Don’t Replace Learn How to Clean a Shower Head

Learning How To Clean a Shower Head Can Save Your Bank

If you’ve lived in a house or apartment long enough you’ve probably wondered how to clean a shower head because of poor shower performance; especially if you have hard water in your area. You can have city water and still have issues with your shower head.

The main reason for cleaning a shower head is because of mineral build-up in the nozzles or on the plating on the showerhead itself. All of us, at one time or another have turned on a shower and the water came out in different directions or some of the nozzles didn’t work at all. These are mineral deposits that build over time due to dissolved solids in the water. These dissolved solids come out of the water especially when it’s very warm and clog up the nozzles retarding flow. Mineral deposits can also produce some pretty ugly water spots as well.

So what is the solution? I think most people go to their local Ace hardware or home center and buy a cheap shower head to replace the old. What if I told you there are some pretty simple fixes that would take care of the problem in less than a day? Well read on and I’ll tell you.

Step One: Quite often newer shower heads come with flexible rubber nozzles. These types of showerheads are considered easy cleaning shower head and are manufactured with scale in mind. Just rub your thumb across the affected nozzles and you’ll dislodge the scale clearing the openings. If some of the nozzles remain clogged you may have to remove the head and work more vigorously to remove the obstructions. If that doesn’t work move on to step two.

Step Two: is literally a life hack. White vinegar does a tremendous job descaling; in fact we still use it to descale heat exchangers on tankless water heaters. There are two way to do this, you can pour 5% White vinegar in a zip lock bag. You pour enough vinegar in the bag so it covers the showerhead but doesn’t overflow out of the bag. Leave the head in the vinegar for around 4 to 5 hours and turn on the water to rinse the vinegar out the head. You should be good to go. You can also remove the showerhead and place it inside of a container full of vinegar (recommended). Again keep it submerged for several hours, remove and reinstall. Doing it the second way ensures that the vinegar is present throughout the inside of the shower head so descaling is thorough.

Step Three: So how do you clean a shower head that is nasty, with a considerable about of lime buildup? Go to your local home center and buy a bottle of CLR. Remove the showerhead and read the manufacturer’s instructions on water to chemical ratio. Submerge the showerhead and let the CLR do it’s thing. It’s a powerful product. Please note, after reinstalling the shower head please be sure to rinse thoroughly by turning the water on and allowing it to run for several minutes before use.