Why You Should Clean Your Faucets More Often (and How to Do It Right)

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When you’re cleaning your kitchen sink, or deep cleaning your bathroom, there’s an often-overlooked place you might be forgetting. Your kitchen and bathroom faucets can become a breeding ground for mold, bacteria, and damaging mineral build-up.

How often you should clean your faucet head

The faucet head on your sink should be cleaned once to twice a year. If you have hard water, you can clean it as often as once every three months to prevent mineral build-up. The goal is to prevent damage, so giving your faucet a good once-over as soon as you notice any reduced water pressure or irregular flow pattern will help keep your fixture in good working order and extend its life.

Soak your faucet head in vinegar

Using a plastic bag of a 50/50 mix of vinegar and water, submerge your faucet head in the solution and then hold it in place with a rubber band. You can then leave most faucets submerged for about a half hour to an hour, but take care not to leave delicate finishes like chrome, matte finish colored metal, or burnished brass in the bag for more than a half hour to avoid causing damage. Once your faucet is done soaking, use a neutral multipurpose cleanser or some soapy water and a small cleaning brush or a toothbrush to scrub away any dirt, build-up, or debris that’s left. Once you’re done cleaning, make sure to rinse the faucet head by running warm water through it for a minute to wash away any soap or vinegar residue.

Steam your faucet head

You can loosen up mineral build-up as well as take care of dirt on your faucet with steam. Bring water to a boil in your kettle and then aim the steam from the kettle towards your faucet head. Hold it there for a few minutes, allowing the steam to heat up the surface of the faucet. Once the steam has had the chance to work, you can use a toothbrush or small cleaning brush to scrub build-up off of your faucet head. Finally, run warm water through the faucet to rinse it.

Clean your aerator

For this step, you should remove your faucet head. First, turn off the water at the shut-off valves under the sink. Then, twist the head of your faucet counter-clockwise to release it from your tap. You might have a nut that holds the faucet head in place, so if the head doesn’t attach directly to the tap, look for a nut that holds it in place and turn that counter clockwise. Once the head of the faucet is free, you should be able to see the aerator. It will look like a screen with a rubber gasket on the tap side to seal it. This is also a great opportunity to check your rubber o-ring to see if it’s worn and replace it with a new one if it is. Check the aerator for mineral deposits, mold, and debris. You can soak the parts of your faucet head in a 50/50 vinegar solution or use warm soapy water to clean it and then replace the parts, making sure that the faucet head is screwed in snugly and properly seated before turning the water to your sink back on. Run some warm water through the tap for a minute to rinse the aerator and faucet head.

Important tips for cleaning your faucet

Make sure to check manufacturer recommendations when choosing a cleanser for your faucet to avoid damaging the finish. Since some metals can be sensitive to acids or to particular chemicals, you should take care to protect the finish of your fixture when cleaning. Also, it’s a good idea to avoid using harsh cleansers on your faucet—not only to protect the finish, but to avoid damaging the rubber o-rings, valves, or other delicate parts that might not hold up to abrasives or highly acidic substances.