Today I would like to discuss with you the truth about cleaning with baking soda & vinegar! The question is, is it a hoax?
If you read any website about homemade cleaners, odds are they talk about baking soda and vinegar. Many recipes even combine the two to make different cleaners!
After publishing this DIY cleaning guide, I received many emails from readers about baking soda and vinegar.
If you head to this guide, you may notice I say do NOT mix baking soda and vinegar for a drain cleaner. In fact, I say it can clog it!
This is what sparked some conversation because thousands of website list this as a homemade drain cleaner.
So, let me tell you the truth about cleaning with baking soda & vinegar!
The Truth About Cleaning With Baking Soda & Vinegar: Is It a Hoax?
Here is the deal. There is chemistry going on when you make your own cleaners or homemade solutions. If you have our eBook, I even have a chemical reference guide with some chemistry background to all the items we use.
This is also the truth about baking soda and vinegar. They don’t just combine, they chemically react.
Reaction of Baking Soda and Vinegar
Baking soda, sodium bicarbonate, has a chemical formula of NaHC03. It is a base meaning it is the opposite of an acid. This is why it does such a good job for baking and cleaning.
Vinegar, acetic acid, has a chemical formula of CH3COOH. It is very acidic, so it has a low pH. It’s acidic properties make it a great cleaner for removing debris.
When you combine the two, a chemical reaction occurs!
NaHC03+ CH3COOH →NAC2H302 (sodium acetate)+ H20 (water) + CO2 (carbon dioxide)
You have probably seen how reacting the two together in a bottle makes it bubble and blow up! This was one of the first things I learned in science as a kid!
What Does This Mean?
Combing vinegar and baking soda definitely creates a reaction. Part of it does become water and part becomes carbon dioxide (these are the gas bubbles). The other part is a salt, sodium acetate which is also basic on the pH scale. So, they don’t completely neutralize, although they are close to neutralization on the pH scale.
The thing is, once they react, they are done. When you combine them, it reacts, bubbles, fizzes, and then the reaction is complete!
It does not react again, and this is the key when it comes to cleaning!
I have one recipe that uses baking soda and vinegar, but I don’t combine them in a bottle. They are applied separate. This recipe is our homemade carpet cleaner. The reaction between the two is what breaks up the stains! This is why it works so well. Once this reaction occurs, they will no longer react.
So, Can They Be Combined in a Bottle?
No, they will react in the bottle, but then it is done. If you combine the two in a bottle for cleaning, you are really just getting a salt. It doesn’t do anything for you!
What About in a Drain?
Like I mentioned above, I say that baking soda is not good for drains when combined with vinegar. Why? It doesn’t do much for you when it comes to grease. The two will initially combine to break up the particles found on the surface of the drain, but once they make it down, the reaction is already done.
This doesn’t truly clear out a drain. It will help, but not for most grease like stains. This is more suited for bathroom like drains. It can help with water and soap buildup which is mainly just vinegar working! Acid Is great for soap scum and water deposits.
For heavy clogs in kitchen drains, you are better off using a surfactant of some kind (like dishwashing liquid and boiling water).
The Bottom Line on Cleaning with Baking Soda & Vinegar
The truth about cleaning with baking soda and vinegar is they do have benefits, but it is the reaction that makes them good for certain things. Once that reaction takes place, they no longer have a cleaning quality. This is why they don’t need to be combined in a bottle or anything like that!
I highly recommend trying them out with our homemade carpet cleaner! It is one of the best ways to get rid of stains, old and new!
Homemade Cleaners
If you want to make homemade cleaners, I recommend checking out our science based DIY cleaning guide. This is the perfect way to get started and make sure you are using everything in the correct way. Even though homemade cleaners are easy and safe, it is easy to use them wrong!
For instance, I see people ALL over the internet taking about vinegar being the best all-purpose cleaner. The fact is, it isn’t! Vinegar, as we have shown in this post, is acidic! Very acidic. It can eat away on anything made of natural stone which many homes have today. If you use it regularly, it will damage surfaces. This is why I like to use rubbing alcohol for things. Read more about that in this post.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me or leave a comment! I love hearing from readers 🙂
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Alexis is an investigative chemist sharing her expertise in cleaning, skincare, gardening, and home hacks. She personally tests out products like the best skincare products or home products then shares not only the science behind how it works, but also her personal results. She is the mom of two living in Texas with her husband. Find her on Instagram for fantastic videos, tips, and behind the scenes.
This is very interesting. I heard about using vinegar and baking soda to clean bathroom drains via a Mr Handyman newspaper article years ago. I use this combo with hot water a few times a year to remove built up soap film in the drain and pipes but not to unclog it. it seems to work well. But I can understand your point of precombining the two ingredients and how the solution doesn’t work. I “layer” the ingredients into the tub drain for the reaction then rinse with water after 10 minutes.
