The great Bleach v Vinegar debate

MATH

Thanks for that Tonyjv. :cool:

skim

People use the generic term for Bleach but there are two types generally sold.

The first older type of bleach is Sodium Hypochlorite which is chlorine based & is bad for the environment. Chlorine in water can affect your body in a number of ways - one of them is that it can affect your thyroid gland.

The second type is based on Hydrogen Peroxide which is enviromentally friendly.

BrandNewDay

I'm under the impression that chlorine in water will evaporate out into the air as gas, given a little time. This is why you have to set tap water out overnight before putting it in a fish bowl.... it gives the traces of chlorine time to evaporate from the water. I'm not sure how fast the process is or how much chlorine you can expect to evaporate from water, but I don't think it's something to worry about unless you're using lots of it (which a paper products industrial site would be.)

I have a septic tank, so I try to avoid using a lot of bleach. But, I do think that it's the best thing there is for killing critters/germs/mold while whitening things like grout. Inhaling strong chlorine gas is certainly not very pleasant and is not good for you, so that's also something I take into account.

Anyway, I use it on bathroom surfaces once in a while - spraying a diluted solution onto tile walls, etc. I would do this, then ventilate the room well and not hang out in there for a while. If I need something sterilized, like a cutting board after cutting poultry, I would wash it, then scrub with a bit of bleach for a few seconds, before rinsing again.

I haven't really messed with vinegar, much. It smells very unpleasant, isn't very cheap to get in the UK (you can buy cheap gallons of it in the States) and I'd rather just use a commercial product to achieve the desired effect. YMMV.

superdog_3

For cheap white vinegar ,try a greengrocer. I got a 5 litre bottle for £1.25.

tawnyowls

While I'm not for a moment suggesting we shouldn't do our bit, the amount of bleach used in household cleaning pales into insignificance when compared with the vast, vast quantities used in industries such as paper manufacturing. The European Protection Agency does not consider that sodium hypochlorite bleach poses any significant risk either to human health or to the environment, when used correctly as a household disinfectant and laundry additive. If, as suggested above, you use hydrogen peroxide bleach for actually whitening, and reserve the sodium hypochlorite bleach for disinfecting (after cleaning the area thoroughly beforehand with hot water and soap/mild detergent such as Stardrops - bleach is not a cleaner, and will be neutralised by any dirt on the surface, including grease), that will be a lot less damaging than most commercial cleaners.

Gaia

No option for me - vinegar every time 'cos I'm allergic to chlorine bleach!

Yikes

Well, my (somewhat fuzzy) recollection of basic chemistry is that... vinegar is acidic, while bleach is basic (i.e., a base, opposite of acid)... and that if you want to neutralize (i.e., clean) a base, you should use an acid, and vice versa... so, if you're trying to clean a basic (base) problem (e.g., oily or soapy), you should use an acid, and if you're trying to clean an acidic problem (hmm... e.g.'s fail me), you should use a base... so, I'd say vinegar for bathroom cleaning, for sure (for the soap scum), and bleach to get out the tea stains?!

FemmeAuFoyer

Bleach, aka Sodium hypochlorite is a "moderately toxic chlorine salt...it can bond with other chemicals to form simple organochlorines. Organochlorines can cause cancer and endocrine disruption" Taken from "Better basics for the home, by Annie Berthold-Bond.

No bleach in this household either! Nor stardrops, toilet cleaner, drain cleaner, window cleaner............

fififofum

both of them stink! i use ecover cleaner smells of lemons - mmmm

kittiwoz

BrandNewDay wrote:

I'm under the impression that chlorine in water will evaporate out into the air as gas, given a little time

This is nearly correct. The chlorine in water is unstable and will degrade over a time. So although it is true that if you leave tap water in a jug for a couple of hours there will be no chlorine in it it isn't because of evaporation. In practical terms what this means is that you can use a covered jug or a bottle and put the water in the refrigerator and it will still work. On the whole I would say this is better than using a filter jug which will also filter out minerals and is not very environmentally friendly.

The great advantage of bleach is it is a disinfectant and provides residual disinfection meaning that it continues to protect against germs until it degrades. Since household bleach is much more concentrated than the tiny amounts in tap water it will obviously last much longer although how long it remains effective for I don't know.