January 15, 2024
What Cleaning Chemicals to Never Mix
Since COVID-19 and the rise of TikTok content, knowing what chemical combinations suit home cleaning can be challenging. On the one hand, you want to ensure you're disinfecting correctly — on the other, you're keeping up with the latest cleaning trends on social media. But how do you know if you use safe and appropriate cleaning solutions?
The reality is following cleaning trends and doubling up solutions to sanitize your home can cause more harm than good. Cleaning chemicals can be toxic, especially in inaccurate doses and combinations.
Knowing the hazards and dangers of mixing cleaning products and chemicals is essential to protect your family and home. Consulting product labels and caution information is safer than following popular sanitizing and cleaning trends.
What Chemicals to Avoid Mixing
Sodium hypochlorite, acetic acid, ammonia, potassium hydroxide, and hydrogen peroxide are some chemicals you should avoid mixing — but why? While you might not recognize some of these names, they’re often the main ingredients in everyday household cleaning products like bleach and drain cleaner.
Mixing various cleaning chemicals can seem like a great way to get your home extra clean, but they can have adverse effects, and you could unknowingly harm your health and home. That’s why understanding what cleaning chemicals not to mix is essential.
Cleaning Products You Shouldn’t Mix With Bleach
Vinegar, ammonia, and rubbing alcohol are just some cleaning products you should never mix with bleach. In fact, bleach is often the safest and most effective when you use it on its own. Sodium hypochlorite is one of the primary ingredients in bleach and a powerful oxidizer, meaning it can cause corrosive reactions when mixed with certain cleaning chemicals. These reactions can harm surfaces and impact your health. Here’s why to prevent mixing bleach with numerous cleaning products:
Vinegar
Like bleach, vinegar is a powerful active ingredient. Mixing the two can produce chlorine gas, affecting your breathing and causing coughing. Combining a high dosage of vinegar and bleach can cause physical harm, like burns on your hands and lungs.
Window Cleaner
Ammonia is an active ingredient in window cleaners and many other products. Mixing ammonia-based cleaning products like window cleaner can produce chloramine, a toxic gas. Breathing in chloramine can irritate your eyes, causing breathing issues and chest pain.
Multipurpose Cleaner
Multipurpose cleaner is a common cleaning solution. However, many people are unaware that multipurpose cleaners and other products like window cleaners, Lysol wipes, and sanitizers contain rubbing alcohol. Mixing rubbing alcohol with bleach can be toxic and is known to knock people out unconscious.
That’s because the two combining the solutions create chloroform — yes, it’s not just a made-up chemical in movies. While a low dosage mixture might not be enough to cause unconsciousness, it can irritate the skin and eyes and harm your nervous system.
Oven Cleaner
Oven cleaner contains potent degreasing chemicals. While you might think mixing bleach with your oven cleaner can make it more effective, it can also create a toxic solution. Chlorine bleach and degreasing agents can produce poisonous fumes, affecting your eyes and lungs.
Toilet Bowl Cleaner
Adding an extra layer of bleach to your toilet cleaner might seem a fast way to disinfect and clean your toilet, but toilet cleaners contain potent chemicals and alcohol. Adding bleach to the mix can be unnecessary and harmful. Mixing the two substances can produce dangerous gasses, and breathing them can make you ill.
Mixing Different Cleaning Product Brands
Combining different brands of cleaning products is similar to mixing incompatible chemicals. While various products can have similar purposes, no two brands are the same.
Manufacturers design cleaning products with unique ingredients. Some can have an alkaline base, and others have an acid. That’s why sticking to one brand of drain cleaner or surface detergent is essential for protecting your home and health. Same-brand household items that should never be mixed can include:
- Drain cleaner: Drain cleaners have potent elements that vary depending on the brand. Combining an alkaline with an acid-base drain cleaning product can produce chlorine vapor, which can cause harmful health effects. Using a different brand of drain cleaner after another one can also cause harm. If your first product was ineffective in clearing your drain, try the same brand again or get professional assistance for the best solution.
- Toilet bowel cleaner: Some toilet bowel cleaning brands can contain ammonia, and others bleach. Mixing each product or using one after the other can release a chloroform solution, having harmful effects.
Which Chemicals Should Not Be Mixed With Vinegar
You should avoid mixing chemicals like hydrogen peroxide, sodium hypochlorite, and sodium bicarbonate with vinegar. These chemicals are active substances in standard cleaning products like bathroom cleaners, bleach, and baking soda. Combining these chemicals with acetic acid, the main element in vinegar, can create a corrosive or abrasive solution, damaging your surfaces. It can also cause hazardous gasses, contaminating indoor air quality and affecting health. Cleaning chemicals to prevent mixing include:
Sodium Bicarbonate
Sodium bicarbonate is the main component of baking soda. While baking soda can work great for cleaning, mixing it with vinegar can damage your home’s interior. Combining them can produce an abrasive foaming solution because sodium bicarbonate is alkaline or a basic and vinegar is an acid. While this solution might not affect your health, it can create a potent gas in a closed container.
Sodium Hypochlorite
Sodium hypochlorite, the essential ingredient in bleach, is highly potent on its own. When you mix it with vinegar, it can become toxic. Mixing sodium hypochlorite and vinegar releases chlorine and chloramine fumes, creating a potent and poisonous odor, harming your lungs and causing breathing issues.
Hydrogen Peroxide
You might use hydrogen peroxide alone or when using products containing this chemical, like multipurpose or bathroom cleaners, to sanitize and clean surfaces. Mixing it with vinegar can create a peracetic acid, which can wear down and erode your surfaces over time.
What to Do If You Mixed Harmful Cleaning Chemicals
Ventilating your home, protecting your skin, and getting professional assistance are some of the best solutions if you accidentally mix harmful cleaning chemicals.
Unintentionally mixing toxic chemicals can happen to anyone. You might only notice the product caution signs halfway through cleaning or when you smell a strong odor. If you accidentally mix hazardous chemicals, the best thing to do is minimize harm and prevent these accidents from happening again:
- Open the windows and doors to expel toxins and protect your lungs.
- Preserve your hands and body by wearing gloves and coveralls.
- If you experience shortness of breath or chest pain, go outside for fresh air and seek immediate medical attention.
- Prevent unintentional chemical mixing by washing or wiping surfaces with water before applying the next chemical.
Leave It to the Professionals at Maid Bright
With your work schedule and caring for your kids, pets, and household, you often have little time to acknowledge product cautions when cleaning your home. Mixing incompatible chemicals can happen, especially when trying to keep your home in tip-top shape while juggling work and other household responsibilities.
Professional house cleaning services are an excellent solution. With expert house cleaning services, you can have peace of mind your home is cleaned regularly and efficiently with suitable and safe chemical solutions.
At Maid Bright, we understand the importance of using accurate cleaning combinations and the need for efficient cleaning. We specialize in residential cleaning and service homes, townhomes, condominiums, and apartment homes.
Whether you have pets or family members with respiratory conditions, we customize our cleaning products and services to your and your family’s needs. Additionally, we can lighten your load so you can spend more time with your family doing the things you love.
Contact us to schedule an appointment and learn more about our services!
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