It can definitely work for soap! Mainly because of the reaction then it turns into a salt. Salt is so good at cleaning things! And hot water too. It’s not very good with grease in the pipes, but hot water helps this too 🙂 preventative treatment is definitely the best!
Wow I had no idea baking soda and vinegar actually turned into something. This is so cool! I tried to clean my kitchen drain with this last year and it didn’t work, it seemed to clog it more. I had to call a plumber! He told me not to use that anymore for grease clogs lol he also suggested hot water/ soap regularly. Now I know why! Thank you!
It’s true! My plumber told me the same thing because we have a lift station. Definitely not good for greasy things 🙂
Just out of curiosity. What is a LIFT STATION? I am 65 and have never heard the term.
A lift station is a pump that lifts and carries sewage up a hill to dump into the city sewage. Lift pumps can also be used on a larger scale in cities to pump sewage. For homes, they are smaller and used just to go up hill. We lived at the bottom of the hill and had a lift station to carry sewage to the top of the hill where the city sewage line started. I will never have one again!
I stumbled upon your site while searching and hoping that someone out there knew that baking soda + vinegar = water (and some salts)!!! Sooooo many “natural cleaning” recipes out there have this combination!! Recently I saw a recipe for dishwasher tablets and even that included the combo. Tablets!!! What could be the purpose for vinegar in a tablet recipe??
While I’m here … do YOU have a recipe for dishwasher tablets?? I’d love to see that!
Vinegar is good for dishwashers because of the acid. It is good at breaking down water, but it doesn’t do much if combined with baking soda. I have not seen any good recipe for homemade tablets. I have tried many different methods, but none of them get the job done well. Store-bought recipes have been perfected for decades in a laboratory, they are able to combine all the good buffers and water softeners to clean dishes well. I always try out new homemade methods, but so far, none have worked well enough for me to share 🙂
I’ve been adding sodium tripolyphosphate to my dishwashing detergent, which is dawn liquid detergent. I’ve been washing my dishes for years now, since the detergent manufacturers voluntarily removed the STTP – but only from consumer products.
Since you’re a chemist, and familiar with phosphates, I don’t think I need to explain that the stories all over the news were simply a smear campaign to fool consumers into believing that they were solely to blame for the excess phosphorous in certain waterways, rather than commercial farms and the food service industry, who combined contribute something along the lines of 98% waterways.
However, commercial farms and food service businesses have enough capital to lobby the government in their favor when new legislation is looming that will limit the amount of phosphates businesses can use in their products, because of the problems with excess algae in a certain lake located in washington state, which still has the algae problems despite twelve years of American homes not having very clean dishes.
The detergent companies do allow a small amount of STTP to be doled out to the populace as an ingredient of their rather expensive, highly visible on store shelves, and pretty unsatisfactory rinse aid products.
My lengthy explanation of the disinformation campaign to incite unnecessary guilt amongst the populace was included in my reply in case you were unaware that farms and the food service industry still use phosphates as much as they always have, while we homemakers all got the proverbial shaft, as well as no more clean dishes, or dishwashers that operate properly, which is awful.
I have also read that the type of phosphates used in detergents don’t even promote excess algae growth in waterways, in the first place, but I can’t confirm this.
Sodium tripolyphosphate also works amazingly well with laundry detergents, but it was removed from detergents (but again only from consumer formulations) in the mid 1990s.
I highly recommend adding STTP to any cleaning product that you can, and clean things easily, and completely, once again.
I forgot to mention that I’ve been doing my dishes by hand after years of frustration with a dishwasher that, suddenly, barely cleaned any dishes, and eventually became unusable.
I’ve become so used to doing dishes by hand that even though I discovered the amazin stance known as STTP a couple years ago, I still have not decided to spend the money on a new dishwasher, as silly as that sounds.
Also, I clean pretty much everything around the house and the garage (including greasy old engine blocks and other auto parts) with a solution of a few drops of Dawn liquid detergent and a scoop of STTP mixed with water in a trigger sprayer.
Sodium tripolyphospate has seriously changed my life, because being able to have truly clean things once again has made me so happy.
I hope this information about phosphates and politics, etc is useful to all that happen upon it here on your lovely website.
Thank you
Thanks for sharing! Yes, there is quit a bit of misinformation out there in general about cleaning products and ingredients, which is why many things are in the state they are in today (like things not being disinfected properly). But I appreciate your tips 🙂 Always nice to hear about readers experiences and favorite products
very interesting!! thank you!
Vinegar is not good for your dishwasher or washing machine or the internals of any appliance. The vinegar can damage rubber and plastic parts and combine with salts to stain metals. No manufacturer recommends using vinegar in these machines ever.
