Turning The Toilet Water Green?

January 3, 2009 9:48 AM

Is it possible to make homemade drop-in toilet tablet automatic cleaners (the kind that go in the tank and usually turn the water blue)? Anyone know a recipe?

I work for an all-natural cleaning service; all of our cleaners are homemade and "green", made with things like essential oils and vinegar. As part of our company's image and contract with our clients, we don't use any kind of commercial/chemical products.

However, we have some houses in our roster whose toilets could definitely benefit from being sanitized/deodorized more often than we're scheduled to clean. One client's greywater system leaves their toilet water smelling so bad it stinks up the entire bathroom/master bedroom; another is severely ill, vomits constantly, and is too exhausted to clean up. I'd love to be able to slip something in their toilet tank to keep the bowls nicer for them when we're not around.

Is it possible to roll your own Ty-D-Bol without pulling out a heavy-duty chemistry set? My Google-Fu is failing hard on this one.

posted by Gianna to home & garden (15 comments total)

I don't know of anything like what you are asking, but you can always do some extra tlc on the toilets for them when you are there. If your green philosophy can handle it, then I would use a couple of denture cleaning tablets during your cleaning. Let them foam up and do their work, then flush, then scrub.

For the client who is severely ill, he/she may want to keep a container of white vinegar right near the toilet. He/she can periodically dump in about a half a cup to a cup, let it stand for a few minutes to a half hour, then flush.
posted by gudrun at 10:25 AM on January 3

I can't find (and haven't made myself, and do make a lot of my own cleaners) homemade, but here is a green cleaning blog's review of BioPac brand toilet tank tabs--a green alternative to ty-d-bol type.

I like, better, your company's commitment to avoid commercial products, but if another smartie mefi can't track down a recipe for DIY, it looks like there is a green alternative that you would only need to use sparingly (in the case of the clients you described).
posted by rumposinc at 10:46 AM on January 3

The greywater issue will have to be treated at source. If I recall correctly, 1-2 days is the optimum time that greywater should be stored for. That's a complete cycle - no using some of the water in the tank, and then adding more to it. The smell is caused by bacteria breeding in the water. No cleaning product is going to treat that.

I don't know of anything solid enough to last between flushings. You could make some tablets out of citric acid and bicarbonate of soda, a la bath bombs, that the client could add to clean the pan themselves?

Try asking the question on the Its Not Easy Being Green forums.
posted by Solomon at 10:54 AM on January 3 [1 favorite has favorites]

To expand a little on what saeculorum said, everything you're using now, and everything you've asked for ideas about, involves chemicals. "Oils" are comprised of chemicals, vinegar is a mixture of chemicals, every part of your body involves chemicals, and what's brewing in all those toilets between cleanings is chemical (yes, all biology involves chemistry).

There are reasons why people die by the millions in areas where there's no chlorinated water. And the smells and growths you're seeing are indicative of a brewing cauldron of chemical and biological poisons. You don't have a choice in dealing with chemicals…as it is, every time your crews enter those bathrooms they're immersed in the stuff.

Don't let English majors tell you what is and what isn't a "chemical". Drop some chlorine tablets in those filthy cesspools and give everyone, including your poor cleaning crews, a break.
posted by dinger at 11:07 AM on January 3 [6 favorites has favorites]

Seconding what dinger said. Vinegar is a "chemical" called "acetic acid".
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 11:54 AM on January 3

I absolutely agree on the "everything, including vinegar, is a chemical" thing, but Gianna says she works for this cleaning company, not that she runs the company. Surreptitiously using chlorine would probably get her fired, and I doubt the company will change their philosophy. Given that, I think some practical suggestions for alternatives for her would be useful. For example, vinegar is a good all around cleaner/deodorizer, and one that her company would probably allow.
posted by gudrun at 12:21 PM on January 3

yeah, amen to what the previous guys have said. I'd like to add, just because something is "natural" does not make it safer. It might be safer in some ways, but it is definitely not in others.

Are you going to check your source materials that go into your tablets for hazardous contamination every time? Are you going to run a few lots of your product against an animal model to make sure it won't kill humans? It may sound stupid, but these minor contaminations of heavy metals, etc, do happen, especially if you are buying less regulated ingredients because they are "natural" or "local".

