How To Clean A Yeti Cup – Make Your Rambler Shine Like New!

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Today, we'd like to discuss some proven ways of how to clean a YETI cup or tumbler.

As some of you may know, Yeti Tumblers are dishwasher safe. However, that doesn’t mean that you can always just throw them into the dishwasher and expect them to come out thoroughly clean.

If you’ve been using your Yeti Tumbler cup for a while, then nothing will be better for it than good handwashing.

In fact, as disgusting as it sounds, there are a lot of Yeti Tumbler cups with mold hidden in them, and people drink out of them without a clue.

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That’s why we decided to write this article. We want to give you some useful tips on how to properly clean your Yeti Rambler cups so that they don’t have any mold or other dirt and detritus hidden in them.

How To Clean a Yeti Cup

At the most basic, you can put the main body of your Yeti Tumbler cup in the dishwasher. What you need to wash by hand because it is more likely to harbor mold and stuff like that is the lid.

That said, cleaning the lid isn’t as simple as just scrubbing it and then rinsing and wiping it down. You have to remove the rubber gasket first.

Once you’ve done this you can scrub both the lid and the rubber gasket to get rid of any mold or grime that has already been built up. If you don’t do this often enough, mold is going to grow on the lid and may lead to health problems.

We’re going to go into this in more detail. First, we’ll look at how you clean the main body of the Tumbler. This is pretty much the easiest part of the whole thing. The lid, however, is the more complex part and you will need to pay more attention to it.


Cleaning Yeti Cup – Step By Step


Rinse the Cup

Cleaning YETI tumbler
Image courtesy of: www.yeti.com

The cup should be empty, so tip out all of its content, whether that content is tea, coffee, soda, water or whatever.

Once it’s empty, get some hot water and rinse the cup. Hot water is better for rinsing the cup than cold water because hot water dissolves away any leftover drink or residue that may have hardened and got stuck in your cup.

You could use cold water as well, of course, but it’s just going to be easier with hot water.

If it’s been a while and the stuff stuck in your Tumbler has hardened too much, then you’re going to have to let the hot water sit in the cup for a while.

Fill the cup with hot water and let it sit for about 20 minutes. This will allow the residue to absorb the water and come off more easily.


Wash the Cup

Once you’ve thoroughly rinsed the cup, give it a proper wash with a dish cleaning wand or a cloth.

It’s okay to use stuff like baking soda or vinegar to make the cleaning easier. You could also use detergent if you want.


Rinse the Cup and dry it

Once you’ve thoroughly cleaned the cup, you can rinse it out of any remaining cleaning product and then dry it with a towel, or just leave it out to dry.


How to Clean Yeti Rambler Lid

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The lid is the next part we should talk about. If you don’t clean the lid properly, it’s going to have mold growing hidden right under the gasket.

Now, if we’re being honest, this is more Yeti’s fault than the consumer’s. Yeti should design better cup lids that don’t harbor molds under the rubber gasket.

However, since we’re here and have to clean the lid anyway, we’re going to go through the proper way to do it. Remember that you need to clean the lid on a regular basis if you don’t want the mold to build up.

  • Start by removing the rubber gasket with a knife. These things aren’t designed to come off without a fight so it might be very hard to it with your hand. However, even as you do it with a knife, be careful not to cut it, otherwise, you won’t have a working rubber gasket anymore.
  • Once the rubber gasket is out, scrub the lid thoroughly to get rid of all the mold from the groves. This mold looks black and is pretty easy to spot. It tends to be on the groves, which are hidden by the rubber gasket, though it can be anywhere really. Scrub really hard and get rid of all the mold.
  • Once you’re done with the lid clean the rubber gasket. Rub the inside with a paper towel or cloth. It helps to wet it before rubbing it as it makes it easier to remove the mold.
  • Once you’re done with the inside clean the outside. This will take a little more time than the outside. The rubber gasket has groves, just like the lid, so some parts stick out while others are depressed. You’re going to have to pay attention to every grove to clean it thoroughly.
  • In case your lid has a MagSlider, clean that too. This is really easy: simply pull it out with your fingernail and clean it. You can also clean the part of the lid that was under the MagSlider. When the MagSlider is dry place it back on the lid.
  • Leave everything to dry. When they’re dry, place the rubber gasket back on the lid.

