Can You Pour Bleach Into a Toilet Tank? Best Practices for Cleaning Your Toilet Tank Safely and Effectively

Yes, it’s recommended to clean your toilet tank 2 times a year. This prevents the buildup of mold, mildew, rust, and other grime that can cause bad smells and toilet bowl stains. To clean the tank, first shut off the water supply and drain it. Scrub the inside walls and parts with a soft-bristled scrub brush and white vinegar or a bleach-free all-purpose cleaning spray.^[2]

• Once you finish cleaning, refill the tank and flush the toilet. Repeat this until the water runs clear, signifying that all the loosened gunk and grime is long gone!

Vinegar is a safe, effective, and natural option. To clean the toilet tank, turn off the water supply by turning the valve behind the tank all the way to the right. Then, flush the toilet until all the water is out of the tank. Fill the tank back up to the overflow valve with white vinegar and let it sit for 12 hours, then flush it out and refill the tank with water. The vinegar kills mold, mildew, and stain-causing bacteria in the tank, which helps keep your toilet bowl clean.^[3]

• The overflow valve is the tube with an opening near the top of the tank, which drains into the toilet bowl in order to prevent overfilling the tank and making a big mess!
• You can also pour a cupful of vinegar directly into your toilet bowl every month and let it sit to kill bacteria and help keep it clean.

Bleach-free toilet tank cleaning tablets. A non-corrosive drop-in toilet tank tablet can maintain the freshness of the tank. Look for tablets that are nontoxic and say “natural” or “bleach-free” on the packaging. Drop 1 in the tank every few months or whenever they run out.^[4]

• Cleaning your tank with vinegar every 6 months or so, as per the method above, also makes it smell better. Toilet tank tablets are just a set-it-and-forget-it option that doesn’t require much work.

You can use a bleach solution to clean it, just don’t pour bleach into the tank. Mix about 1 US tbsp (15 mL) of bleach with 1 gallon (3.78 L) of water in a spray bottle. Spritz the solution all over the inside of the toilet bowl, scrub the bowl with a toilet brush, and let the solution sit for 5 minutes. Finally, flush the toilet once or twice to rinse all the solution out of the bowl.^[5]

• Make sure to open windows and doors to the bathroom so it’s well ventilated whenever you clean anything with bleach.