Not to be flip, but what about cleaning the toilet every week? That should be good enough to prevent any pesky problems.

We use a pumice stone to scrub off hard water deposits on the toilets in our house. I like the citric acid idea - will try that.

So, why is a water softener off the table? It would be so much easier and you would get benefits throughout the house. I put one in because I was tired of the film on the dishes... but it's been great at keeping all the fixtures cleaner, not to mention laundry, skin and hair.

Mostly price... how much was it to have yours installed? And any routine maintenance needed for the unit?

$560 and I installed it myself.

I add salt a couple times a year.

It should be easily good for 10 years, I'm guessing closer to 15 before it needs any significant maintenance

Try "The Works" for toilets with stains. We don't use our basement bathroom frequently so it doesn't get cleaned as regularly as the others. Some orange stuff built up. This product worked very well on it.

Rita, cleaning it every day isn't enough if you have really hard water : ( .

One thing I've had good luck with is removing most of the water and then applying Gel Gloss Kitchen & Bath polish and protector to the bowl,

https://www.gel-gloss.com/shop-category/sinks-kitchen-bath/

I'm not convinced that Barkeeper's Friend won't remove the finish on new items, though it's great on rust/hardwater stains once you no longer have to worry about the finish.

We've gone without a water softener because of the expense and dealing with the wastewater on our farmland.

@Jake The Wonderdog -

how much plumbing experience does an install like this require? I can replace a toilet but my handiness is fairly limited. The cost of this is much lower than what I remember hearing in the past

HU, just check the price of supplies and maintenance annually, too, before you start.

Jake The Wonderdog,

Great information! Outside of the unit that is shipped via Amazon, what else did you have to account for/purchase? Did you hang plywood to mount it, any type of converters needed? And did you just follow the instructions it came with or were there other good resources to get it up and running? How long did it take from unboxing to running?

So I had done some re-plumbing on my house and installed a water softener loop at the time - meaning it was mostly ready to go.

The unit sits on the floor. Many people useflex lines with sharkbite fittings to connect them to make the installation easier. I'm not a huge fan of that... but it does simplify things a lot. You may need some drain hose as well.

Look at the photos and read the reviews to see some of the installs on Amazon. There is a photo of my install on there - but know that my install was part of a complete re-do, so don't use that as an example.

There are lots of youtube videos on it including putting in the correct settings on the Fleck valve.

HU-659679942:

Some questions about your water:

1. Are you on a well, or on municipal water?
2. Do you know how hard your water is? (in Grains per Gal)

3. How many people in your household?

4. Any Very High Usage situations? (Garden Tub, multi-head shower)

5 Any big variations in people in your household? (For example, we have family that stays with us all summer)

I use bromine tablets in the tank. Helps to keep the toilet clean and helps to keep hard water deposits from forming.

Start with a clean toilet. I turn off the water supply, flush and then use a wet/dry vac to empty all of the water out of the bowl. Remove the deposits with an acid base toilet bowl cleaner. Once the bowl is clean, turn on the water supply and plunk a couple of bromine tablets into the tank. You can find bromine in the pool chemicals section of home improvement stores.

Doesn't bromine have the same detrimental effects as chlorine on the rubber parts of the toilet (flapper, for example)?

@Jake:

1. Are you on a well, or on municipal water? Municipal
2. Do you know how hard your water is? (in Grains per Gal) - I do not but would love to get this tested

3. How many people in your household? Just myself and one roommate

4. Any Very High Usage situations? (Garden Tub, multi-head shower) - One garden tub used ~2x a week

5 Any big variations in people in your household? (For example, we have family that stays with us all summer) - None

Iron Out every few weeks and a pumice stone once or twice a year. We are on a well and have a water softener. Works for us!

HU-659679942

Ok, so order this test kit to get accurate readings on your water hardness. Hach 145300 - it's $20

Since it's municipal water, what you are seeing is hardness, not iron - is that correct?

I know this sounds odd, but would you care to post a photo of he hard water deposits in the bowl?