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Cleaning a Jetted Bathtub

OrikaeshigitaeOrikaeshigitae Registered User, ClubPA regular
edited May 2010 in Help / Advice Forum
Hey everyone.

My parents have this old jetted tub that I remember enjoying as a kid. They haven't really used the jets on it for eight years or so, and I decided to clean it before I move out. Ran the jets with a cup of Cascade on warm and then cold bath-fills, and then again for a rinse. I've been doing that every 2 weeks, as I thought it had been working.

Today I take a bath (as Trillian will tell you, baths are very important to me) and use the jets. I get out and there's horrible brownish-green chunks floating in the water. More so than whenever I take a bath (to pre-empt the jokes.)

I figure it's because I opened the air intake a little bit to increase the power of the jets. Can't figure out any way to clean the air intake, though. What have you guys done?

There's some guy named WF Leonard that keeps posting on eHow and similar sites, all about how traditional methods suck and his professional sand mixture or whatever is the only way to clean tubs. I don't trust him. If you're him, don't post here.

Orikaeshigitae on

Posts

  • cabsycabsy the fattest rainbow unicorn Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    My parents have a jet tub, the general cleaning strategy is to scrub the reachable parts of the tub very well, rinse, fill it to just over all the jets with water, dump in a cup or two of bleach (if you use ammonia-based cleaners, obviously don't do this until you've rinsed it extremely well), run the jets for a while - you can change the amount of air intake up and down while you're doing this obviously, shut off the jets, pop the filter out (usually a small plastic grate held on with a screw, there's another filter piece under it), scrub that out, run the bleach water again, dump the water out, refill it with clean, do this whole process again minus the bleach, and then try using it. If that doesn't help, your jets are probably gunked up beyond belief (8 years? holy shit) and you may have to have someone who has a clue come in and tear it apart and scrub it all up.

    My mom uses her jet tub almost every day and does a bleach rinse at least once a week, and will occasionally still get a thread or two of leftover bubble bath gunk out of the jets randomly. Some of the problem might be that you've been running a foaming cleanser through the jet system and it still isn't all out yet.

    cabsy on
  • CitanixCitanix Registered User new member
    edited May 2010
    Chances are, the green chunks came from inside the pipes. If there was water sitting in the pipes, then the bacteria can grow into some nasty stuff, so regular cleaning is recommended.

    You can buy proper whirlpool cleaners to do this. The tub manufacturer I sell also recommends using a powdered, low foaming dishwasher soap. The method for either is the same as outlined above. Fill the tub above the water intake, put some of your cleaner in, run the jets for a while, then empty, and run with clean water. Might need to do this a couple of times if you havn't cleaned it before.

    I dunno if bleach is the best thing to use. I'd be worried about it discolouring tub or the jets. But, if it's heavily diluted, it probably wouldn't do any significant damage.

    Citanix on
  • darkgruedarkgrue Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Bleach is a great disinfectant, but it corrodes plastics, and leaves them extremely brittle. As long as you dilute a little bit of bleach in a lot of water (rather than starting with bleach and then adding water), you ought to be, in theory, fine.

    However, given bleach's properties, and there's lots of other disinfectants available that don't attack plastics, I'd probably choose those instead.

    darkgrue on
  • Mom2KatMom2Kat Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Since these tubs are basically very small hot tubs that you fill everyt ime you use it, I would wander into your local spa shop and grab some spa cleaner. Not the one to clean the shell but the ones you can get to help flush out the plumbing. Most even give the mixing directions for both hot tub and jetted tubs so you don't have to do the math for a much smaller volume.

    Mom2Kat on
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