How To Wash The Litter Robot 3 – Tips & Tricks

Ready To Learn The Best Tips To Wash Your Litter Robot 3?

Here I will show you how to wash the Litter Robot in a simple way. This is a very important task you must do to ensure the operation of your unit. In order to wash this automatic litter box, you need to disassemble the unit first. If you haven’t done this yet you can check my post on taking apart the LR Open Air to clean it. There I explain step by step how easy it’s to remove the Globe and the other parts.

Here I explain how to wash the Litter Robot indoors and also outdoors because the situation changes depending on if it’s summer or winter (at least for me!) so I thought it would be useful for you to have both explanations as well.

How often should you wash your Litter Robot and why?

Is recommended to do a deep cleaning at least once a month, making sure you wash every part, the waste drawer, the globe and if you have one, the ramp as well.

Washing the unit periodically will prevent the rubber liner that covers the bottom of the globe to get in contact with the urine’s residues for too long which could cause deterioration of the rubber over time. We all know that cat urine is very strong so we don’t want the residues of urine to adhere to the rubber for months without proper cleaning.

Also, the waste drawer is sealed when shut and it holds the clumps for weeks so, even though it features a vent with a carbon filter, the plastic inside is still in contact with some odor of the clumps sitting in there for weeks. So cleaning the waste drawer and disinfecting it, it’s a must-do.

Important Tips Before Washing The Unit

•  To wash the Litter Robot use a soft hand soap without Triclosan. Triclosan is the chemical found in all antibacterial products. This substance is really poisoning for cats and even though your pet may not touch the globe’s bottom due to the litter, it may still scratch the sides of it trying to bury the poop or urine. So avoid using antibacterial soap when washing your unit, your cat will thank you for that.

  

• I found that is really easy to wash every part of the Litter Robot using a bottle brush. You can find those in any grocery store and they are not expensive at all (mine cost about $2.90) and you will make it much easier for you. The particular brand I use is Great Value that I purchased in Walmart, the brush is not too rigid that could scratch the rubber liner and it’s not too soft that won’t clean well either, so this one is ideal to wash the globe inside.

• If you, like me, have the shower separated from the bathtub you can get a sink faucet rinser that gets connected to the sink. I got this element not only to wash the Litter Robot but for other uses as well (it comes in handy to rinse my hair after a cream massage for example). This sink faucet shower is used generally by hair saloons but it works perfectly to wash the litter box. I got mine on Amazon, the brand is Rinse Ace and it comes with adaptors to fit your sink.

How To Wash the Litter Robot Indoors

I live in the North so in summer I wash the Litter Robot outside but in winter I wash it indoors. My partner for this task is the bathtub of course. Cleaning the unit indoors is the solution for people that live in apartments or houses without a yard or patio.

What I Use When Washing It In The Bathtub:

• Soft hand soap (remember, no antibacterial)
• Bottlebrush
• Hand shower (only if your bathtub doesn’t have a shower)
• Ultra absorbing paper towel

1 STEP: Washing The Globe

First, make sure to absolutely empty the globe from the litter before putting it in the bathtub. In my article how to disassemble the Litter Robot, I explain in the video how to do it.

What I do is put a small amount of hand soap (less than a teaspoon) and I start showering the rubber liner and all the interior of the globe cleaning with the brush. It’s important to clean every single area of the globe, especially the internal protective shield that sometimes gets dirty and around the opening where the clumps drop. Once you have washed very well the inside of the globe rinse it twice to ensure the soap is removed completely, and then dry it very well using an ultra-absorbing paper towel this way you won’t use too much to get the litter box dry.

Very Important: when washing the globe don’t grab it from the black piece located on the back of it, this is the mechanism that rotates together with the internal shield and if you grab it from there you can affect the mechanism and the internal piece may get loose. If this happens you can fix it by putting the shield piece in the right position, next to the upper opening.

 Video Washing The Globe In The Bathtub

2 STEP: Washing the Waste Drawer & The Ramp

To wash the waste drawer and the ramp I soak them in the bathroom for 5 minutes in warm water with a little bleach (don’t put too much! I only put one lid). I do this because I want to disinfect these elements, especially the waste drawer that holds clumps for a month before getting cleaned.

After soaking for about 5 minutes I wash the drawer and ramp with the brush, making sure to get all the nooks and crannies, and that’s why the bottle brush works so well because it gets all the hard-to-reach areas. I also wash the rubber mat and as it’s pretty thick, and doesn’t have contact with urine or feces, it won’t get damaged being disinfected with a small amount of bleach in a full bathtub.

After I wash these items well, I rinse them thoroughly and dry them with a paper towel.

Video Washing The Drawer & Ramp In The Bathtub

You can add hand soap to the bathtub as well, it’s a matter of preference. So far soaking the drawer and ramp in the water with a little bleach has worked great for me, but remember, you must rinse them very well.

How to Wash the Litter Robot Outside

When the climate allows it, we can wash the automatic litter box in the yard. The daylight provides you a much better vision of the inside of the globe, plus you have more space to get in a more comfortable position while washing the Litter Robot. Another advantage of cleaning the unit outside is that you can rinse everything off with a much stronger stream from the hose, which allows a much deeper cleaning.

If you are going to wash your unit on a concrete surface or in a rough ground make sure to place a big old towel or similar on the ground so you have a place to put the globe and drawer (and ramp if the case) to dry them and protect them from possible scratches or dirt.

What I use Outdoors:

• Biodegradable hand soap
• Garden Hose
• Bottlebrush
• Ultra absorbent paper towel
• A big old towel, mat, or similar. (Optional. It’ll depend if you wash the unit in a yard, concrete, or rough ground. If you have a yard with grass you may not need this).

How to wash it

First, pour a little hand soap at the bottom. If you are going to pour water with soap on the ground I recommend using biodegradable hand soap. A good brand (and cheap!) is Eco and you can find it in any grocery store for a little over $3. That said and once you have placed the globe in the yard, grab it firmly by the entry and hose it off profusely making sure to reach all the areas inside and leave them very wet for the brush. Then brush all the inside, cleaning the bottom, sides, and top of the Globe following the same instructions as I explained in my first description when I washed the globe in the bathtub. Then rinse it off making sure to eliminate completely the soap from the inside. Place the globe on the towel or similar or simply on the yard.

Next wash the waste drawer, rubber mat, and ramp (if you have one), rinse everything deeply and dry all the parts with a paper towel. It’s very important that you dry the globe very well because so you don’t and leave the inside humid, the litter gets stuck in the inside and if your cat uses the Litter Robot it will start hearing noises of litter dropping from the sides and if your cat is skittish it will scare it (that happened with my cat).

And that’s all! That’s the way how to wash the Litter Robot with excellent results. I hope I could help you with this article so you have an idea about what you will go through when washing your machine indoors and outdoors.