OS Cleaning Tips and Quick Questions...

sb44

rigsby1967 wrote: »

Thanks SB44, i got the bicarb from a local chinese supermarket that i hadn't even realised we had just outside town.
It was more expensive than what you paid for though at £4.99 but still cheaper than the piddly little ones in supermarkets :money:.

rigs

Glad that you found some and £4.99 is still a brilliant price when you consider how much you would have paid in a supermarket for umpteen tubs.

Now we have to find things to use it for.

So far, I have cleared the bathroom drain, put some in a smaller tub to use for baking.

Put some into tiny dishes as room deoderisers and one in the fridge to get rid of smells in there.

rigsby1967

Ah, thanks for reminding me sb44, i have to go do my bathroom plug holes with bicarb and vinegar and leave it all night to do it's work .

rigs

Ben84

While individually they have some cleaning properties, I don't see any way combining them will help. The bicarbonate of soda reduces the acidity of the vinegar (acidity is the only cleaning property of vinegar which is basically just dilute acid in water) and the vinegar breaks down the bicarbonate of soda. Your two ingredients are just disappearing and turning in to carbon dioxide which bubbles out.

In a spray that is used later I see no advantage to this reaction. In a sink the vigorous reaction might help disperse the vinegar/bicarbonate in the drain, but definitely at the expense of breaking down quite a bit of both. Only the one added in excess will remain after a short while. Possibly not the best method to mix something, you could instead just mix one of these in water before pouring it down to give an evenly distributed solution in the drain.

VJsmum

I have to admit Ben84 that i had often wondered about combining bicarb and vinegar, knowing one is an acid and one an alkali but didn't really understand the chemisty.
Makes a good fizz tho!!:D

Penelope_Penguin

VJsmum wrote: »

I have to admit Ben84 that i had often wondered about combining bicarb and vinegar, knowing one is an acid and one an alkali but didn't really understand the chemisty.
Makes a good fizz tho!!:D

I also agree with Ben I suspect that it's the

rigsby1967 wrote: »

Rinse through with boiling water.

that's doing the most of the drain clearing

sb44

Ben84 wrote: »

While individually they have some cleaning properties, I don't see any way combining them will help. The bicarbonate of soda reduces the acidity of the vinegar (acidity is the only cleaning property of vinegar which is basically just dilute acid in water) and the vinegar breaks down the bicarbonate of soda. Your two ingredients are just disappearing and turning in to carbon dioxide which bubbles out.

In a spray that is used later I see no advantage to this reaction. In a sink the vigorous reaction might help disperse the vinegar/bicarbonate in the drain, but definitely at the expense of breaking down quite a bit of both. Only the one added in excess will remain after a short while. Possibly not the best method to mix something, you could instead just mix one of these in water before pouring it down to give an evenly distributed solution in the drain.

I don't know how it works but as our sink was starting to slow drain, perhaps due to the build up of soap, I have tried this twice and it has worked both times.

To be honest I couldn't care less how it works just as long as it does work, which it has for us.

sb44

rigsby1967 wrote: »

Ah, thanks for reminding me sb44, i have to go do my bathroom plug holes with bicarb and vinegar and leave it all night to do it's work .

rigs

I have found that it works after a couple of minutes ie the time taken to boil a kettle of water.

mummy172

This is the recipe I use for multi purpose cleaner
1/3 white vinegar
1/3 rubbing alcohol (surgical spirit)
1/3 water
few drops washing up liquid
few drops lavender oil (antiseptic, antibacterial and smells nice!)

Combine in a spray bottle and shake gently
I make enough to last me a week and make a fresh solution weekly, so I don't know how long it would last otherwise (quite a while I suspect, vinegar and alcohol being preservatives!) I find the lavender starts to loose it's smell after a week but you could leave it out if you wanted to

zippychick

as this has dropped down the board ive merged it with cleaning quick questions

Zip

LadyDee

Hi,

Can I please have some MSE-style recommendations as to what to use to clean:

(a) TV, PC, DVD player and Printer (and similar) so that they don't attract so much dust - something that would act like antistatic?

(b) White plastic garden chairs which have been gifted to me. Absolutely filthy (but sound). I've washed with Stardrops to get the green and muck off, but they still look very grubby, and although I know they're clean others might be reluctant to sit on them, thinking they are still dirty.

Thank you.