Regular RV maintenance is key to keeping your vehicle in operable condition. However, you might feel overwhelmed with your choices with so many cleaners on the market. What is the best to clean an RV with?
The best thing to clean your RV with is good, old-fashioned soap and water. Besides that, you can try these cleaning products:
- Vinegar
- Magic Eraser
- Feather duster
- Vacuum cleaner
- Lemon juice
- All-purpose cleaner
- Glass cleaner
- Toilet cleaner
- Pressure washer
- Bleach
This guide will show you which products to use and when so you can get your motorhome spiffy clean!
The Best Thing to Clean Your RV: Soap and Water
I know this seems crazy, but soap and water are the best out there for your motorhome.
RVs aren’t built to be difficult to clean. They’re designed for maintenance, so you can get it done and then hit the road for your next adventure.
That’s why many RV surfaces clean up fast with soap and water in a bucket, a sponge or scrubber, and some elbow grease.
You can use soap and water to clean almost anything in your RV, including the exterior of your vehicle, the roof, windows, counters, the bathroom, the kitchen, and tires.
What about those hard-to-reach places? Try a squeegee like the Ultimate Squeegee from Camco. It’s a 21-foot squeegee made from corrosion-resistant polypropylene. It features a twin foam rubber blade and a splash guard for staying neat and dry while cleaning.
A telescoping squeegee is a good alternative, as it’s easier to pack it up and go, especially if you own a smaller RV or a travel trailer.
I always recommend using unscented, uncolored dish soap for cleaning. You don’t want lingering residue or odor on your RV surfaces, after all.
When cleaning with dish detergent and a sponge or squeegee, begin at the top down, cleaning one section at a time. If you’re cleaning anything that could leave streaks when dry, use a sponge or squeegee vertically and wipe in the same direction.
Try These Other Great Solutions for a Dirty RV
Although soap and water can get most jobs done around your RV, I recognize they’re not necessarily efficient for everything. It’s always good to have some backup options and specialty cleaners for tidying up your vehicle.
Let’s go over your choices.
Vinegar
If you spend significant time in your RV, I’d bet you have a tub of vinegar in there right now. It’s useful for more than cooking stews, sauces, and soups. Vinegar is also a powerful cleaner.
The secret ingredient in vinegar is acetic acid. It can break down everything from bacteria to films, dirt, stains, and oils. It’s not a chemical, so you can use it freely, and any lingering scents won’t be offensive to your olfactory receptors.
You can use vinegar alone or combine it with everyone’s other favorite pantry staple, baking soda. The ingredients will interact and foam up, which can remove the gunk in your RV drains.
However, here’s a word to the wise: Vinegar might not be a chemical, but it’s harsh on some surfaces.
You shouldn’t use vinegar on aluminum, cast iron, waxed wood, or natural stone, as it can stain. It can also wreak havoc on other materials, so I recommend testing out the vinegar by applying it on a small, inconspicuous location on your RV, such as an underside or back.
Give the vinegar time to work, then rinse it away. You’re good to go if you don’t see any stains or discoloration.
When you’re done cleaning, please rinse vinegar residue off your RV surfaces.
Magic Eraser
The Magic Eraser is another cleaning godsend that’s simple, easy to use, efficient, and chemical-free.
These scrubbing pads make such a difference in at-home cleanliness that it only makes sense to use them in your motorhome.
You don’t have to wet the Magic Eraser or put any cleaning product on it. Simply pull it out of the package and get cleaning. The Magic Eraser is handy for doors, tubs, showers, cooktops, ovens, and more.
So how does it work? The Durafoam is an abrasive surface that can lift grime from the surface. The foam has a microstructure that holds onto the dirt and keeps it locked in. It’s designed to use wet or dry, but it’s more effective when wet.
Here’s another way to make the Magic Eraser even more efficient: combine it with dish detergent and go to town. You can say goodbye to most motorhome messes.
While the original Magic Eraser is a multi-surface cleaner, Mr. Clean produces several iterations designed for specific parts of the house (or RV). This one for bathrooms will scour soap scum (while smelling pleasingly like lavender), while this one uses the cleaning power of Dawn to remove all your toughest kitchen stains.
Feather Duster
You also can’t underestimate the cleaning power of a feather duster. Awesome at lifting surface dirt and dust from shelves, headboards, counters, cabinets, and anywhere else that needs it, a feather duster can also clean between the folds of your curtains or the slats of your blinds.
I like this feather duster, which is made for cleaning RVs, SUVs, trucks, and other vehicles. The real ostrich feathers will get in all those tough-to-reach places. The handle is non-slip wood, and an included cowhide rope allows you to hang the duster up in your motorhome when you’re done with it.
Vacuum Cleaner
A vacuum cleaner is admittedly optional, as your motorhome might not have any carpeted surfaces. However, for those of us who like a plush surface for our feet, a vacuum will lift all the dust, hair, dirt, and grime from the carpets.
I love the Shark Pocket Complete Ultra-Light Vacuum for RVs. It’s bigger than a handheld vacuum but streamlined enough that most motorhomes will have the space for it. Its Plasma Blue color scheme is stylish, just the icing on the cake.
This 120-volt vacuum can collect particles of all sizes, as large as a piece of cereal and as small as a fleck of glitter. The way the Shark Pocket Complete handles large particles is awesome. Most vacuums push the particles around, but this one pulls them straight in and under.
