Your beautiful shower panel must be cleaned through regular washing and general cleaning. While it may be made of glass, stainless steel, aluminum, and other materials that don’t easily get dirty, a shower panel still needs thorough cleaning to prevent scum and other types of dirt from accumulating on its surface.
Clear the bathroom, clean the shower heads, pipes, hoses, stems, side jets, knobs, handles, tap, spout, shower panel body, accessories, and the shower wall panel, then rinse them. Use white vinegar or dish soap to clean the shower panel. Avoid excessive force and rough and harsh cleaners.
Your shower panel needs to be cleaned after every use, although thorough cleaning should be done at least once each week. You can simply wipe it after each bath but the type of cleaning I describe below needs to be done every week to prevent the accumulation of dirt.
What You Need
You’ll need the following items for this procedure:
- Rubber gloves
- Face mask
- Household/bathroom cleaner
- Soft sponge
- A soft brush (toothbrush)
- Spray bottle
- White vinegar
- Dish soap
- Plastic bag
- String
- Piece of cloth
These over-the-counter items cost a few dollars and are thus easy to get. You can use the bathroom cleaner instead of white vinegar and vice-versa, as both do a good job at cleaning.
Cleaning Precautions
The precautions to remember when cleaning your shower panel are as follows:
- Always follow the instructions on any chemicals you use for cleaning.
- Always wear rubber gloves when cleaning.
- Never mix chemicals or other cleaning materials unless their usage instructions permit it.
- Never use cleaning agents with acids as they’ll damage the surfaces to be cleaned. Other harsh materials should also be avoided.
- Do not use abrasives for cleaning.
- Always rinse with clean water after cleaning, as the cleaning agents can easily damage surfaces if left for too long.
How to Clean a Shower Panel: the Steps
You should also clean the shower wall panels to obtain a uniformly clean bathroom, although the procedure here is mainly for the shower panel. Frequent cleaning prevents and eliminates the growth of mold and mildew in your bathroom in general.
The steps are as follows:
Step 1: Clear the Bathroom
Start by removing movable items from the bathroom. These include all items close to the shower panel that may get knocked over or soiled with the cleaning process. Body lotions, brushes, towels, and others should all be relocated to a safer place. This gives you enough working space.
Step 2: Clean the Shower Heads
Shower panels have at least one overhead shower head and a handheld one. These shower heads need frequent cleaning to eliminate lime and other mineral deposits that may clog the nozzles. Without proper cleaning, shower heads can also harbor the dangerous Mycobacterium avium bacteria, which affects the pulmonary system when inhaled.
While some of the best shower panels have shower heads with self-cleaning mechanisms, these only clear out the mineral deposits and other dirt from the nozzles. The sediments inside the shower heads still need to be cleaned out.
Clean the shower heads of your shower panel as follows:
- Pour white vinegar into a plastic bag, then immerse the shower head into the bag, making sure the white vinegar fully submerges the shower head.
- Tie the open end of the plastic bag around the shower head with a string. Make sure it stays in place.
- If you clean the shower head frequently, a few hours (about 6 hours) of waiting is enough. However, leave it overnight if it’s been a while since you cleaned it. If the shower head is made of gold, brass, or any nickel materials, remove the plastic bag after 30 minutes (and no more) to prevent damage.
- Turn on the shower with the water as hot as possible for a few minutes.
- Scrub the outside with a toothbrush or soft brush, then rinse with clean water.
- Dry it with a piece of cloth.
This should be done for all the shower heads on the shower panel. If one shower head doesn’t have a stem/arm for this type of cleaning, you’ll clean it with the rest of the side jets.
Step 3: Clean the Pipes, Hoses, and Stems
Your shower panel will likely have a stem on the rain shower head (the overhead one) and a hose connecting it to the handheld shower head. After cleaning the shower heads, you need to clean these ones as well with the following steps:
- Dilute dish soap in water to create a soapy solution.
- Dip the soft sponge into the soapy solution, then clean the hoses, pipes, and stems. Be careful not to break or jerk them too much from their bases. If they’re removable, clean them away from the shower panel.
- Rinse with clean water, then wipe dry.
Ensure you clean until all the soap scum or other dirt types are fully washed off. If one wash doesn’t do it, repeat until you get the desired results.
Step 4: Clean the Side Jets
The side jets provide water horizontally, with most having a massage effect. They can be categorized into two types, namely, the ones that are flush with the body of the shower panel and those that protrude outwards.
