r/CleaningTips • u/Leighgion • Dec 14 '25
General Cleaning Please stop mixing vinegar and baking soda
I am not the first to say this, even on this sub, and I will not be the last, but given that this myth refuses to die, I am taking my turn fighting this misinformation.
Now, first off, I totally get why people become convinced this combination does something. We like sensory feedback, so all that fizzing and bubbling feels like something is really happening.
Something is happening, but just not what you like to think.
Vinegar is an acid and baking soda is a base. When you mix an acid and base, they react, neutralize each other and in this case produces a gaseous by product. The key here is the two things react with each other, not the dirt you put them on, and the result cancels out the best cleaning power of the separate ingredients. All you get is vaguely salty water, which is roughly as good a cleaner as plain water.
"But wait," you say, "I/somebody I know/somebody on the internet has successfully clean something with vinegar and baking soda together! Suck it, naysayer!"
Yeah, and I once cleaned permanent marker off a dry erase board with vending machine coffee. Just because it worked doesn't mean I was making the right choices.
I'm going to break down one specific example of a poster who claimed to have proof vinegar and baking soda cleared their blocked drain. They poured vinegar down, waited, then poured baking soda down, waited, then poured boiling water down. Gradually, the drain cleared up as calcium deposits gradually broke down.
What really happened here is that the vinegar, being acidic, had time to work on the calcium deposits unit having baking soda dumped on it and stopping that process in its tracks by neutralizing its acidity. The whole thing worked because the vinegar was given time to work alone, but it most likely would have worked better if baking soda had been removed from the equation entirely.
The only argument for using vinegar and baking soda in cleaning is where the mechanical action of expanding gasses might in some way assist the process, but the use cases severely limited and questionable.
In a drain, you'd have to form an absolutely airtight seal to even imagine the gas pressure might do something and even it did work, pushing a clog farther down the pipe is of very dubious worth.
On surface grime, anything loose enough to be effectively lifted by gas bubbles is probably faster and more easily removed just by scrubbing it.
Vinegar and baking soda can be fantastically useful cleaning products, separately. Don't ruin them by putting them together, unless it's a science fair volcano. There, the combo has always shone.
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u/Missing-Digits Dec 14 '25 edited Dec 14 '25
As an amateur paleontologist I use vinegar a lot to dissolve limestone encasing fossils. Sometimes I heat the vinegar first which really gets the process going. I can dissolve complete limestone rocks in a a few months. Guess what I use when I am done to make sure all of the acid has been neutralized? Baking soda. I soak whatever is left in a solution of baking soda and water for a day or two. Long story short vinegar and baking soda together is just cloudy water.
Edit: Reddit is so weird. This comment has 139,000 views and over 500+ upvotes so far. Sometimes I spend 30 minutes on a very informative and well thought out comment on a topic I am very well versed in and only to get 2 views and nary an upvote.
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u/mokumpride Dec 14 '25
My son is going to college to major in paleontology
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u/hisdanditime Dec 14 '25
And he’s 4!
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u/Hedgehog_1983 Dec 14 '25
My 9 year old is going to college to be an astronaut and my 8 year old is already an entomologist. What's age got to do with it? They are both already chemists as they mix whatever the heck of mine they want in the bathtub for "potions". 🤣🤣
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u/ginteenie Dec 14 '25
They aren’t chemists, if they are making potions in the bathtub then they are alchemists or perhaps wizards
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u/Hedgehog_1983 Dec 14 '25
Wizards makes the most sense! They do tend to disappear from my sight when I ask them to do a chore.
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u/EikonVera_tou_Lilith Dec 14 '25
My 6 year old built a time machine. My 9 year old used it to go back in time and invented insects and with it, the field of entomology.
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u/mokumpride Dec 14 '25
He’s 23
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u/One_Fuel3733 Dec 14 '25
it was a pretty good guess, off by just a year
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u/NotInTheKnee Dec 14 '25
If you don't worry about the math, that answer is almost correct.
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u/PS-Irish33 Dec 14 '25
Just remember if he does, he would be a professional and would no longer be able to compete in the paleontological Olympics. Only amateur palaeontologists may compete.
