How To Clean An Inflatable Waterslide Fast

Cleaning Your Inflatable Water Slide is Mission Critical

Inflatable party rentals can exist a tremendous source of enjoyment for people of all ages on hot summer days. But big smiles and lasting memories aren't the merely things your commercial inflatable water slide might bequeath on your event or party guests. And unfortunately, nosotros're not talking about anything pleasant.

Unlike a bounce house or inflatable obstacle course, an inflatable h2o slide is meant to get moisture and remain wet throughout the entire duration of play. But getting something wetdoes not make it clean. In fact, a h2o slide being moisture makes it more prone to germs, bacteria, mold, and mildew than a dry bounce business firm or obstacle course.

Extra care needs to get into cleaning your inflatable water slide each and every fourth dimension it is used. And skipping whatever of these important steps can and undoubtedly will result in your customers, your employees, and/or yourself getting sick. There'southward too the less important factor of your water slide itself getting damaged by mold and mildew, too, or becoming so filthy that a more extreme cleaning regiment is necessary ... one that would likely likewise cause harm to your h2o slide.

Thankfully, cleaning your commercial inflatable h2o slide isn't going to exist as difficult as information technology may seem at showtime glance. And it becomes easier still once yous settle into a routine, too. There volition exist times when cleaning your inflatable water slides will exist tiring or even frustrating, but ever try to recall that a muddy piece of rental equipment tin can make a person ill. Cleaning them is more than but a part of the task ... it's the well-nigh important part.

Footstep I - The Visual Inspection

Your get-go pace toward a cleaner, safer commercial inflatable water slide is also one of the easiest: you'll need to advisedly and thoroughly examine the water slide from top to bottom—every square inch—to inspect for trouble and get a strong sense of how much cleaning it volition require. This is best washed while information technology'south still on the job site and inflated, if your customer isn't in too much of a bustle to get your equipment off of their property anyhow.

You'll desire to search for and remove whatever loose debris you run across. Sticks, leaves, toys, jewelry, crayons, bits of nutrient ... if you can pick information technology up with your easily, do so now. Ever be certain to render any property you find to your customers, too, especially things like toys and jewelry or anything else that might take value, personal or otherwise.

During this inflatable water slide inspection, you should be looking for all of the following:

Loose objects
Clay or grime; dingy or filthy areas
Fading colors or worn out spots
Physical damage including tears, rips, scuffs, punctures, or stressed areas that may rip/tear/puncture soon
Mildew and mold
Areas retaining moisture where at that place shouldn't be any

Be especially wary of existing harm. The cleaning process tin can make damaged areas a lot worse, particularly if you're in a hurry, and then be sure to have your time and try to spot damage before accidentally worsening it.

Stride 2 - Onsite Rinsing

Clean your inflatable water slide onsite if you can This may non always exist an option; it depends on the property possessor's demeanor, the event'south schedule, and a host of other factors. But if it's possible, endeavor to give your inflatable water slide a skilful, thorough rinsing while it'southward still inflated.

The h2o slide is already inflated. The basis is already soggy from hours of play. Rinsing down the bounciness business firm at present, before you load it into your van or truck, makes sense. And it may just knock loose something important, like lost jewelry or toys, and then you can plough them over to their owners while y'all're nevertheless on the premises.

Once your inflatable h2o slide has been given a expert rinse, deflate it and curlicue information technology up like you lot commonly would. If information technology being wet bothers you, catch a few towels and give it a nice once-over. But this actually depends on how much time there is before your next party rental booking.

Pace 3 - Rinsing back at Home Base of operations

Be sure to thoroughly rinse your inflatable water slide Once yous've gotten your inflatable water slide back to home base, it'south time to give it a more than thorough cleaning. And this will involve setting it up and re-inflating it once more. Y'all can practice this with it rolled out and deflated, just we strongly recommend inflating it at least the first few times you clean it so you get a ameliorate sense of which areas need the well-nigh attention. It can too sometimes be easier to make clean when it'south inflated; yous're not tugging on flaps and struggling through creases when it's blown up.