Each one of them is cleaned as follows:
Plush Side Jets:
Clean plush side jets as follows:
- Fill a spray can with white vinegar.
- Spray directly into the nozzles enough of the white vinegar until you can see it oozing out, then wait for 6 hours. Ensure that the material of the shower panel isn’t affected by the vinegar.
- Clean the nozzles with a toothbrush ensuring the bristles get inside the nozzles for a thorough cleaning.
- Run hot water through them for 10 minutes to clear out the vinegar and any dirt.
- Rinse the area cleaned with clean water, then dry it with a cloth.
This exact procedure should be used for overhead shower heads which don’t have an arm and are part of the body of the shower panel.
- Protruding Side Jets
Clean protruding side jets as follows:
- Pour white vinegar into small plastic bags, then tie them around each set of jets, ensuring all nozzles are fully submerged.
- Leave them that way for up to 6 hours or overnight if it’s been long since you cleaned them.
- Remove the bags, then clean the nozzles with a toothbrush.
- Run hot water through the jets for 10 minutes to clear the dirt.
- Clean the area around the nozzles, rinse with clean water, and pat dry.
This should eliminate any sediments and mineral deposits within the nozzles.
Step 5: Clean the Knobs and Handles
Shower panels can have anything from 1 to 6 knobs or even more. Due to frequent touches, these are among the dirtiest parts of the shower panel.
Shower panel knobs and handles are cleaned as follows:
- Mix water and white vinegar in equal parts. Pour the mixture into a spray can.
- Spray copious amounts of the vinegar mixture onto the knobs until they’re drenched with it. Wait for 6 hours. You may need to spray more of the mixture on the knobs every second hour for the perfect cleaning.
- Scrub the knobs and handles with a toothbrush, then rinse with clean water.
- Pat dry with a piece of cloth.
Clean all areas, especially where the knobs and handles meet with the rest of the shower panel, as dirt mostly hides in these areas.
Step 6: Clean the Spout/Tap
Few people think of cleaning taps and spouts yet they easily accumulate grime, limescale, and scum. You should clean your spout or tap as follows:
- Spray or pour enough bathroom cleaner onto the tap or spout, then wait 1 minute.
- Scrub the dirt off the tap using a toothbrush until you’re satisfied with the results.
- Wipe the tap with a piece of cloth, then rinse with water.
- Dry it with a dry and clean piece of cloth.
If one cleaning cycle doesn’t do the trick, do it again until you’re satisfied with the results.
Step 7: Clean the Shower Panel Body
The body of the shower panel is the main structure on which parts such as the knobs and shower heads are fixed. The cleaning procedure is as follows:
- Mix white vinegar and water equally, then pour the mixture into a spray bottle.
- Spray the body of the shower panel. There’s no problem if the mixture comes in contact with the rest of the shower panel, as these parts will already be cleaned. Ensure the mixture adequately drenches the panel, then wait for 6 hours.
- Using a toothbrush, scrub every inch of the shower panel, removing any sediments of dirt that may have formed.
- Rinse with clean water, then pat try.
One cleaning cycle may not be enough for this exercise. This requires subsequent cycles until the results are what you desire.
Step 8: Clean All Accessories
The accessories to a shower panel can be any removable parts you put aside at the beginning of this cleaning exercise. Most of these items can be cleaned with a toothbrush in a soapy mixture of dish soap and water, then rinsed in clean water.
Step 9: Clean the Bathroom Wall Panels
The last step in the cleaning process is washing the bathroom wall panels. For this exercise, you’ll follow these steps:
- Starting off with drywall panels, spray them with the bathroom cleaner or a mixture of water and white vinegar in equal parts. Ensure the wall panels are adequately covered with the cleaning agent.
- Steam the bathroom by turning on the hot water from the shower heads for 5 minutes. Shut it off, then leave the bathroom, closing the door behind you.
- Let the cleaner stay on the shower wall panels for at least 20 minutes before wiping them down with a clean cloth. If there are any stubborn stains, scrub them with a toothbrush.
- Rinse the wall panels with clean water for the best result. Wipe them dry with a piece of cloth.
After this, let the bathroom air dry if there is enough natural draught in it. Otherwise, leave the lights and fan on for up to 30 minutes to achieve proper drying and prevent the growth of mold and mildew.
When the bathroom and the shower panel are dry enough, return the items you removed to their respective places. You can use the guide on installing a shower panel if you encounter issues. Always keep the bathroom ventilated as much as possible to prevent mold and mildew buildup due to dampness.