How to Clean Shower head without Vinegar
Last Updated On: 24 April 2021
Shower heads are an integral part of the bathroom; you are maybe using a fixed wall shower head or handheld shower head, whatever it is, both needs its share of cleaning and maintenance. Are you noticing a reduction of water pressure coming out of the shower head even though the water supply is fine? Then there is a chance that the holes of the shower head are clogged by mineral deposits. If you have a hard water problem, then maybe you face this problem quite often. The body of the shower head also gets foggy, making even a new shower head look and feel like an old one. The body of the shower head also loses its sparkle when you don’t give it enough attention. Washing the showerhead while you clean the bathroom will increase the level of hygiene in your shower.
While you have now decided to clean the shower head, another problem pops up that how are you going to clean it. There are various ways, but the traditional method to clean the shower head is with vinegar. More or less we all know about it, vinegar reacts to the mineral deposits and cleans it almost immediately with close to no effort. So in this article, I’m going to talk about how to clean shower head without vinegar but using other methods.
Contents
ALSO READ: HOW TO CLEAN TILES WITH VINEGAR
Possible Tools You Are Going to Need
Cleaning Shower Head without Using Vinegar (Step by Step)
1. Cleaning Shower Head Using Baking Soda:
It is one of the most popular methods after vinegar to clean a shower head with baking soda. Baking soda is specialized in wiping off even the hardest type of stains for good. Another reason for this method to have gained this much acknowledgment is the inexpensiveness and lack of complexity.
First, take a sponge and scrub the showerhead by hand, so that the debris and other solid dirt gets cleaned before applying baking soda and don’t get in the way.
Find a jar or bowl large enough according to your shower head to contain the solution you need to clean that. Pour baking soda in that and mix enough warm water to form a paste.
You can take the shower head off, or you can clean it without taking it off too. Apply the paste on it using a brush or by hand, whichever it is remember to put gloves on because baking soda brings about cumulative damage to your skin, the more time you spend in contact of it, the more damage it does to your skin.
After a short period, a maximum of 15 minutes - don’t wait much since it makes the baking soda harder to wash off then. Use a brush or a rag to scrub the shower head a bit to ensure maximum sterility. The filth should come loose after the scrubbing and wash it off thoroughly along with the mixture from the shower head. Later wipe off the excess water from the shower head.
Since the materials are all natural, it has no side effects. After washing, the shower head will look like a new one, all the lime scales, stains of hard water will be as if they were never there. After reconnecting the shower head keep the water running for a bit to let out residue if any was left.
2. Cleaning Shower Head Using a Brush:
This approach involves hand more. You’ll need to scrub a bit to clean off the soap scum, stains, watermarks and other dirt. For your own ease of cleaning you should consider taking the shower head off the wall, you’re going to have to do a lot of scrubbing that requires you reaching up to the wall showerhead, the struggle will not be pretty. If you do not know how to detach it, look it up on the internet, or this should come on the instruction book with the shower head.
First, fill a bowl with a cleanser that is designed to clean stains and dirt the kind showerheads are likely to collect. Get a brush with stiff bristle, or and dip it in the bowl with cleanser.
Then start scrubbing the places the shower head has stains. Nozzles, for starters. Latest showerhead nowadays uses flexible rubber nozzles, that are easy to assemble, you can just take apart the nozzle and put it back after cleaning, no need to undo the whole shower head.
The cleaning depends on how much carefully you do the scrubbing job. Aim at a specific area and rub the brush around it in a circular manner. Before cleaning the inside of shower head, hold it under a running faucet to get loose dirt cleaned first.
Choosing a good cleanser is equally important. If you use one that doesn’t have much effect on dissolving dirt and lime scale, then no matter how thoroughly and forcefully you scrub it won’t clean up to your satisfaction.
After the cleaning looks passable to you, rinse it off and reattach the shower head.
To ensure that it is appropriately attached run the shower, if you notice any disparity, properly connect it again, if necessary get help. To protect the finish of the shower head use wrench instead of pliers while doing or undoing it.
3. Cleaning Shower Head Using Oven Cleaner:
Oven cleaner is an active cleaning agent since it is designed to clean stuck, baked-on food, grease, etc. from the oven. This sterilizes shower head pretty effortlessly.
Wear gloves before using oven cleaner, as an abrasive cleanser; it can damage your skin. Its smell is just as potent as its cleaning power, so putting a mask on beforehand is suggested. Inhaling it for a long time makes your breathing hard too.
Spray it all over the shower head carefully and leave it for 15-20 minutes. Leaving it on for more than this time can damage the finish of your shower head.
Rinse it off with hot water. This method doesn’t require disconnecting your shower head from the wall, so it’s really easy.
4. Cleaning Shower Head with Coca Cola:
If you didn’t already know about this, allow me to present this unusual yet effective method to you. Coca cola can clean like a wonder. Still having doubts? You can look it up and see if I’m talking nonsense. Now let’s talk business, coca cola contains a little amount of phosphoric acid, and has a pH level of 2.5. That is acidic enough to clean the clean grimes and stains away. I’ve heard people cleaning their metal pans with coca cola, so cleaning shower head should be done in a jiffy.
You can work it out in 2 ways, by disconnecting the shower head or by keeping it up. Let me explain the first way first, detach the shower head by following the instruction.
Take a bowl and fill it with coca cola. Now now, don’t get upset champ, save a can for yourself, that’s what I do.
Dip the disconnected shower head into the coca cola and let it sit for some time. After the interval, take a brush and scrub the shower head inside out. Do it over and over until you are finally satisfied with the outcome.
Then rinse it off with hot water. You can consider another soapy wash after coca cola treatment to get rid of the sticky body resulted from the sugary soft drink.
Now for the latter part of the method, to clean the shower head without taking it off the wall. Fill a polybag with coca cola. Then stick it around the shower head with an elastic band, so the shower head completely sinks under the coca cola. Wait about 20 minutes then take the bag off, scrub it with a brush and rinse the dirt away carefully.
Allow the shower head to run for a few minutes after the cleaning to regulate the water flow.
5. Cleaning Shower Head Using Lime Scale Remover:
You can also use products like lime scale remover. The process is similar with methods mentioned earlier, apply them over the shower head, wait then scrub and finally rinse them off with hot water. Use popular products such as CLR to get guaranteed service.
6. Cleaning Shower Head by Removing Rust:
Rust removers bought from the store usually contains phosphoric or oxalic acid, so wear a pair of gloves before spraying them over the rust, they work on stubborn stains too. See the using instruction on its body and follow them. Scrub the shower head with sandpaper later and wash it with a surge of warm water.
Conclusion:
Not only neat freaks clean their shower head regularly. Anyone who wants to have a healthy bathing experience should clean the shower head along with the bathroom. Believe me; you don’t want the components that are piled up on the face of your shower head anywhere near your body. I explained many methods excluding the use of vinegar; you can choose the one suitable for you. One that requires minimal cost or the equipment needed is easily attainable. Stay healthy!
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