With the water slide support, get over the total inflatable (including the underside!) and give it a nice full rinse. It'south a proficient idea to reinspect the h2o slide during this process, as well. Yes, you lot already inspected information technology, but the extra look-over isn't going to hurt.

Use this rinsing procedure to suspension upward any caked on mud and rinse abroad the droppings. Don't worry nigh scrubbing annihilation downwards, though; that volition happen shortly. You merely want to spray away whatever can come off hands. Endeavor to use low-cal and medium water pressure. It'due south okay to use a pressure level washer at its lowest setting, but never apply an amount of water pressure that's too forceful or might impairment the vinyl. Diggings your equipment with water cannons will likely practise more than damage than good.

Step IV - The Inflatable Water Slide Deep Clean

For this adjacent stride, we're going to need some cleaning solution. And don't worry, we aren't virtually to attempt and sell y'all anything. The cleaning solution we're going to use is one you can brand yourself at home! You lot can buy a professional vinyl cleaner if yous desire to—there are surely some high quality products out in that location—only in our experience the following works only likewise and is significantly cheaper.

We make our cleaning solution with 3 parts water to one part vinegar, to which you'll add together a sensible amount of balmy dish soap. If that vinegar odour bothers you, add more dish soap and less vinegar. Just make sure you include at least some larger quantity of vinegar, though ... information technology does a lot to assist with the cleaning process.

Every bit for dish lather, nosotros strongly recommend Original Dawn dish soap. Every bit a testament to its quality, animal rescuers use original Dawn to make clean birds and turtles in oil spills, so information technology will be more than than powerful enough for your inflatable h2o slide.

Of import Notation: Practice Non use dish soaps containing bleach! Nosotros'll explicate why shortly!

Once you've got your cleaning solution ready, employ information technology to your inflatable water slide. You lot should focus on areas where people become; steps/ladders, slides, landing areas, etc. Douse those areas well, and if you have whatsoever cleaning liquid left over, you can use that during this next step.

At present you lot'll utilize a soft bristle brush, a sponge, or a rag and scrub those areas with dirty build ups. Exist certain to scrub whatsoever surface area you think hands, feet, or faces went more occasionally, too. High traffic areas should always be thoroughly scrubbed. And if yous want to give lower-traffic or no-traffic areas a one time over, that'due south ever a good idea as well.

One time everything has been cleaned and y'all're all done scrubbing those areas that needed it, requite your inflatable water slide a good and thorough rinsing from tiptop to lesser. Be sure there's no soapy balance left backside, either. If you full-bodied a larger quantity of your cleaning solution on one detail area, you may want to soak a towel or rag and scrub it with water just to be sure you become all of the soapy homemade vinyl cleaner out.

Step V - Disinfecting Your Inflatable H2o Slide

Properly cleaning your inflatable water slide can help prevent cold and flu viruses, MRSA, and scores of other health risks If not taken intendance of properly, an inflatable water slide can quickly turn into a breeding ground for germs, bacteria, and viruses. Failure to clean your equipment properly can (and oftentimes will) upshot in users transmitting cold and influenza viruses, allergens, and even scarier stuff, like MRSA.

The steps we've gone through thus far take done a pretty good task of cleaning the water slide and removing a lot of bacteria and germs, only there tin withal be lingering problems. Issues we'll nip in the bud with a round of disinfecting.

For this phase, y'all'll want to use bleach-free disinfecting wipes. Lysol makes some great disinfecting wipes that are trusted and used daily by experienced party rental business organisation owners all around the country. Those come very highly recommended.

Utilise your wipes to thoroughly scrub everything a child might touch on the inflatable water slide. Exist sure to wipe down railings, guide rails, landings, and sidewalls. And do not rinse the disinfectant abroad, either, unless specifically told otherwise by the manufacturer.

