How to Remove Rust Stains on Your Porcelain Sink

If you need to know how to remove rust stains on porcelain sink, then you’ve come to the right place! This post is sponsored by Bar Keepers Friend by all opinions and love of their product are my own.

We’ve lived in our current apartment for three years now. And for three years I’ve stared at an ugly rust stain in our master bathroom’s porcelain sink.

Thankfully it’s around the sink overflow which you can’t really see unless you are looking in the mirror. But, I’m always looking in the mirror when I use the sink.

While I was able to successfully use vinegar and baking soda to remove rust from my son’s tricycle, they never worked on my porcelain sink.

Honestly, I put off addressing it because I thought it was going to be hard to remove. I even looked up several different suggested rust stain removal recipes online. In fact I even bought pumice stones based on one of the suggested articles suggested fixing rusty porcelain sinks using pumice!

But, as I cleaned my porcelain sink with Bar Keepers Friend the other day, I thought I’d give one of my favorite products a go at removing rust stains from porcelain.

Well, I’ll be darned. It worked like a charm!

I am kicking myself now for not trying it earlier! I have used Bar Keepers Friend on my bathtub, dishes, pizza pans, and stove drip pans with amazing results, but never tried to use it on porcelain rust stains before!

Don’t be a chump like me. Grab a can of Bar Keepers Friend and remove the rust stain in your porcelain sink that’s been staring at you in the mirror for the past three years already!

How to Remove Rust Stain on Porcelain Sink

Materials Needed to Get Rid of Rust Stain on Porcelain

• Water
• Bar Keepers Friend (I used both the Power Cleanser and the MORE Spray & Foam)
• Green Scour Pad
• Pumice Scouring Stick 

You can find Bar Keepers Friend at multiple locations and for only a few dollars. I ordered the pumice from Amazon, but I’m sure those are in stores too.

Instructions for Removing Rust Stains in Sink

*For a quick 1-minute version of the following cleaning tutorial, watch my video version of the instructions!*

1. Wet your sink and rust stain with water.

2. Shake some Bar Keepers Friend onto the stain. If it’s not staying well, like if it’s around your sink overflow (like mine) and is vertical, you can use the Bar Keepers Friend MORE Spray & Foam.

3. Let sit for 2-5 minutes.

4. Wet a green scour pad and then scrub at the rust stain, rubbing in the Bar Keepers Friend.

5. Rinse!

6. If you have a rusty sink overflow or other harder to get into area, use a pumice stone to get into the opening or crevice. Wet the stone first, then gently move the pumice stone back and forth over the rust stain. 

7. Apply more Bar Keepers Friend if needed, scrub, rinse, and dry!

8. Admire your rust-stain free porcelain sink!

While there are still tiny little pockmarks of rust in my porcelain sink, and some gray scratch marks (that were there before I used the pumice stone – it seems to me my sink used to have a metal plate around the overflow hole), the giant red blob of ugly rust is now gone and it was so easy!!

The reason why Bar Keepers Friend works so great at removing rust stains is the oxalic acid in Bar Keeper’s Friend!  It creates a water-soluble complex ion around each iron ion, making it easier for rust to dislodge from the surface you’re cleaning.

It’s just another great reason to love and use Bar Keepers Friend in your home!

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Find out more tips on how to clean everything in your home including even more great bathroom cleaning tips:

• How to clean a bathtub the easy way
• How to clean a bathtub with Bar Keepers Friend
• How to clean shower heads
• How to remove mold from shower caulking
• How to remove hard water stains from windows
• How to clean grout in the bathroom
• How to clean porcelain sinks
• How to shine bathroom faucets
• How to clean a curling iron