The suction of the Shark Pocket Complete lifts small particles even from small crevices and edges they’ve been hiding for who only knows how long. This vacuum can even dislodge stuck-on particles from hard flooring and carpeting.
The included TruePet Mini Motorized Brush is helpful for those of us who bring Fido along on our RV adventures. However, even if you don’t have a pet, this mini vacuum’s capacity for lifting dust and dirt from tight spaces is exceptional.
The LED lights make cleaning those dark parts of your RV you rarely enter easy because you know how desperately they need a cleaning. It’s a great vacuum all across the board.
Lemon Juice
Check your fruit bowl for a lemon, and you could have a clean motorhome in an afternoon. Yes, I’m serious!
This household product is tremendously adept at keeping RV surfaces clean, and you can use lemons in so many ways.
Is your grill dirty? Cut a lemon in half, put one half on a barbecue fork, then clean the grill grates with the lemon. Maybe your microwave needs some help? Another halved lemon can handle it, especially when used with a damp cloth.
You can mix water and lemon juice in a spray bottle to clean kitchen surfaces like wooden cutting boards and dirty counters. A halved lemon is also an excellent glass cleaner, so keep the fruit handy for mirrors, windshields, and windows.
When you’re done cleaning the glass, use a damp cloth to wipe any residue away, then dry the glass quickly and in one direction to limit streaking.
All-Purpose Cleaner
While a lemon is technically an all-purpose cleaner, you might wish to keep something heavier-duty in your motorhome in case you combat stubborn stains and messes. In that case, try Meguiar’s All-Purpose Cleaner.
This liquid cleaner for interior surfaces can clean anything, including leather, vinyl, upholstery, and carpet. The formula includes optical brighteners and fabric softeners that will make your furniture and carpeting softer while your harder surfaces will look sparkling clean.
You can buy Meguiar’s All-Purpose Cleaner in 128-fluid-ounce jugs, so one bottle will last you a while.
Glass Cleaner
You’ll recall that halved lemons make an exceptional glass cleaner. Vinegar is another product I’ve discussed that can also tackle this task with aplomb. Use two parts of water and one part of vinegar, transfer it to a spray bottle, mist the windows, and say goodbye to smudges.
Of course, these products risk leaving streaks in their wake. Not Zep Streak-Free Glass Cleaner. It cleans your surfaces properly the first time.
The ammonia in the cleaner erases all traces of fingerprints, dirt, and grime from all glass surfaces, including mirrors and windows. It’s inexpensive and boasts a professional formula you can rely on for a cleaner motorhome.
Toilet Cleaner
While keeping a clean RV doesn’t often require different products than those you’d use at home, the same cannot be said for the toilet. You need a specialized cleaner since motorhome toilets don’t work the same way as a conventional commode.
I suggest the Star Brite Toilet Bowl Cleaner for RV and marine toilets. It can clean porcelain and plastic in equal measure, clearing stains, brightening the bowl, and sanitizing. This toilet bowl cleaner has a refreshing pine or lemon scent, but other cleaners are unscented if that’s what you prefer.
I chose the Star Brite Toilet Bowl Cleaner because it’s biodegradable. You can reduce your carbon footprint and enjoy a cleaner motorhome.
Pressure Washer
Let’s talk more about the exterior of your motorhome, as I’ve saved the two toughest solutions for last.
The first is pressure washing. You can try a pressure washer if all your other exterior cleaning solutions have failed to fully remove stains and discoloration. Blasting the surface with a concentrated jet of water at high pressure will surely restore it to its former luster.
The best thing about renting a power washer is you don’t have to commit to owning one, which means you don’t have to stress about where you’ll keep it in your RV when you’re not using it.
Renting a power washer is also less expensive than owning one. That said, using a power washer for the first time isn’t easy, so make sure yours comes with directions if you rent it.
You must also be very careful when operating the power washer. Wear long sleeves and pants, put on gloves and closed-toe shoes, and consider goggles. A pair of earplugs or industrial headphones will safeguard your ears.
The distance you should stand when using the pressure washer varies by model, but you should never be too close to your RV, as you could damage it. You should also never clean when someone else is in the vicinity, as blasting them with a pressure washer can lead to serious injuries.
Bleach
What’s even harder on stains than pressure washing? There could only be one product: bleach.
Bleach can remove just about any stain you can imagine, and you can forget about surface discoloration after a bleach bath. However, for all the good it can do, bleach will permanently stain just about any surface.
That only makes it a good candidate for formerly white surfaces like your shower, tub, counter, or motorhome exterior. I can’t stress enough that if you get bleach on any part of your RV with color, it won’t have color anymore. Once that happens, there’s no fixing it unless you can paint over the offending area.
That’s why I recommend bleach as a last resort only. Bleach produces fumes you shouldn’t directly inhale, as it can irritate the eyes and skin. Use it in a well-ventilated area only.
Never apply bleach on metal surfaces. It’s a highly corrosive cleaner that will destroy metal. You also cannot combine it with other cleaning products, as it can interact and release deadly gas.
Bottom Line
Although the best thing to clean your RV will always be dish soap and water, you can explore many other unique cleaning methods if you wish. The tamer but effective options are lemons, vinegar, and Magic Erasers. You can even use tougher cleaners like bleach or power washers, but exhaust your other resources first, especially when using bleach!