Are you having a tough time cleaning your bathroom? Looking for a short and simple way to magically clean your toilet quick? Well, you may think mixing up different cleaning products could be a handy trick, but the wrong combination can cause harm instead of benefit. Therefore, you should NOT mix random cleaning products. Cleaning products are made up of chemicals and a lot of chemicals do not mix together safely.
Before mixing any cleaning product together you MUST go through their chemical properties and keep in mind the side effects of mixing these products. There are many wrong cleaning product combinations that can occur.
Below are some most common cleaning product that you should avoid mixing together.
- Two different drain cleaners:
Most drain cleaners consist of powerful chemicals such as lye and caustic potash. The chemical reaction of their hydroxide ions clean clogged pipes. So, if you are mixing up one drain cleaner with another drain cleaner, this can cause harmful chemical reaction or even explosion at a certain point.
Other than mixing, you should also avoid using a second drain cleaner right after the first one. There is no benefit of using two different drain cleaners at the same time, but if you want to experiment two different drain cleaners, you should wait up to 24 hours after the application of one drain cleaner and then apply the other.
- Vinegar and baking soda:
Vinegar and baking soda both contain cleaning properties of their own, but they do NOT form a good mixture when combined. Let’s have a look at the chemical properties of both items. The main ingredient of Baking Soda is sodium bicarbonate, whereas, vinegar contains acetic acid, water and other chemicals. When these two products are mixed up together, they form water and sodium acetate, but mostly water, which is NOT so effective for cleaning.
- Bleach and vinegar:
You should be very cautious before mixing up bleach with any other cleaning product because it can cause respiratory problems and skin burn issues as the side effect. Mixing bleach with vinegar releases toxic chlorine vapors which can cause nasty chemical burns in the eyes and lungs. While the combination does create a good disinfectant, the cleaning boost of mixing bleach with vinegar isn’t going to make enough of a difference to justify the considerable health hazard.
- Bleach and rubbing alcohol:
Mixing bleach with rubbing alcohol is dangerous because it makes chloroform, hydrochloric acid, and other compounds. You could damage your nervous system, lungs, skin, eyes, kidneys, and liver. Hydrochloric acid is very harmful to the skin and low levels of chloroform vapors which can problem nausea and loss of consciousness. High levels of chloroform exposure may result in death.
- Bleach and ammonia:
This combination is also very harmful as it releases toxic chloramine vapors. Inhaling concentrated chloramine vapors can cause respiratory damage and throat burns. If ammonia is present in high quantities, it can also cause explosions because explosive liquid hydrazine may be formed.
In closing, it’s always best to use cleaning products as instructed by the manufacturer. Be very careful when mixing any chemicals and consult an expert advisor before randomly trying out any product combination. If you are exposed to chemical vapors move to fresh air immediately and seek medical attention.
