Got a Little Gunk in the Tub?

Do you have a whirlpool tub? If you do, do you have that black moldy stuff growing out of the water jets, threatening to attack you in your bath? I have the solution, and it's simple.

I learned this from a plumber about 25 years ago, though what he showed me related to the bathroom sink. The principle also applies to the whirlpool bath.

In a sink, when a man shaves, the drain gets filled with the little tiny hairs he has shaved off. That hair is living matter, and it rots in the drain.

In the same way, when a woman shaves her legs in the bathtub, that living matter goes up into the water tubes and rots. You can greatly reduce this problem by not using the whirlpool jets during a bath when you have shaved. It would be even better if you only shaved in the shower, or with an electric razor, but that's not usually practical.

I had to take this photo of my sister's tub, because the people who originally built our house didn't get a tub with jets in it for this very reason. But we did have one for many years, and didn't have any problems with gunk buildup since I didn't shave and run the whirlpool in the same bath. According to my research, it's also a good idea to only run the whirlpool when there's nothing but plain water in it (no bubble bath, etc).

What to do if you already have gunk in your tub? The following procedure is from the Kohler website, steps for flushing your whirlpool tub. There was some discussion on another site that said to use Cascade Complete rather than granular Cascade to avoid damaging the metal on your drain. Please do a little research and proceed with caution.

From http://www.kohler.com/:

Flush your whirlpool system twice a month or more, depending upon usage.

Adjust the jets fully clockwise so there is no air induction. Fill the bath with warm water to a level 2" above the highest jets, or leave water in the bath after using. Add 2 teaspoons of a low-foaming, powder automatic dishwasher detergent and 20 ounces of household bleach (5% to 6% sodium hypochlorite) to the water. Run the whirlpool for 5 to 10 minutes. Then shut off the whirlpool and drain the water. If desired, rinse bath surfaces with water. [I'm thinking it would also be good to refill the tub with cold water and run it again for a little while after the initial cleaning. I'd probably leave out the bleach and just try the Cascade Complete.]