How to Clean a Pedicure Foot Spa in Washington: the DOL Procedure, Step by Step

What the rule covers

One subsection with five parts. (a) defines the equipment: “‘foot spa’ or ‘spa’ is defined as any basin using circulating water.” (b) is the after-client cleaning. (c) is the nightly cleaning for “whirlpool foot spas, air-jet basins, ‘pipeless’ foot spas and other circulating spas”, with a second sequence for a unit that has removable parts. (d) is the record. (e) is “simple basins and reusable liners (no circulation)”. Disposable liners appear nowhere in it. There is no weekly procedure; our guide to how often to clean a pedicure foot spa in Washington covers the two schedules and why there is no third.

The disinfectant the rule means

The rule’s words, from (b): “Disinfect the surface with an EPA registered disinfectant according to the manufacturer’s directions on the label. Surfaces must remain wet with disinfectant for ten minutes or the time stated on the label.” Three things to take from that. The product is EPA registered: that is the standard the Washington text sets, and this guide adds no label claims the rule does not name; nothing else in Chapter 308-20 defines the word more narrowly. It is used as its label directs: dilution, water temperature, contact time. And the surfaces stay wet for the contact time, ten minutes or the time the label states: wet, not sprayed and wiped. The form asks you to name the product on every row (our guide to the Washington BC-638-005 log covers the column).

After each client

Every unit, after every client, in the order of (10)(b):

1. Drain the water from the foot spa basin and remove any visible debris.
2. Clean the surfaces of the foot spa with soap or detergent, rinse with clean water and drain.
3. Disinfect the surface with an EPA registered disinfectant according to the manufacturer’s directions on the label, and keep the surfaces wet with it for ten minutes or the time stated on the label.
4. Record it: the date and time, at the time.

The paragraph ends at the wet-contact sentence. It names no rinse or dry step after the contact time, and this guide adds none from another state’s rule; the label decides what happens when the time is up.

Nightly

For “whirlpool foot spas, air-jet basins, ‘pipeless’ foot spas and other circulating spas”, in the order of (10)(c)(i):

1. Drain the water from the foot spa basin or bowl and remove any visible debris.
2. Clean the surfaces of the foot spa with soap or detergent, rinse with clean water and drain.
3. Disinfect: fill the basin with clean water, adding the appropriate amount of EPA registered disinfectant, and turn the unit on to circulate the disinfectant for the entire contact time according to the manufacturer’s directions on the label.
4. Drain and rinse the basin with clean water and allow it to air dry.
5. Record it: the date and time, at the time, marked Nightly so the row can be told from the day’s after-client rows.

A foot spa “with filter screens, inlet jets and other removable parts that require special attention during the disinfecting process” follows (10)(c)(ii) instead, which puts the parts first:

1. Drain the water from the foot spa basin and remove any visible debris.
2. Remove the filter screen, inlet jets and all other removable parts from the basin and clean out any debris trapped behind or in them.
3. Scrub the removable parts using a brush and soap or detergent.
4. Rinse the removed parts with clean water and replace them in the basin.
5. Clean the surfaces of the foot spa with soap or detergent, rinse with clean water and drain.
6. Disinfect: fill the basin with clean water, adding the appropriate amount of EPA registered disinfectant, and turn the unit on to circulate it for the entire contact time on the label.
7. Drain and rinse the basin with clean water and allow it to air dry.
8. Record it: the date and time, at the time, marked Nightly.

“The entire contact time” is the label’s number with the pump running. Start it when the product is in the water and the unit is circulating, not when you start filling.

Simple basins and reusable liners

No pump, so no circulation, and a shorter list, in the order of (10)(e):

1. Drain the basin and remove any visible debris.
2. Scrub the basin with a clean brush and soap or detergent following the manufacturer’s directions.
3. Rinse the basin with clean water and drain.
4. Disinfect the basin surfaces with an EPA registered disinfectant following the manufacturer’s directions, the surfaces wet for ten minutes or the contact time stated on the label.
5. Drain and rinse the basin with clean water and allow it to air dry.
6. Record it: the date and time.

(e) has no nightly procedure and gives the basin no cadence word of its own; the plain reading, which ReadyPedi follows, is after each client. How the Department applies (e) at an inspection is not settled by the text. Ask your inspector, and if the answer is more than the text says, do it and log it.

Disposable liners

Not in the rule. WAC 308-20-110(10) names “reusable liners” in (e) and says nothing about disposable ones, so a disposable liner carries no exemption in the text: the basin under it is a simple basin and (e) applies to it. What the Department expects of the liner itself, and whether it changes the basin procedure, is not in the sources behind this guide. ReadyPedi’s Washington profile offers no Liner class for that reason; a basin used with liners is set up as a Basin.

Writing it down

Each procedure above ends in the same clause, (10)(d): “A record must be made of the date and time of each cleaning and disinfecting”, and “This record must be made at the time of cleaning and disinfecting.” Date and time, written when it is done. The Department’s form adds the disinfectant used, the printed name and a signature, and the form guide linked above covers it column by column; the Washington page has the rule next to the app. The rule has no not-used entry and no not-in-service notation, so there is nothing to write on a day a unit sits idle, and no sign to post when one is down.

What to keep at the chair

Soap or detergent and a brush for the scrub; the disinfectant, mixed as its label says, with the label where it can be read, because the form asks for the product’s name on every row; a timer for the contact time; the unit’s sheet, or the tablet that holds it. ReadyPedi’s three taps log the cleaning at the moment it is finished, with the server’s time, and the printed BC-638-005 carries the product from Settings and the tech’s name from the roster. A shop can start a free trial today.

Frequently asked questions

This guide explains Washington’s foot-spa cleaning procedure in plain language and is not legal advice. The Washington State Department of Licensing’s rules are the authority on Washington foot-spa cleaning and recordkeeping requirements.