The Killing Power of Bleach and Vinegar
Wednesday September 26, 2007
 |
Other substances don't combine quite so favorably. Bleach and ammonia are an excellent example. Another example is bleach and vinegar. I know, I know... if you run a search on Google you'll read that vinegar increases the killing power of bleach. Yes, it makes the chemicals more likely to kill you or your kids or your pets. It also helps to kill anthrax spores. If you find yourself in a position to do an emergency decontamination of an item coated with anthrax, by all means, mix the bleach and vinegar. If you just want a sparkling clean bathroom, use a product designed for that purpose. Bleach combines with acids (e.g., vinegar, lemon juice) or certain bases (e.g., ammonia, drain cleaner, urine in the catbox) to release chlorine and chloramine vapors. Realistically, you're probably not going to kill yourself mixing a little bleach and vinegar in a bucket of water (as opposed to mixing them directly). You can get a lethal dose of chlorine by taking a few breaths of it at a concentration of 1 part per thousand in air. You can't gauge the concentration by smell, since most people can smell chlorine at a reasonably safe concentration of 35 parts per million. However, you can get a nasty chemical burn, especially of your eyes and lungs. Mixing these chemicals just seems like an unreasonable risk to take.
Home Chemicals You Shouldn't Mix | Names of Common Chemicals
Image: Yves Guillou, openclipart.org
THANKS for the reminder AND also the reason why the mixture is lethel.
35 parts per million chlorine is NOT a “reasonably safe level”! The exposure standard from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is 1 part per million for any length of time. The National Instutute for Occupational Safey and Health (NIOSH) states that 30 parts per million is “Immediately dangerous to life and health.”
When I say ‘reasonably safe’ that translates as ‘won’t immediately kill you’. If what D. Anglen says is true (shouldn’t be too difficult for one or the other of us to verify the NIOSH safety level), then if you can smell chlorine, you have breathed in too much for your own safety. That implies smelling chlorine in the shower, swimming pool, or when cleaning with bleach presents some form of immediate hazard to your health. Right?
Good article on the risks of mixing bleach and vinegar. Thanks. I found your article after searching for tips on removing the mildew from my shower curtain. A few recommended the dangerous mixture.
I might suggest however a stronger clearer beginning. I’ve learned ‘the mind hears only positives.’ “Don’t do it,” doesn’t work as well as we would hope. Numerous studies have shown that a significant percentage of people given completely negative information, still come away with a positive idea.
“Coca-cola is not an effective paint thinner”, left many of the test subjects with the idea that it was.
I teach 8th grade science. I make a point of telling my students that bleach is used diluted with water or in the washing machine with laundry detergent. I don’t even mention the dangerous combinations because one them will inadvertently try it.
What should on do if they find them selves in a perdicament of mixing bleach and vinger. If one was trying to clean up cat urin and they pour bleach on it, then unknowingly pour vinger on it as well what would be the best course of action to take.
I would very much like to know the answer to that question. I did the same thing.
I once did this mixture, when I was younger to see what would happen. I mixed a little in a cup, directly, however i sniffed it a bit and suffered no ill effects. It had a funny smell though, which I found out later from my science teacher to be chlorine gas. I do know the dangers of it but I just wonder how I came out ok.
wikihow.com told me to “neutralize” bleach with vinegar so that it will not continue to eat at the fabric (creating distressed jeans)
ARE THEY TRYING TO GET ME KILLED?
however, they did mention this; “While it is effective to mix bleach and vinegar, be extremely careful because when bleach and vinegar is mixed, especially in quantity, it creates a toxic gas (chlorine gas) that could be deadly”
I accidently added a bucket of water containing bleach to another bucket forgetting that it had not only water but also vinegar in it. I then proceeded to mop an area where there was urine on the floor where young boys had missed the toilets in a large bathroom…….the resulting gas made my nose feel like it was burning for hours and my eyes hurt and burned when I dumpt the mixture down the drain. don’t repeat my mistake.
A friend was cleaning my bathroom today, and decided to use bleach and vinegar mixed in a pail of water. Even dilute, the mixture immediately burned my eyes and caused heaviness and burning in my lungs. I ended up having to open up the house in 40 degree weather and run fans to flush it – and I had to leave the house for about an hour before I could come back in.
What a mess! I’d add that I am *not* generally particularly sensitive to cleaning solvents. I use both bleach and vinegar, separately, a LOT for cleaning, and neither bothers me on their own. This was a really scary combination!
I poured bleach into a very slow moving urinal at work around 6 months ago. It was awful. First the urinal foamed over and made a mess. The gas it produced burned my eyes and throat and messed up my sinuses for a couple days. I’m failry confindant that there was no other chemicals in the toilet. I had researched afterwards, and read that because urine contains amonia, it can be dangerous. I learned this the hard way unfortunately.
it amazes me how many of you people are still alive!
mixing chemicals willy nilly is never a good idea.. unless your a scientist in controlled conditions.. and even then accidents happen! do your research first…
K i work in a resteraunt and acidentally mixed bleach vinegar directly i could smell it and all it was horrible but the guy on the poisens line said you need a fair few breaths of it to kill you and also because vingar is a weak acid therefor it takes a while for the chloride gas to build up to the killing concentration he told me to dispose of the mix, drink water, eat some food and sit down and i’m fine so i hope this answers what to do in i MINOR situation if you feel your situation is more extream ring your local poisens line like i did
I worked at a convenience store in the afternoons after class during high school. Another part-time high school worker was mopping the floor. She went into the janitor closet and started just pouring chemicals in a bucket. I’m sure there was a little of everything… including bleach and ammonia, etc. There was this little “boom” sound and she ran out of the closet that had filled with fumes. We’re both still alive… but neither of us teenagers knew not to mix drain cleaner with window cleaner. Now I think of that every time I open my cleaning cupboard and remember to check ingredients very carefully!
google rocks, and so do people who share these bits of info! I love being able to prevent such mistakes by having internet access. I will wait and rinse the bleach I used to clean my tub before I pour vinegar+baking soda down the drain (to help clear it). I knew about bleach and ammonia, but not vinegar and something told me to check first. I can see how easily someone could make this mistake even without intending to. So thanks for your help!!
I created a homemade mixture of vinegar, bleach, salt, and dishwasher detergent to spray on the poison ivy field that exists on my property. I treated a selected area of poison ivy this morning and by this evening this particular weed area burned up. The combination is dangerous so I wear a mask when I perform treatment, but it definitely works.
Yeah I did a stupid thing
I moved into my new house, I had a clogged toilet.
So I tried pouring some dish soap and hot water down the toilet, didn’t work. Then I tried vinegar cuz i figured its accidic then bleach because I was getting creative, soon after I felt bad, and even in the other room, so I jumped on the computer and found about 100 sites telling me what this site says. I ran to wal-mart at 1 in the morning, got a plunger, when I got home I opened all the windows in the house and plunged the toilet and set up fans to help clear the fumes. Such a stupid dumb thing to do but wasn’t thinking at the time =(
remember that chlorine was the first chemical weapon used in ww1 to kill many people, invented by the germans
I just did this and what a mess the whole house was filled with these horrible fumes my kids and I had to go outside and play for a good while. I called poison control and was told it is the ammonia fumes that burn your eyes and possibly lungs, my throat is still hoarse. So if you were thinking of doing this DON’T it is bad, just could kick myself for not looking it up first!