Inside: Tired of calcium and hard water stains on your refrigerator water dispenser? Learn how to clean refrigerator water dispenser without a bunch of chemicals. It's easy to do with very little scrubbing. Your refrigerator water dispenser will look better in no time at all.
Growing up I was always so impressed with the refrigerators that had the water dispensers on the door. It seemed so neat to be able to get your water and ice that way. Plus the water was always cool and fresh tasting, unlike some tap water.
Nowadays its hard to find a refrigerator that doesn't have a water dispenser on it. They are easy to use and encourage us to drink lots of water, but those refrigerator water dispensers can be a huge pain to clean!
Our refrigerator water dispenser tray can get dirty and gross in no time at all. I try to clean it every couple of months but recently my kiddo got a new water bottle. For the first couple of days every time he filled up the water bottle he sprayed water everywhere. The refrigerator water dispenser tray and all of the parts became gross in no time at all.
It's easy to clean the refrigerator water dispenser and trays. With a little soaking time, you can get your refrigerator water dispenser area clean. Check out how to clean refrigerator water dispenser below. You can see how gross and dirty ours was.
Start by taking out the refrigerator water dispenser tray. Usually, they just pop right off by pulling out. Because the tray catches all the water they tend to get the most buildup on them.
Use a large ziplock to put the tray in. Then add about 1/2 cup of vinegar to the ziplock. Make sure there is enough vinegar to cover the tray and then seal the bag. Set the bag aside so the vinegar can remove all the buildup from the tray.
Next, pour a small amount of vinegar in a bowl. Take a new toothbrush, I like to use the freebies that we get at the dentist and dip the toothbrush in the vinegar. Then use the toothbrush to scrub around the line where the water comes out of the refrigerator water dispenser. The toothbrush will help break up any of the hard water stains that the line has and the vinegar will help kill off any germs.
Once you have scrubbed around the line then start cleaning the area around where the ice comes out of the dispenser with the toothbrush. Continue scrubbing the refrigerator water dispenser with the toothbrush and vinegar.
When you are finished scrubbing down all the areas you can take a microfiber cloth and wipe everything down one more time with a little vinegar to make sure you get every area. I like to really clean the areas that a cup might touch when you are filling it up.
Once you have all of the refrigerator water dispenser cleaned you can go back to cleaning the tray. Remove the tray from the plastic bag. Gently scrub at the tray to remove the hard water buildup on the tray. If it doesn't scrub away easily put it back in the baggy and let it sit in the vinegar for another 30 to an hour. Then remove the tray scrub the calcium and hard water stains off and dry the tray off.
Pop the tray back in the refrigerator water dispenser and you are good to go. The refrigerator water dispenser should look so much better! Plus by using these tips on how to clean refrigerator water dispenser you kill off any germs and bacteria that are in your refrigerator water dispenser. This is especially important during cold and flu season. My refrigerator water dispenser looks much better!
Looking for more cleaning ideas? Check out how to remove a water stain on granite.
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david bird says
Thanks for sharing the tips, there are many articles online on cleaning a water dispenser, but very few on how to clean a refrigerator water dispenser. Thanks...