Materials needed:
Q-tips,
tweezers,
a scrub brush,
and a dirty
water fountain.
Start by taking it apart.
Take the top off.
Take the old filter out.
Take the bottom out.
There should be another filter,
pop that out.
The motor
should pop straight out,
unless it's being difficult.
Disgusting mess.
Pull the cord through.
Let this end hang,
you don't want to get it wet.
And then this entire motor assembly comes apart.
When you've done it a couple of times,
this will get easier.
It should just push right off.
Sorry, I had to get a stand.
Anyway, this should pop right off.
There will be a couple of pieces:
the rubber feet, which just pull straight out;
the piece that controls the flow;
the piece that has a filter;
and then use the tweezers to actually 
pull the magnet out.
And then you will clean this whole thing.
I like to just throw everything in the bottom,
put it in the sink,
add some dish soap,
then just loosely reassemble.
Don't snap it all together, just let it sit.
And if this isn't bad,
just run it through some hot water.
Don't get this soapy.
Or if it's really bad, just replace it.
It's been soaking now for about 20 minutes.
A couple of things I wanted to show you:
This plastic, spongy thing,
it can get pretty gunked up.
It's kind of hard to see,
but in this area right here,
it's really disgusting
and you really can't even see through it,
so that has to be really scrubbed out.
The easiest way to do it is
is just like you would with clothes.
Just rub it together.
It kind of hurts a little bit, because this is plastic.
But generally, that gets rid of the gunk.
If it doesn't, try soaking it in some vinegar.
I haven't yet found a place where
you can buy these replacement filters.
(update in description)
Just make sure you rinse it out really well.
You do not want soap in the cat's water.
I found a giant piece of hair stuck in it.
Sometimes, if you hold it up to the light,
it helps you to really be able to see through it.
I've held this up to the light, and now I've
gotten rid of all of the gunk inside of it.
It is perfectly clean and you can see through it,
which you couldn't before.
I'm trying to get that in focus.
The rest -- I'll only go through the parts that
really need to be scrubbed with the Q-tip.
You've got to get down inside of this because
it will collect gunk in these areas,
especially around any posts,
and in any corners and crevices.
So that's that piece, and then I'll just scrub the rest of it.
This piece, make sure you get up inside of the hole,
and again, in any corners,
especially in this part in here.
And then just scrub the rest of it normally.
Inside this piece here, for the motor,
get that really well inside.
This piece, where the water actually shoots out of,
and it controls the water flow, just get inside of that
really well, because that can get pretty gunked up, too.
I know it's not the best video.
And then as far as the motor goes,
inside, where you put the magnet, stick your Q-tip
down inside of there and just really get down inside of that.
Then I just clean out all of the tiny spots.
Inside of your main base,
there's going to be -- I know your machine is different --
but there's going to be little spots like this here
These little spots in here just collect all kinds of gunk,
and around here. So I always just make sure to clean
around those really well with a Q-tip because
they're kind of hard to get to any other way.
And that's it for cleaning.
As far as cleaning the big main pieces, it's really not
difficult at all, just give it a good scrub,
make sure there's no stray fur.
There are a lot of parts to clean.
The parts that stick out of the water,
they can be pretty easy to clean.
Just make sure you clean those smaller spots with a Q-tip.
Get inside anything you can.
Or use a smaller scrub brush. I do have a smaller one.
The actual motor, itself, you can just scrub the outside of it.
Make sure, though, when you rinse -- I always scrub the cord
up to the gasket -- make sure when you rinse,
there's a little hole where the cord comes out, just make
sure it gets good and rinsed, up in there, because that piece
goes all the way back in, and it will hold onto the soap.
If you have hard water, you can soak this entire thing
in vinegar for as long as you need.
I'm gonna finish cleaning, then I'll show you putting it back together.
I forgot to mention a little part that needs to be cleaned with the Q-tip,
and that's inside of this magnet. You can't get anything down
inside of the tiny little hole in the end, on either end, but you can
clean around these pieces that stick out. And then I can usually
stick just the tip of the Q-tip down inside of this hole.
What I usually do is try and run a good stream of water
through the hole, the best that I can,
just to clean out that piece.
And when you're done, you will have a good pile of stuff to put back together.
You've got your magnet, the suction feet,
the other parts of the motor, an extra filter,
and a two-sided charcoal filter.
Now that everything is -- the outer parts are dried,
I've cleaned the hole. It's dry in there.
The first thing you'll do is, you'll put your motor back together.
You'll start with the main piece,  put your magnet back in the hole.
It'll just snap in. And in case my hand was in the way,  I'll make sure it wasn't.
Pretty much, you just get it close, it'll just suck it right in
because it's a magnet.
And then you fit this piece in. Make sure your wheel is
turned to control your flow of water.
Put the suction cup feet -- there you go, you can see the end of that --
and just slide the suction cup feet back into it.
And fit the whole contraption back together. It just snaps in.
[LOUD SNAP]
I always move my water control so that it's the most open it can be.
Feed your cord, if you have something like that.
Put your gasket back on. It just pushes in.
For this, the water spout here goes up into the machine.
You'll know which way yours goes.
An extra filter slides in to protect the holes in this part of the filter on the motor.
That slides in. And then I snap my cord back in, and
put the whole contraption back together.
Now, your filter for whichever one you got most likely will be two-sided.
Keep the instructions, because that will tell you which direction your filter has to go.
In mine, it goes with the black side facing out.
But there are some where it goes with the white side facing out.
And then your top goes on, and you're good to go.
I'm sure you've figured this out already, but I don't like to fill it all the way
when I first put it down. And even if I did, the water, once it gets sucked through,
it'll lower the water, so I always just keep a cup and fill it all the way.
Now we have a nice, clean water filter.