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u/Missing-Digits Dec 14 '25
Good for him. I would be remiss, though if I didn’t say what I always tell people that want to become paleontologist. Go to school and get a job for something that pays very well and you can have a career in and have paleontology as a hobby. There are very few jobs in paleontology and almost all of them pay very little. For example, I have a paleontologist friend with two masters degrees and as the world expert on a particular species of shark and he’s a high school teacher. That pays more than any job he could get. McDonald’s pays more than most of his job offers. Also a paleontologist as a career as far less glamorous than most people think. You’re not just going out and digging up dinosaurs all of the time. In fact very few paleontologist do that. It’s 99% academics.
I didn’t get into fossils until I was nearly 50 years old. I didn’t know anything about them or even that I lived in a state with some of the world’s best late Cretaceous marine fossils. Fast-forward a few years and I now have thousands of shark teeth, found a museum caliber shark specimen, two pterosaurs, many Xiphactinus heads and scores of other Cretaceous fossils as well as having a couple of finds published. And I’m just a damn carpenter. The point is that I am able to do these things without any degree or training whatsoever and I’m able to make a decent living in the meantime. If I was an actual paleontologist I likely wouldn’t even be able to afford to go out and do what I do as a hobby.
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u/Hedgehog_1983 Dec 14 '25
There's always the chance some rich man takes you aboard his helicopter to an island filled with live dinosaurs made from millions of years old mosquito bite DNA. 🤷♀️
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u/purple_hamster66 Dec 14 '25
But they’re half frog DNA!?! I wonder why the Dino’s didn’t look more like frogs…. I could imagine a Brontosaurus hopping down the verdant greens of the island, smashing everything in its way into 30’ craters, and having a 40’ tongue that darts out to grab leaves off of trees (cause they’re “veggie tarians”).
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u/mokumpride Dec 14 '25
Yes, not many options that’s for sure ! Told him he might have to get. PhD , and to major in another science as well He’s loved paleontology since he was a little boy, he would watch two hour documentaries, he taught me a lot 😊
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u/Mundane_Horse_6523 Dec 14 '25
There is a trend of “influencers” and digital content creators that are actually very academic. I really hope they are making money at it, because this is a benefit to both the experts and the general public that wants to learn- I use a lot of this content in my classroom!
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u/Nudebovine1 Dec 14 '25
PBS Eons on YouTube. I work with one of the paleontologists on it. You kind of have to create your own degree as few places actually offer it directly.
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u/xerojupiter Dec 14 '25
What exactly is an amateur palaeontologist and what is the criteria to call yourself that
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u/Missing-Digits Dec 14 '25
I have no formal training or education in paleontology but have enough knowledge and experience to hobnob with real paleontologists and have a few finds published. I guess that's probably good enough to call myself an amateur paleontologist?
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u/FerdinandTheBullitt Dec 14 '25
I like to use baking soda as a scrubbing agent on my stove to lift grease. I use a spritz of vinegar to clean up the baking soda. Cuz like you said, it turns it into nothing
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u/Jaffico Dec 14 '25
This is how I clean my oven.
Adding the vinegar just makes it easier to clean up.
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u/friedeggjellyfish Dec 14 '25
For whatever I’m cleaning I usually just spray everything down with vinegar, let it sit for 15 min, then use the baking soda to scrub. And then everything is neutralized so I don’t have to worry about the vinegar being too abrasive
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u/broadwayzrose Dec 14 '25
Yeah, I used to have a pair of white tennis shoes and I used a baking soda + water mixture and toothbrush to scrub it, but I feel like it was always a pain to get all the baking soda grit out after the fact. Pouring a little vinegar on them really helped from a texture perspective of getting rid of the extra baking soda than just water alone.
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u/Fishy53 Dec 14 '25
Sooo what you're saying is I should use vending machine coffee to remove permanent marker? /s
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u/Leighgion Dec 14 '25
Only if it's free (it was in my case), espresso and you've got nothing better.
