the toilet bowl.
Step 2: Close the rim jets with duct tape
Close all the holes in the rim jets with duct tape using your mirror as a guide. You are covering the holes to prevent the vinegar from entering the toilet bowl quickly. This way, the vinegar will get trapped in the rim, helping to tackle the calcium build up.
Step 3: Apply vinegar
Pour vinegar into the toilet tank, siphon, and rim jets.
Pour plenty of vinegar into the overflow tube, it will touch the toilet bowl and siphon jet, and it will eat away the mineral deposits in the siphon jet and toilet trap. Allow the vinegar to be settled there for an hour or overnight if your toilet is in a bad state.
Step 4: Clean the rim jets with an Allen wrench
Remove the duct tape you used in covering the rim jets after about an hour and let the vinegar flow out. Then, carry the Allen wrench and fix it on every rim hole, then rotate it to make sure it is open.
Step 5: Flush your toilet
Flush your toilet with water so that the vinegar in the toilet will go away. Then pour some disinfectant with a spray bottle in the toilet tank while focusing on where the stains were.
Step 6: Add baking soda
Add a cup of baking soda into the toilet bowl slowly. Use a toilet brush to spread it to all the corners of the toilet bowl, let it touch the rim holes.
Step 7: Clean the toilet tank, rim holes, toilet bowl, and siphon jet
Use your toilet brush to scrub your toilet tank, bowl, and rim jets thoroughly. For hard-to-reach corners where your toilet brush cannot access, use a toothbrush instead. Don’t forget to wipe the seat too.
Step 8: Switch on the water shut-off valve
Turn on the water shut-off valve so that the toilet tank can store water. Then flush the toilet and observe the intensity at which it flushes. You will notice a difference if everything is working correctly.
What are the Jets for?
Have you ever battled with a toilet that flushes slowly? It can be so frustrating and tiring.
The reason behind your slow flushing toilet is generally dirty siphon and rim jets. If you can take your time to clean them, your toilet will be functioning correctly again.
The siphon jet is found inside your toilet tank. It is a molded pocket in the toilet’s front that helps store water in it until you try to flush the toilet.
So, when you initiate a flush, the vacuum action pulls the accumulated water out of this pocket, thereby increasing the flush’s pressure. Most toilets have a siphon jet. However, a few do not have it.
Rim jets are holes where water from your toilet tank flows down into the toilet bowl to begin the flush swirl. The rim jet is made to move in a circular motion when water is flowing. This is to make sure the toilet flushes well.
What triggers the siphoning effect at the toilet trap is the immediate dumping of water when flushing the toilet. Now, when water from the toilet tank enters the toilet bowl slowly and not suddenly, the siphon gets weakened, and you will need to flush the toilet several times before it eventually flushes.
The siphon jet is one channel through which water enters the toilet bowl. While some water enters the siphon jet powerfully during a flush, the other quantity of water enters the toilet bowl through the jets on the toilet’s rim.
When the siphon jet and the rim jet get clogged by calcium and minerals found in water, it slows down the water pressure that flows into the toilet bowl when you initiate a flush.
How to tell if they are clogged
When your toilet jets get clogged due to the build-up of minerals and calcium, your toilet starts to flush slowly, and it will not flush feces completely.
You will also notice that it will take a longer time for the water in the toilet tank to get emptied into the toilet bowl. Plus, the usual diagonal flow of water from the rim jets becomes vertical.
What happens when your toilet jets get clogged? It increases the growth of bacteria. And you don’t want this to happen because it increases your exposure to bacteria infection, especially for women.
How can you inspect your toilet jets when you notice any clogging sign?
You can use a small mirror to determine that. Position the mirror under the rim and check the jet holes. If you see dark orange or black spots in the jet holes, your toilet has a bacteria issue.
But if the color of what you see is light in color and scaly, you have a build-up of minerals issue. You should also know that you can have both problems.
Bottom Line
Since using the toilet is something you do every day, you should maintain it properly. This is so you don’t always need to call a plumber to repair one damage or the other.
Cleaning your toilet should be a routine for you. You don’t have to wait until you start seeing signs of clogged toilet jets before washing them.
To prevent the frequent clogging of toilet jets, get a decent amount of vinegar heated up, then pour it down the toilet overflow tube. You can do this once in a while. Ensure you don’t make the vinegar too hot.
Heating up vinegar before using it for your toilet jets helps to clean mineral deposits in them while using dish soap in your toilet overflow tube opens up rim holes and melts the calcium in it.
Doing this often for your toilet jets will ensure that it flushes easily. Indeed, you won’t have to bother about dealing with clogged toilet jets after reading this article. Follow the outlined tips, and your worries about cleaning toilet jets will be gone.
