Here at Essentially Yours, we love helping our community make the most of their essential oil collection. Our favourite way to use our oils is in an electric diffuser, but using oil in anything always makes it tricky to clean. It is really important to clean out your diffuser regularly, to stop the buildup from oil and water from affecting its effectiveness. In this blog, we are going to answer some of the common questions that people have about cleaning their diffuser.
What solution should I use to clean my essential oil diffuser?
That depends on your personal preference. Our favourite solution is a teaspoon of vinegar mixed in water - enough to fill your diffuser’s chamber - which you can diffuse to clean the whole system. The vinegar also doubles up as a disinfectant to wipe it down afterwards.
Rubbing alcohol, dish soap and other detergents are also great for wiping down your diffuser, but we definitely do not recommend trying to diffuse these! Try to avoid using chemicals in your diffuser at all, but if that’s all you have, make sure you rinse thoroughly.
How often should I clean my essential oil diffuser?
In a perfect world, we would deep clean our diffusers every time we used it, but that is probably not very realistic. We recommend cleaning it thoroughly at least once a month so that you can keep your diffuser healthy for as long as possible.
In between uses, you should still give it a rinse and wipe down (preferably with vinegar) to keep it working at its best. You will probably also want to give your diffuser a clean when you change oils so that the scent is not altered by the last flavour you used - but that is down to personal preference!
Does this apply to all essential oil diffusers?
No. All diffusers are different so it is always best to follow the instructions that come along with it. For diffusers that use water, always make sure you empty out the chamber if you won’t be using it for a while, to avoid stagnant water clogging it up.
Some diffusers will be easier to clean than others, so it might take some time to figure out what works best for you. Heat diffusers are particularly easy to clean, and only require a quick wipe! Nebulising diffusers, on the other hand, are much more tricky to clean! They work with undiluted oil (no water) and can have many tiny parts.
Always remember to read your essential oil diffuser’s manual before you use it and follow the instructions on there - they should be much more specific!
How do you clean your diffuser? Do you have any tips and tricks to share with us? If you have any more questions about essential oils diffusers, the Essentially Yours team is always happy to hear from you!
