Vinegar is considered a cleaning marvel that can remove stains, bad odours and make objects shiny and sparkling. One of the many uses of vinegar is that it is used as a natural cleaner. You’ll find hundreds of videos on the internet that advocate the use of vinegar as one of the best natural cleaning products in the house. However, you must remember that this holy grail of cleaning can’t be used everywhere as its acidic nature makes it unsuitable for a number of surfaces.
Here is a list of things you should never clean with vinegar.
Things You Should Never Clean With Vinegar
- Countertops
- Home Appliances
- Tech Devices
- Furniture & Floors
- Aluminium & Cast Iron
Please remember vinegar, at the end of the day, is a chemical solution that possesses the ability to react with different types of surfaces. Use it wisely.
In order to help you avoid any kind of damage in your house, we’ve prepared a list of things you should never clean with vinegar.
Countertops
A lot of people use a vinegar solution to remove marks and streaks from windows and glasses. The same solution can not be used to remove stains and marks from countertops in kitchens and bathrooms. Just a few surfaces are affected by the use of vinegar over time and lose their shine like marble, granite and limestone. The acid reacts with the countertop and over time corrodes and dulls the natural beauty of the stone.
If you want to keep the shine longer, don’t go for the vinegar or vinegar-based cleanser. Instead, go for the liquid soap mixed in warm water and apply it on the surface. For more determined and stubborn stains, use the detergent and cleaner specific for such surfaces and use a sponge or plastic scrub pads.
Home Appliances
Undoubtedly vinegar has some amazing cleaning properties and it’s all-natural, but does that mean you can use vinegar for cleaning everything? Not so much.
Most of the households use dishwashers which can also gather some food bits, oil layer or maybe gather bad odour in it. What seems to be a general practice and believed to be an economical solution is to run the dishwasher with a cup of vinegar. This does more harm than good. What happens is that vinegar reacts with the rubber parts of the dishwasher and causes wear and tear. This sort of damage can also increase the risk of short circuits.
A better way to clean and make it odourless is to use a dishwasher cleaner specifically formulated for this purpose. Read the manual of the dishwasher as well as instructions on cleaner before use to know if it is suitable or not.
Another home appliance that is cleaned using vinegar is steam iron. Most of the steam irons today have a self-cleaning function in which you add water in the reservoir, let the iron heat up, unplug it and take it to the sink, press the self-cleaning button. This will blow the steam out along with any impurities present in it. Don’t use vinegar to clean the iron because it may damage the internal parts. Always refer to the manufacturer’s manual to know about the cleaning process or get guidance from an expert.
Tech Devices
It is irritating to see smudges on the screen of your tech devices like smartphones, tablets, laptops etc. But if you love your gadget, then you should never clean it vinegar.
Smartphones and laptops screens are different from ordinary glass and come with an additional protective layer. Vinegar, when rubbed on the screen, can damage that protective layer, affect its anti-glare properties and also make the touch panel less responsive. Try to use a soft cloth to clean the screen and if the smudges are hard to remove, use a cleaner designed specifically meant for wiping these surfaces.
Furniture And Floors
As discussed above, some marble and granite countertops should never be cleaned with vinegar. Similarly, floors made of marble, granite and wood, should not be exposed to vinegar. Repeated use of vinegar on these surfaces will cause the finishing to wear off and result in a dull and scratchy texture.
Most manufacturers of flooring materials warn against the use of vinegar on hardwood floors. Some retailers go to the extent of nullifying the warranty if they find any indication that vinegar has been used to clean their product.
One must also keep vinegar-based solutions away from waxed furniture because it destroys its protective layer and makes it look shabby and old.
Aluminium And Cast Iron
Aluminium and cast iron are metals and the acidic properties of vinegar don’t suit the objects made with these specific metals. The acid reacts with metal and starts causing it to rust which damages pans and dishes used in the kitchen.
Rather than using vinegar, use soap and warm water and scrub it gently. Moreover, you can also use a little bit of kosher salt. You can use vinegar only on stainless steel or enamelled cast iron.
Vinegar makes one of the best natural cleaning agents but we need to do our research and seek guidance from an expert before using it. Mixing a few powerful agents together might seem like making an all-in-one solution but it’s usually not. Playing with chemicals is a serious business and when bleach, vinegar and ammonia are mixed together, fumes are formed that can be dangerous for your health.
Now that you’ve learnt about the things you should never clean with vinegar, make sure to read our piece on how we can use this natural cleaning agent for cleaning rust stains from floors. It can also be used for streak-free cleaning and removing bad odours from objects.
Meanwhile, if you like home maintenance, you might also like our blogs on common cleaning mistakes, germiest spots in your house, safety tips to use gas geysers.
You can also write to us at blog@zameen.com to tell us what you want to read next. Don’t forget to subscribe to our email newsletter and keep following Zameen blog, the best blog for lifestyle and real estate trends.
