The master bathroom in this rental home has the most enticing whirlpool bathtub…
Of course, the first people to enjoy the tub were the kids.
One evening after move-in I put the kids in the tub and turned on the jets after the begged me to. They were SO excited….until they saw black gunk, mold, residue and bacteria floating in the water.
yuck!
I never saw kids jump out of a bubbling bath so quickly.
Last week I spent a few days researching exactly how to clean the jets. Having never owned a tub with jets, this was a new cleaning adventure for me. I spent a day (yes an entire day – read on for more) cleaning the tub and can now happily tell you it’s super clean. If you have a whirlpool bathtub at home, hope this information will be useful to you.
First, I’m going to share exactly how I cleaned the tub/jets. Then will share some additional tips learned through my research.
Fill the tub with enough hot water to cover the jets by 2-3 inches…
Turn on the jets and allow them to continue running for 10 minutes…
Within the first couple minutes I began to see small black flakes floating in the water. But after the entire 10 minutes the tub was full of large, small and tiny pieces of grossness. Here is the water after it settled down and I was able to get a better shot of what exactly was floating in there…
As the tub drained I could see just how much came out of the jets. Before I ran it through another cleaning, I made sure all of this gunk was gone…
Fill up the tub again with hot water (enough to cover the jets by 2-3 inches) and add a few drops of dish soap or a few teaspoons of liquid automatic dishwashing machine soap. Whichever you choose, remember that it needs to be low-sudsing as to not create an avalanche of bubbles in your bathroom…
Once again, turn on the jets and allow them to run for 10 minutes…
After this step there was still quite a bit floating in the tub. When the 10 minutes is up, be sure to again rinse all of the gunk down the drain before moving onto step seven.
Once I cleaned the tub with bleach and then again with dish soap, I rinsed the system with plain cold water. If you can believe it, after 3 cleaning flushes there was still gunk coming out!…
At this point I realized maybe the system had never been cleaned before and it was going to take me many more flushes to feel confident it was thoroughly cleaned. And it did! After THREE additional cold water flushes, I finally didn’t see anything floating in the tub.
Remember, after each flush to be sure you rinse out the tub before moving on.
Once all of the flushing was complete, I cleaned the tub as I normally would with a soft cleanser. It was like new!…
* Be safe!: Be sure to do this job when children and pets are not around. Because you will be filling the tub many, many times, this is a job that should be done with no children or pets nearby to potentially fall in. For me, my kids LOVE to see those jets going and it’s enticing. Not to mention the various cleaning supplies you will have out for the job. Just be sure to make it a safe, stress and worry-free environment.
* Before cleaning your jets, check your manufacturer manual: If you don’t have a manual for your particular tub, you may find it online. This is important for a couple reasons –
1. Some manufacturers recommend specific cleansers for their tubs
2. Some manufacturers recommend closing the air controls on each jet so there is no air induction during the cleaning process
and 3. Some manufacturers recommend leaving those air controls open during cleaning
To be certain, be sure to first read your manual.
* Choose your cleaning products carefully: Through my research, I learned several ways that people have chosen to clean their jets. Most people clean them with cascade-like automatic dishwashing detergent and bleach. But there was also more specific info about limiting bleach while cleaning jets because bleach could over time potentially dry out the fittings inside the pipes. I would agree that it might be best to save the bleach cleaning to once a year (maybe less).
If you use an automatic dishwashing detergent, go for the liquid variety and not powdered. The powdered version may be harmful to any finishes you have in your tub – like brass. Liquid Cascade Complete seemed to be the go-to cleaner for that 2nd go-round of cleaning. I used Dawn dish soap because that is what I had on hand, but next time I will definitely try Cascade.
The Kohler website recommends this cleaning concoction for their jetted tubs: add 2 teaspoons of low-foaming or powder automatic dishwasher detergent and 20 ounces of household bleach.
* Don’t run the jets while there are products in the water: The bacteria, mold and deposits in the jets are most likely not just coming from filling your tub with water. They are very likely coming from the products you bathe in. For example – bubble bath, salts, oils, bath bombs, shampoos, and more. Once these products are in the water and you turn on the jets, they are brought into the piping system. When the tub is emptied, there is still a bit of water sitting in the lines and that is where mold and black gunk begins in the first place. Instead, consider turning on the jets only when there is plain water in the tub. You can still enjoy all of those fun products, just not while the jets are running. This tip should cut down significantly on the residue you typically see in these kinds of tubs.
* Once the tub is clean, if you still notice dirt surrounding the jets themselves, try using dental floss to clean behind them. It’s hard to get into that thin, tight area with a regular cloth so floss is a great way to grab that gunk.
* Wipe the tub and jets clean and dry after each use. This will help keep mold and bacteria from growing.
* I found a great product online that is made specifically for this cleaning issue. I didn’t buy it myself, therefore can’t vouch for its results, but it sounds pretty good. It’s called “oh yuk! jetted bathtub cleaner” and can be found here.
I hope this information is useful to you as you clean your own whirlpool bathtub jets!
Original article and pictures take www.simplyorganized.me site
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