LESLIE: P.J. in New York, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?
P.J.: I use a product that I hang inside my tank and of course, when you flush, the bowl is nice and blue of water. But inside the tank, I want to say I think I have hard water and no matter how you try to scrub all four sides of your tank, it’s like it’s stained and you can’t get it cleaned. And I wondered if there was a product I might be able to use.
TOM: Well, you’re talking about inside the toilet tank?
P.J.: Inside the tank. Yes, sir.
TOM: So you really want your house clean? You even clean all the – yeah, most people clean the outside; you want to clean the inside.
LESLIE: Wow.
P.J.: Yes.
TOM: OK.
LESLIE: Wow.
TOM: Well, it’s a little more of a porous surface and that’s why – it’s not really designed to be as pristinely clean as the outside. But what you could try is CLR. Do you know what that is?
P.J.: Yep.
TOM: Yeah, CLR is pretty good at taking out any kind of hard-water stains and stains of that nature.
P.J.: Just pour it right into the tank?
TOM: Yeah. But the thing is, you don’t want to do anything that’s too caustic because all of those valves that are in there …
LESLIE: Are super-delicate. More than you think.
TOM: Yeah. The seals could start to leak and then you’re going to have runny toilets and you’re going to have to end up having to replace the flush valve and the fill valve.
LESLIE: Maybe you want to start with white vinegar, because that does a really good job of getting rid of mineral deposits which happen from hard water. So you might want to start there, since it’s super-gentle.
P.J.: How much should I pour in? Like a cup? Half a cup?
LESLIE: You know what?
TOM: I think you’d pour in quite a bit.
LESLIE: I’m like – I’ve never cleaned my toilet tank. I suddenly feel very embarrassed.
TOM: I know. We don’t – we’re not really qualified to give you that answer. But we’re …
P.J.: Well, now, you guys should know better.
TOM: We’re not …
P.J.: I listen to you every Saturday on my radio station and I’ll do an awful lot.
TOM: We don’t consider ourselves dirty people but that’s just one space in the house we’ve never cleaned: inside the toilet tank.
LESLIE: I have never even thought about it.
P.J.: Well, I think I have hard water in my area.
TOM: I don’t know. I’m going to – next time I’m over at your house, Leslie, I’m going to check the inside of your toilet tank and see if you cleaned it.
LESLIE: I’m going to go and clean it right now. Are you kidding? As soon as we’re done, I’m going home and cleaning the toilet tank.
P.J.: Take the top off and look inside. See what you see.
TOM: Right.
LESLIE: OK.
P.J.: Keep up the good work, guys, because I listen to you all the time.
TOM: P.J., thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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