Scrubbing Bubbles automatic shower cleaner

[mfortuna]

I have had a couple of these over the years. They do a good job of keeping a shower clean, not so good at cleaning a dirty shower.

http://www.scrubbingbubbles.com/Product ... eaner.aspx

One of them died in such a way it would not shut off and was pumping weak. The replacement worked for years but suddenly it would run but no liquid was pumped out. I took both of them apart in hopes of making one good one. What struck me funny is the circuit board was labeled Rosie rev 1 in the older one and Rosie rev 2 in the newer one which I assume is named after the Jetson's robot. I think that is a stretch since Rosie the shower cleaner is not aware of or responds to her environment. The two Rosies were quite different inside, with Rosie2 being much more modular (having no tubing at all) while Rosie1 had lots of tubing and looked more complicated to put together.

Rosie1 showed lots of signs of corrosion, especially on the motor which was similar to the 400 series brush deck motor. My plan was to remove the motor and Rosie2 board from Rosie2 and put it in Rosie1. The two Rosie boards were different since the Rosie2 had an extra switch for a longer clean cycle. I was hoping the normal clean cycle switch would line up with the button on Rosie1.

I had to take more apart to remove the motor and when I did I was looking around to see how it worked. A motor turns a gear reduction which has a cam for a piston pump and a big gear to spin the cleaning head around. I decided to pull the piston out to see if the O-ring needed replacement and discovered it was quite stuck. After I freed it and put Rosie2 back together she works fine. The issue was the round part of the connecting rod which surrounds the cam was just flexing and not moving the piston. It may be the O-ring dried up since Rosie 2 ran out of cleaning solution and sat for a while.

If I take it apart again I will take some pictures.

[eqwalker]

Interesting. I had one of those too. It seem to leave a sticky residue in my shower. Have you noticed any of that?

[mfortuna]

I did not notice any residue when starting with a clean shower. But using it on a dirty shower seems to result in all kinds of weird stains.

[tmnCA]

I liked it - but it didn't even last long enough to finish the bottle of cleaner it came with! I've had 2 and both died too fast. They either need to make it more durable, or make it cheaper and disposable.

Actually I still have the last one, it rotates and makes the noise but it doesn't actually spray anything. I checked the fit of the bottle, and rinsed the nozzle under hot water. Any ideas on how to eek out a bit more service from it?

[mfortuna]

One issue I have seen is it may not start up. I found that trying to rotate the head in either direction fixes it for a while.

Yours may have a bad o-ring internal to the pumping mechanism. That is what was wrong with my prior unit, which completely died shortly after I replaced the o-ring.

My first unit met my useful lifetime expectations (2+ years), the second one didn't.

[tmnCA]

2 years I would be delighted with - mine lasted about 1 month. I emailed the manufacturer and they sent me coupons to replace the 2 units, I got new ones and I will see if these last longer!

[mfortuna]

I will try emailing them if my new unit fails. So far so good. Thanks for sharing that.