yeti rambler lid CleaningHow To Clean Yeti Tumbler Straw

For the Yeti Tumbler straw, cleaning is a lot easier. All you need to do is dip it in hot water for about 10 minutes and then pull it out and rinse it.


Cleaning Yeti Cups in a Dishwasher

Yeti Tumbler cups are dishwasher safe. If you want you can just put them in the dishwasher and let them get cleaned with the rest of your dishes. This is only good for the main body of the Tumbler cup, however.

The lid should be washed by hand for the best results. We wrote an article about cleaning Yeti Tumbler cups in a dishwasher here.


What NOT TO DO or Use when Cleaning Tumblers

There are certain cleaning products you should never use when cleaning your Yeti Tumbler cup:

  • Bleach

    Bleach may be a great cleaning product in most circumstances. However, it is not the best thing to use to clean the stainless steel Yeti Tumbler cup. Stainless steel is easily corroded when you expose it to harsh chemicals like bleach. This chemical can permanently damage your cup, so don’t let it anywhere near it.

  • Abrasive Cleaners

    Abrasive cleaners are those designed for hard stains. These are not good for the exterior of your cup, which is made of stainless steel. You can, however, use them on the inside of the cup.

  • Steel Brushes and Steel Wool

    Again, these are not good for the exterior of the cup. Using steel brushes or steel wool on the exterior of the cup can easily leave scratches on the outside of your Yeti Tumbler cup. You can use fine steel wool but not the rough kind.


How to Remove Stains From a Yeti Cup

Sometimes your cup might have very intense stains that aren’t easy to remove. It might be a smoothie you took but didn’t clean your cup immediately after, or some tea residue that has had ample time to cake in the cup, or something similar.

If you tend to leave your cup unclean for a long time, the stains on the interior will build up, especially if you don’t clean the interior of the cup thoroughly.

The good news is the Yeti Tumbler cup is made of stainless steel, which means it’s possible to make it almost brand new again.

As a note, the same goes for the other YETI-like tumblers, as most tumblers these days are made from of stainless steel as well.

Here are the steps to removing those tough stains and restoring the sheen on your Yeti Tumbler cup:

Grade #0000 Steel Wool and Window Clean

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  1. The first thing we have to point out here is that it is super important that you use grade #0000 steel. This is the finest possible steel wool and so it won’t leave scratches on your Yeti Tumbler cup. If you use something that’s too rough, you might end up damaging your cup.
  2. A little window cleaner will help to lubricate the tumbler so you can easily rub away the stains, grime, and dirt with the steel wool. For the interior of your tumbler, you can use a grade of steel wool higher than #0000. However, use only #0000 for the exterior. Spend as much time as you need to clean the cup, going over every year and removing all the stains and grime you can find.
  3. Once you’re done, rinse the cup, clean it, and dry it. If you had done a good enough job on cleaning away the stains, taking your time and being firm with it, all the dirt and stains should be gone. After it’s dry it should look brand new again.

How to Clean a YETI Cup & Lid – Bottom Line

And with that, we come to the end of our article on cleaning your Yeti Tumbler cup. As you can see, it’s not a particularly difficult process.

All it needs is a little time, the right tools, and a bit of conscientiousness.

By the time you’re done, your Yeti Tumbler cup should look as good as new!

Last update on 2024-03-29 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

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Greg

Greg’s a co-founder of bestcooler.reviews and author of 100+ product reviews and comparisons on this website. When not at work, Greg’s an avid sportsman who enjoys running marathons, loves snowboarding, hiking and discovering new single tracks on his bike.

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