Can you put bleach in a waterbrush?
 

That's this week's Ask Beate question. What's your experience with this? Do you have any tips?

I am sure you can put bleach in a waterbrush, works just fine. But empty it out after each use. I forget what happens, but it is NOT good. ;-)

Kathy

I'd be concerned about the bleach eating the bristles off the brush! I used a brush (not the water brush) with bleach once and this happened!

I've used bleach in a waterbrush at a shoebox swap and it worked great, BUT

Working for a plumber, I know that bleach tablets in your toilet tank eat away and destroy the rubber gaskets and seals. So bleach in the waterbrush for an extended period of time can't be good for the valve mechanism.

Also, most waterbrushes have a translucent barrel, and bleach loses its potency when exposed to the light (that's why they store it in those opaque white bottles). So if you kept bleach in your waterbrush, it would stop working.

I think the bristles would be ok, because the bristles on most waterbrushes are synthetic. I do know that I've read many warnings to not use bleach with a natural-bristle brush because the bleach will eat away the bristles.

good to know...thanks for sharing.

I remember someone demoing this at Regionals. They put bleach in the aquapainter. You don't want to leave it in there because it loses its strength. You should use fresh each time.

Thanks for all the info. Now I know why I need to keep replacing the "insides" of our toilets!:D

I have an aqua painter for bleach only and I never empty it. Nothing has happened to it (using it with the bleach for well over a year), but I couldn't figure out why the bleach would not work and I had to keep replacing the bleach. :oops:

Yes this is correct, you can use bleach in an aquapainter but only with synthetic bristles. The same with paintbrushes. Bleach will destroy natural bristles. However keep one aquapainter just for bleach (empty it out each time you have finished using it).

I never thought of it doing damage to itself or the brush !! I just use one of my water brushes filled with bleach and the other filled with water and they stay like that. Except for refilling I never take them into the kitchen. They do stay upright in a mug ~ in case they leaked ~ but I use them both quite a lot and they work for fine me! Av.