Especially since you are in the business of sanitation, which can really negatively impact others, I'd try to find someone else who makes the product (and who has done the necessary safety legwork) with the correct amount of environmental impact you are searching for, and buy it from them.
posted by wuzandfuzz at 12:26 PM on January 3

Um, you guys? I'm aware that vinegar is a chemical... and you're probably aware that it's common practice to use the word "chemical" as an antonym of the equally ill-defined word "natural". If that's a pet peeve of yours, I apologize.
posted by Gianna at 12:37 PM on January 3 [1 favorite has favorites]

Okay... on submit, there were a few more things, so...

We do not use preprepared "natural" cleaners. We mix our own from very simple, food-quality ingredients, including vinegar. If they are contaminated, there is a much bigger problem that the toilets we clean.
posted by Gianna at 12:40 PM on January 3

apartment therapy recommends:

• Use Tang or any powder drink with citric acid to dissolve rust stains and add some grit for cleaning that porcelain.
• Use Coke to clean up those rings if you don't have any Tang on hand.
• Not for the faint of heart: toothpaste...on a toothbrush for lingering stains.
• Try putting a cup of white vinegar in before you swish away.
• If you feel better using a real product, try one of Mrs. Meyers Products that come in satisfyingly clean smells.

of course, at's bloggers only know what they cull from other web sites, so you might want to read the comments on that page & follow some of the commenters' advice.
posted by msconduct at 1:41 PM on January 3

To get rid of both the yeast and bacteria that grow in toilet bowls, you will have to do one of the following:

1) Add something toxic to both organisms
2) Change the pH to something very alkali or acidic
3) Add free radical generators
4) Remove something that the organisms need to grow

Borax or EDTA come to mind. Borax will generate hydrogen peroxide and is supposedly less toxic to waterways than chlorine-based bleach, but you will need to find a slow release version which has been complexed with some sort of binder. Hydrogen peroxide in some sort of slow release canister might also work but the container must be properly venter to allow O2 to escape. EDTA is a food quality ingredient that chelates (sequesters) the magnesium which microorganisms need to live, which is why it is used to preserve shelf life. It is fairly safe and has no explosive or reactive properties that I know of (MSDS looks clean).
posted by benzenedream at 1:43 PM on January 3

Err, that should read vented not "venter", and "both TYPES of organisms".
posted by benzenedream at 1:45 PM on January 3

I appreciate everyone who has donated their time to giving their opinions, but please -- I'm just looking for a recipe to make toilet drop-ins.
posted by Gianna at 3:17 PM on January 3

Is the essential constraint food grade ingredients? Or is it a sub class? Say ingredients commonly found in home cooking? I ask this because I assume your employer doesn't actually make vinegar. And Borax is a mineral.

My solution would be to utilize a mixture of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), shellac (or possibly zein if a vegetarian product is required) and alcohol. I'd form the mixture into long rods about half an inch in diameter with a copper or brass hook at one end. The rod would then be suspended in the overflow tube in the tank. You probably want to figure out a way to buy tax free grain alcohol that hasn't been denatured.

How it would work is the bowl fill water that is sprayed into the overflow tube would slowly dissolve (abrade really as shellac is pretty impervious to water) the rod releasing the baking soda into the bowl. A certian amount of experimentation would be required as the strength of the bowl fill water stream varies quite a bit. The more pressure provided the greater the amount of shellac required.

Something a bit more elaborate would be needed in the grey water case and I don't know how baking soda compares to the very effective bacteria killing ability of chlorine bleach. However a better solution in that case may be a UV treatment light.
posted by Mitheral at 6:05 PM on January 3

I suspect such a recipe is not immediate to prepare at home or otherwise. Borax on the other hand - besides being a mineral - is not going to be really effective, same for sodium bicarbonate; other boric compounds which might be a little more effective as antibacterials might be boric acid or sodium perborate (which is what I think benezenedream was referring to).

To stay in the "natural" domain, I think you could look into clove oil, which contains eugenol, a decently powerful and "natural" antiseptic, still widely used in dentistry, only slightly soluble in water.

I have no idea how one could easily prepare a 'slow-release' tablet of some sort without resorting to some chemical apparatus/know-how, though. A sprayer contaning a dilute solution of that (and some drops of glycerin - if it is 'canon' ) might work as a bland antiseptic as well as a deodorizer.

Besides clove oil, many essential oils have some antibacterial/fungicide properties, which makes them usually irritant (and toxic), so caution is required in hadling them.

I'm sorry to say, but I think there's no easy solution to your question, because you seem to be in need of chemistry...without chemistry.
posted by _dario at 2:57 PM on January 4