You never want to put vinegar directly into the rubber gasket area or detergent holder. They recommended to me to put a bowl of vinegar in the dishwasher while running a normal cycle about once per month. It works great and keeps odors away. It also dilutes quickly as the water runs, so no chance of acidity damage. My plumber suggested this for me years ago, and I have done it since.
A lot of websites suggest 1 cup bicarbonate soda and 1 cup vinegar to clean hard water stains at the bottom of the toilet (under the water). I tried this but it only made it a little paler. Do you have any natural product ideas for this, or do I have to use chemicals?
Hard water stains can be tough to deal with, but there are a few things you can try. One is our DIY mold remover which is also so great for cleaning toilets. Another great DIY cleaner is our bathroom cleaner which is also made for soap scum and hard water. Hard water can damage stains overtime, unfortunately, so if nothing seems to work, it is possible surface may be etched. I hope one of these can help though!
Bravo!!!!! Finally someone that understands chemistry. As a metallurgical engineer, (corrosion prevention is a specialtyof mine), I want to scream every time I hear someone say to put vinegar in their washing machine or use it as a cleaner. So thank you. Curious to see if your book has any tips that I haven’t thought of myself. Yes, a little detergent in a vinegar solution is great on soapscum…but for all that is holy, please rinse with copious amounts of water! LOL
Yes, people don’t understand the seriousness of using a strong acid on things! It does great diluted and mixed properly for cleaning, but most don’t know how it really works
This is well-written and informative. But I think you stopped the story just before the final chapter!
The limescale in toilets is the highly insoluble calcium carbonate. What happens when the vinegar/baking soda reaction takes place? The limescale will go into an equilibrium with the dissolved acetate, forming calcium acetate, which is about 1000x more soluble. Calcium acetate solubility is increased even more by the presence of carbon dioxide. Even if the calcium carbonate immediately precipitates out of solution again, the structure of the deposit will be broken up.
Thanks for sharing!
I’ve tried to educate my wife about mixing these two together, why they react, what happens during and after the reaction and according to my wife I’m an idiot and have no idea what I’m talking about, thank you for this information, sure is nice knowing that I’m not the only idiot out there. LOL
I think there is a lot of bad information out there online with so many people making “homemade cleaners” combining the two ingredients. But it is definitely simple science you can’t deny 🙂
Hi
I want to clean my front loading washing machine but vinegar + baking soda seems like a waste of time and that’s all I can find online. What do you recommend?
Using just vinegar is good. I also recommend this DIY mold and mildew cleaner which is great for cleaning inside seals and crevices of a washing machine.
Thanks Alexis, whatever you said makes sense. However, the results have always been underwhelming, whenever I have tried it on carpets, oven, burnt pots or pans, mould. It has never really been that effective as the whole internet is raving about. What am I doing wrong?
It really isn’t a miracle cleaner like the internet claims. In fact, it won’t do anything for mold or burnt pans. Baking soda mixed with hydrogen peroxide is much more effective for those issues. For carpets, sprinkling baking soda and then spraying vinegar on top can help break up dirt and dinginess, but you still need peroxide to treat stains. Here is some information on that in our homemade carpet cleaning post. So, you aren’t doing anything wrong 🙂 There is just bad info all over the internet on this subject
What do you put in dishwasher detergent so it doesn’t leave a residue?
I saw this recipe and was certain you shouldn’t add vinegar. Thanks for your post on that, it confirmed I was right.
2 Cups of Washing soda (sodium carbonate)
1 Cup of Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
1 Cup of Citric acid
1/2 Cup of salt
1/2 cup of White vinegar Add very slowly to minimise fizzing)
Hi! This recipe is very unnecessary. Citric acid is the acid needed, but they also add vinegar? You can use washing soda, citric acid, and salt to achieve the results. I haven’t shared my homemade dishwashing detergent yet, but I plan to do a blog post on that in the next few months 🙂
Hi Alexis,
What about vinegar and baking soda for cleaning fruits and veggies? I haven’t found a clear answer to that yet.
Thank you
Baking soda is all you need to clean them. I don’t have a recipe yet on my blog for this, but here is a good ratio to use.
I’ve personally used baking soda and vinegar for various cleaning tasks, but the homemade carpet cleaner you mentioned sounds intriguing, especially considering its effectiveness in removing both old and new stains. It’s always satisfying to find natural and affordable solutions that work wonders around the house. Thank you for sharing this new cleaning methods.
It’s great to see a science-based approach to DIY cleaning solutions. I completely agree with your point about vinegar – it’s often touted as a miracle cleaner, but many people don’t realize how its acidity can harm certain surfaces, especially natural stone. Thanks for sharing this insightful guide on homemade cleaners! https://leecountyplumbingandwellservice.com/
I love sharing science-based truths to cleaning and DIY cleaning hacks 🙂