How do I clean a walk-in tub without damaging the finish?

You clean an Ella walk-in tub without damaging the finish by matching a gentle, non abrasive cleaner to each surface: mild dish soap or a 1 to 1 mix of white vinegar and water on the acrylic shell, warm soapy water alone on the glass screen, and a rinse and dry wipe on the chrome. The products that ruin a finish are abrasives, bleach and harsh chemical corrosives, and the complete approved list is in Which cleaners are safe for my walk-in tub, and which chemicals should I avoid?. This page goes surface by surface, because the acrylic, the glass and the chrome each follow a different rule.

Cleaning the White Acrylic Shell

Every current Ella walk-in tub is built from a vacuum-formed acrylic and ABS shell, reinforced on the back with gel-coated fiberglass and bonded to a stainless steel frame. No fiberglass is used on the bather side, so the white surface you clean is acrylic throughout, roughly 1/8 to 3/16 inch thick, with the white running through the sheet rather than sitting on top as a finish layer. There is no thin coating to wear through, so the shell keeps its glossy white finish for many years as long as abrasive products, bleach and harsh chemical corrosives never touch it. Advice written for a fiberglass or gelcoat shower does not carry over to an Ella shell, and the melamine sponge people reach for on fiberglass is exactly the one to keep away from acrylic.

Routine cleaning is mild dish soap in warm water or a 1 to 1 mix of white vinegar and water on a soft cloth or sponge, rinsed and wiped dry, about twice a month. For tougher jobs, step up within the approved list instead of reaching for anything gritty:

• Everyday film: mild dish soap, Dawn, Formula 409, or the vinegar and water mix, then rinse and wipe dry.
• Soap scum or hard water film: Scrub Free Original Soap Scum Remover or Kaboom with OxiClean, following the product directions and rinsing well.
• Stubborn marks regular cleaning will not lift: denatured alcohol or an acrylic-safe bathtub surface cleaner on a soft cloth, then rinse.
• Sticker glue, caulk or construction debris after installation: mild detergent first, then denatured alcohol or Clorox Soft Scrub, then rinse.

The printed Ella cleaning instructions also approve the Simple Green, Tilex, Pine-Sol and Clorox Fraganzia products, and some model manuals add Lysol Power Bathroom, CLR Bath & Kitchen and Iron Out. Whatever you pick, the tool is always a soft cloth or sponge.

The one thing that damages a white acrylic tub faster than any cleaner is an abrasive. Ella's cleaning instructions group Mr. Clean Magic Eraser pads with scouring pads and scouring powders, and all of them permanently scratch and dull the surface. What you notice later is a patch that has lost its gloss or a haze that rinsing never brings back, and scouring damage is excluded from the finish warranty. Can I Use a Magic Eraser on My Walk-In Tub Acrylic? explains why the sponge feels harmless and still does harm.

Glass Screen and Stainless Door: Soap and Water Only

The instructions that ship with the 4-fold glass shower screen are stricter than the shell instructions: do not use abrasive or strong cleaning solutions on the enclosure, such as alcohol, petroleum liquids, or any other chemical cleaner. For dirty stains, clean with a soft lint-free cloth and warm soapy water, then rinse with clean water. The same rule applies to the glass screen on the LayDown models. The shell instructions allow denatured alcohol on the acrylic for stubborn construction debris, but that permission does not extend to the enclosure. If you are unsure about a product, check with that cleaner's manufacturer before using it on the glass.

That rule also answers the foaming bathroom spray question. Lysol Power Bathroom appears on some model manuals' approved list for the acrylic shell, but a chemical bathroom cleaner is exactly what the screen instructions exclude, so on the glass and its frame stay with soap and water. In a hard water area, clean the glass with soap and water after each use, because insoluble lime salts deposit and build up over time, and a wipe while the screen is still wet is far easier than removing dried scale later. Do not reach for a scouring pad even on visible spotting.

The brushed stainless steel inward-swing door on the Elite, Petite, Royal, Deluxe, Ultimate, Companion and Escape lifts off, and removing it is the intended way to clean behind and beneath it and around the seal, as shown in Cleaning the Glass Shower Screen, Stainless Door, and Chrome Fixtures.

Chrome Fixtures, Handles and Hard Water

Chrome gets the same gentle routine as the glass, with one extra step: warm soapy water on a soft lint-free cloth, a rinse with clean water, then wipe the chrome dry. Keep alcohol, petroleum liquids, chemical cleaners, scouring pads and gritty powders off every plated part, because those are what dull a bright finish. Even the stainless inward-swing door has a chrome locking handle to look after. Chrome also stays bright longest when you rinse the tub after Epsom salts, which can spot or discolor chrome if left to dry. How do I safely clean chrome shower frames and glass doors? lists which Ella frames are chrome and which are brushed stainless.

The pattern is that the shell tolerates the widest range of products, the glass and chrome tolerate only soap, and nothing on the tub tolerates grit. So the best single cleaner for glass and chrome with hard water buildup is the plainest one: warm soapy water after each use, a rinse, and a dry cloth on the chrome. Hard water film on the acrylic shell is a different job, and that is where Scrub Free, Kaboom with OxiClean or Simple Green Lime Scale Remover come in.

Cleaning the Inside: The Vinegar Flush and What to Skip

The finish is only half of a clean tub, because the jets and lines carry water you never see. Before your first bath and once a month after that, run the vinegar flush: combine 2 cups of white vinegar with 2 cups of water, fill the tub to one inch above the highest jets, add the mixture, run the tub for 10 minutes, then drain. Flushing after every bath is not necessary, because ozone sterilization runs whenever the hydro jets are on and the Auto Purge clears the air lines after an air massage; the monthly flush prevents mineral deposits. Skip bath bombs, whose ingredients can damage the pump system, and keep the intake screen clear.

If the Finish Already Looks Dull

Before you assume the acrylic is scratched, clean it, because a haze that looks like dulled acrylic is often soap scum or hard water film that the approved products above remove with no polishing at all. If the patch is still dull once the surface is clean and dry, light scratches are polished out with a fine grade automotive polishing compound such as Turtle Wax, worked in small circles on a soft cloth, with the residue wiped off afterward. It works because the white runs through the sheet, so what comes back is the same glossy white acrylic. The method is in How Do I Polish a Dulled or Scratched Acrylic Walk-In Tub?.

Questions fréquentes