Water bottles are usually hard to clean because of their design. They have long bodies with a little curvature at the top. That little curvature restricts the movement of any cleaning tool. How then can a stainless water bottle be cleaned? Most people have resorted to the use of special thistle brushes with strong and sharp edges. So, as long as you have a cleaning solution, you can easily clean your bottle. Asides from that method, is there some other way by which a stainless bottle can be cleaned? In this section, we will look at how to clean a stainless steel water bottle without brush. Before we dive into that, let’s see why it’s imperative to clean your stainless steel bottles.
Why do stainless steel bottles need to be cleaned?
- Cleaning procedures will help you get rid of bacteria and other forms of microbes that line the corners and edges.
- Your bottles need to be cleaned in scenarios where you pour in something other than water into them.
- Cleaning will help you get rid of any unpleasant smell that the bottle has.
- Cleaning will help prevent the buildup of mold and mildew within the bottle. If you’ve taken time to study the interior or your bottles, you’d notice that they could sometimes get slimy.
- You can protect yourself from water-borne diseases as a result.
How to clean stainless steel water bottle without brush
1. Fill the water bottle with warm water. Add some washing liquid to the water and then, shake the bottle while it is closed.
Ensure that the liquid tumbles violently within the enclosed space. That will enable the particles of dirt to fall into the water.
2. Get rid of the bottle’s cap and then, pour out the soapy water into a sink or any other outlet.
3. If you shook the soapy liquid within the bottle well, you’d see some bubbles within the bottle. Rinse the bottle with warm water only in order to get rid of those bubbles.
The warm water would also help in getting rid of the soapy feel within the bottle.
4. Leave the bottle on a rack so that the water can dry off.
How to deep clean a stainless steel water bottle
The procedures above are great when the water bottle needs little cleaning. However, for deep and more serious cleaning, you’d need to do more. Check the procedures below;
1. Wash the stainless steel water bottle using the procedures listed out above.
2. In a separate bowl, make a solution with water and baking soda. Ensure that the two are thoroughly mixed.
3. Pour the mixture into the bottle. It should only be halfway up the bottle. You could also use apple cider vinegar instead of the baking soda solution.
The vinegar solution should also be at the halfway mark. The solution can be made by mixing two spoons of vinegar with water.
4. Add some bleaching agent to the baking soda solution. The bleach should fill up the bottle completely. Baking soda is the best used when the bottle has a stubborn stench.
You can also use it if you don’t like the peculiar scent vinegar has. Meanwhile, for the vinegar, you’d need to use water to top up the bottle.
5. Leave the mixture overnight. The bottle should be bottled during this period though.
6. Pour out the mixture into a water outlet the next day and then, rinse it with warm water only.
7. Set the stainless bottle on a rack with the head down. This technique allows for the quick drying of the water bottle.
8. You could also work with hydrogen peroxide. However, you have to ensure that it is of food grade, i.e., one with a composition of 35% hydrogen peroxide.
The rest volume should be water. Such can efficiently get rid of bacteria and other microbes that line the interior of the bottle.
In some cases—especially when you use your stainless steel water bottle to store something other than water—the above methods may not be enough for cleaning.
Instead of a brush, you could work with a sponge. Work the sponge into the water bottle by using a tool with a narrow tip to push it in.
If the tip is long enough, you could use it to work the sponge across the bottom and the sides. When you are done, turn the bottle upside down and then, pick out the sponge with your fore-finger.
You also shouldn’t leave out the cover of your stainless steel bottle. Most of these covers have several wedges and threading that must be cleaned intermittently.
A sponge that has been moistened with soapy water can work well for this purpose. When you are done cleaning, rinse the soapy water off with the use of warm water.
Another way by which you can clean your stainless steel water bottle without a brush is this—work with your dishwasher if you have one.
However, you have to make sure the bottle is safe to be handled by a dishwasher. If it is, you can set it in alongside any washing liquid of your choice.
P.S: If your water bottle is coated with paint or some other insulating layer, it should not be cleaned by a dishwasher.
Which stainless steel water bottle is best?
To save yourself of all of this stress, it is important that you take some things into consideration when getting your stainless steel water bottles. Below is a useful list of the things you should bear in mind;
- Ensure that you purchase water bottles whose bottoms can be screwed out. That way, you can easily have access to the bottle’s interiors from both ends.
- Choose stainless steel water bottles that have wide mouths. The narrower the mouth of a bottle is; the more ridges and corners it would have.
Those corners also make it harder to clean the bottle. And that’s bad because those corners would serve as perfect breeding spots for bacteria strains.
- The kind of stainless steel that is used for your water bottle should be of the food grade.
What this means is that the steel shouldn’t pose any issue if you drink any water that has been contained within the bottle.