Step VI - Drying Your Inflatable Water Slide

Dry your inflatable water slide in natural sunlight whenever possible This final cleaning pace is perhaps the to the lowest degree messy of them all, and information technology might also exist the easiest. It's also the most of import step in terms of protecting the water slide itself from mold and mildew. So to wrap things up, we need to let the water slide thoroughly dry out.

Use soft, dry towels to wipe downwardly areas with excessive water. You may be able to shake excess h2o abroad, also. And if yous're in a hurry, you tin can employ a leaf blower to dry much of the water slide as well. But we strongly recommend assuasive the unit to air dry and sunday dry. Information technology's time consuming, simply it's the best way to guarantee the water slide is thoroughly dried.

Sunlight does a bang-up task of drying your commercial inflatables. UV sunlight is also a decent weapon confronting water pathogens, also. Though nosotros do need to take a moment hither to dispel the urban legend that claims sunlight is all the disinfectant you need. It'due south non. Sunlight DOES NOT disinfect your equipment. Information technology definitely helps, only yous all the same need to carry out all of the other steps to brand certain the bounce house is truly disinfected.

Patience is the name of the game hither, especially if you programme on storing your bounce firm for longer than a few hours. FEMA says mold tin abound in equally little as 24 to 48 hours, and mold continues to grow nonstop until it'due south dealt with. It can eat fade and fifty-fifty eat its way through vinyl, even the mold-resistant commercial vinyl nosotros make our equipment with. So exercise not phone in your drying efforts, folks!

How to Remove Mold and Mildew from an Inflatable Water Slide

At that place'due south really no point in sugarcoating this: mold and mildew will usually result in your commercial inflatable getting damaged. So when nosotros find mold and mildew, we need to break out all of the stops to kill it dead and forbid it from getting worse than it is.

We've said not to apply bleach a few times in this article already. That's because bleach tends to cause varying degrees of colour fading, and for full general cleaning, there'due south really no value in using it. Information technology'd just harm your bounce house without actually making information technology any cleaner than what we've suggested here. But when information technology comes to getting rid of mold, bleach is a mandatory cleaning product.

The inflatable water slide must exist entirely dry out before attempting to clean mold. Don't just improve this onto your cleaning regiment, and don't pre-rinse it. It doesn't aid and can actually make things worse!

Go a bucket and fill it with l percentage water and fifty percent bleach, and mix it a little. And so apply this new mold killer solution to the moldy areas of the inflatable water slide. Be generous with the application, besides. Once those affected areas are soaked well, use a soft brush or a rag and scrub the mold away vigorously.

One time you've finished scrubbing abroad the mold, rinse those areas thoroughly, then employ towels to dry them every bit much as you can by hand. Then let your equipment sit out, preferably in the sun, and air dry thoroughly. Have your time, too. In most cases, rushing is what led to the factors that immune the water slide to become infected with mold to brainstorm with. Be sure to have your time and avert another mold outbreak downwards the road.

Protecting Your Customers is the Virtually Important Work You Practice

A commercial bounce house may include water features This was a long article, simply the summary is pretty brief: rinse it onsite, rinse it at home, clean it with the homemade solution, rinse it over again, disinfect it, and let information technology dry. Once you get into that routine, cleaning your inflatable h2o slide will be piece of cake peasy.

One negative experience using your rental equipment is all it takes to bring down your visitor's whole reputation. A single customer seeing that your water slide is dirty, messy, smelly, or moldy can harm your party and event rental business forever, if that customer decides to write a bad review or otherwise tell lots of other people about what they saw. And how terrible would you feel if children got sick using your inflatables? Yikes!

Taking the time to carefully and methodically inspect, clean, and properly dry your inflatable water slide can prevent any number of catastrophes. And it's not simply nigh your liabilities, either. It's only a skillful moral and upstanding matter to practice, y'all know? Nosotros hope we helped you do that. And if you accept whatever questions about cleaning inflatable water slides, or if yous have suggestions that might assistance other party rental professionals with their own cleaning efforts, be sure to comment below and let us know!