How often should you clean faucet aerators and showerheads?

Short answer

Clean the faucet aerators and showerheads every 6 to 12 months. With hard water, every 3 months. The aerator is the little screen screwed into the tip of a faucet, and a showerhead is a bigger version of the same thing. Both clog with mineral scale that drops out of the water as it dries, and a soak in vinegar dissolves it. The job takes 15 to 30 minutes for a whole house and costs $0 to $5.

Why it matters

Tap water carries dissolved minerals, and every drop that dries on a surface leaves them behind. The aerator screen and the showerhead's spray holes are where water dries hundreds of times a day, so they crust over first. As the holes narrow, the flow drops, the spray goes crooked, and a faucet that should run smooth starts spitting and splashing.

A clogged aerator makes you run the tap longer to fill a pot or rinse a dish, and a clogged showerhead makes a shower take longer, so the waste adds up on the water bill and the water heater's bill. There's a wear cost too. Scale that's allowed to build gets hard and grabs the threads, so a fitting that comes off easily today has to be fought off, or cut off, in a few years. A regular soak keeps everything flowing and everything removable.

When to do it more often

Hard water is the only modifier in the index, and it moves the job to every 3 months. You have hard water if the crust shows up fast: white deposits around the faucet base within weeks of cleaning, spots on glasses, soap that won't lather. In a hard water home the showerhead is often the first fixture to go, because its many small holes clog faster than a single aerator.

A faucet that starts spitting or spraying sideways between cleanings is telling you to move the date up, whatever the water hardness.

What you need

Pliers wrapped in tape, so they grip the aerator without scratching its finish
A plastic bag, big enough to fit over a showerhead
A rubber band, to hold the bag in place
White vinegar

Steps at a glance

Unscrew each faucet's aerator by hand, or with the taped pliers if it's stuck, and note how its parts stack.
Drop the aerators in a bowl of vinegar and leave them to soak.
For a showerhead that unscrews easily, take it off and soak it in the bowl too.
For one that doesn't, fill the bag with vinegar, pull it up over the showerhead so it's submerged, and hold it with the rubber band.
After the soak, scrub the screens and spray holes with an old toothbrush and rinse.
Reassemble the aerators in the same order and screw everything back on by hand.

You're done when every faucet runs in a smooth, even stream and the shower sprays straight.

Signs it's overdue

Low or uneven flow from a faucet, or a shower that feels weaker than it did.
A spray that shoots sideways from a showerhead or spits from a faucet.
A crust of white or green minerals on the aerator screen or the showerhead's face.

DIY or pro

This is an easy job that needs nothing you don't already own, and the vinegar does the work while you do something else. The one trap is an aerator that won't unscrew. Don't tear it up with bare pliers. Wrap the jaws in tape, grip gently, and if it still won't move, soak the faucet tip in a vinegar-filled bag overnight and try again.

There's no professional service for this, and a plumber would laugh at the call. If a fixture is so scaled that it can't be cleaned, replacing the aerator or showerhead costs a little more than a bottle of vinegar and fixes the problem.

FAQ

How do you clean a showerhead without removing it?

Fill a plastic bag with white vinegar, pull it up over the showerhead so the face is submerged, and secure it with a rubber band. Leave it to soak, then run the shower to rinse.

Can I use something other than vinegar?

Vinegar is cheap, safe for most finishes and dissolves mineral scale well. Keep stronger descalers away from brass and colored finishes, which they can mark.

Why does my faucet spray sideways?

The aerator screen is partly clogged, so water forces through the open holes at an angle. Unscrew it, soak it in vinegar, and it will run straight again.

How do I know if my water is hard?

Fast-growing white crust on fixtures, spots on dishes, and soap that won't lather are the everyday signs. A hard water home needs this job every 3 months instead of every 6 to 12.