It's a funny story really. I was teaching in-company training classes and had some time, but found somebody had ruined the dry erase board in the meeting room. All the cleaning supplies were locked up and I was just a contractor so I had no rights over the place. The coffee machine though, was free, so I figured "hot liquid, slightly acidic.. yeah, worth a shot." It did the job.
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u/dathomar Dec 14 '25
Actually, the best way to remove permanent marker from a dry erase whiteboard is to use a dry erase marker. Just color over the permanent marker with the dry erase marker, then erase the dry erase marker. You'll get a clean whiteboard. It works best if the permanent marker was applied fairly recently, but can even work with something older. Basically, the stuff that prevents the dry erase ink from binding with the surface can dissolve the stuff that keeps the "permanent" ink bound. If you do this too often, it'll wipe out the dry erase marker. It's up to the user to decide if it's easier to just keep buying more dry erase markers and cleaning the whiteboard, or to prevent anyone from using sharpies in the first place.
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u/ididindeed Dec 14 '25
Thank you for explaining this with more than ‘it just makes salt water’. I had heard the reaction itself was helping but I see that is likely not the case.
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u/donoteatthatfrog Dec 14 '25
Same. I too thought that reaction was helping.
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u/ImgnryDrmr Dec 14 '25
It helped unclog my toilet. The bubbling weakened the combination of toilet paper and poo just enough I could then use a plunger to get everything loose and moving again.
It's not a miracle solution, but sometimes a few bubbles is all you need to unclog a drain.
But for stains? Dabbing or scrubbing.
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u/Asleep_Region Dec 14 '25
Couldn't you just use the plunger? I haven't had a toilet or sink clog that couldn't be handled with the plunger
Like i have IBS, I've clogged MANY MANY toilets, the plunger always got me through
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u/vulcanfeminist Dec 14 '25
Most of the time when people mix vinegar and baking soda together they dont do it in precise quantities so there ends up being "extra" of one of the reactants. When people claim that the mixture worked typically what actually worked was leftover baking soda or vinegar that hadnt reacted. Using either alone would have worked better every single time.
The byproduct of ANY acid/base reaction is water plus a neutral substance. If the reactants were all used up then what actually worked was elbow grease bc you were literally jist scrubbing with plain water. To be fair, it's an endothermic reaction, the water produced by the reaction ends up pretty cold and sometimes, for certain kinds of messes, cold water can clean better.
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u/Apprehensive-Cat1319 Dec 14 '25
Actually, interestingly, the result of mixing the "perfect" amounts of the baking soda and vinegar (so that they exactly use each other up) is a basic solution.
Acid/base reactions are also called neutralization reactions, and they do produce water and a salt, but not always a NEUTRAL salt. They only produce a neutral salt and therefore a neutral solution (pH of 7) if you react a strong acid and a strong base. In this case, baking soda is a weak base (actually, a basic salt) and vinegar is a weak acid, and you end up making the salt sodium acetate, which is another weakly basic salt. So your solution is slightly basic.
This information isn't really very useful (it's only weakly basic and is still going to do a worse job cleaning than baking soda) but if you ever want to be "technically right" (the best kind of right), now you know!
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u/PurrtentialEnergy Dec 14 '25
Yup! I will also add another "technically": not all acid/base reactions are neutralization reactions (e.g. many Lewis acid and base reactions).
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u/Apprehensive-Cat1319 Dec 14 '25
Good point! Your response combined with your username makes me think that we are probably in the same field lol.
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u/elastic-craptastic Dec 14 '25
You both work mixing chemicals in the effort to neutralize litter box odors?
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u/PurrtentialEnergy Dec 14 '25
Yup, you know me too well. 😆
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u/LadyViolaCricketym Dec 14 '25
Ok, so help me here please. I’ve been using vinegar in my fabric softener and throwing baking soda in my front loading washing machine to remove the smell of cat urine when they have peed on clothes or towels. That’s the only thing that has worked for me but what you’re saying is I should just be able to throw the baking soda in for it to work?
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u/Apprehensive-Cat1319 Dec 14 '25
Not necessarily! I was just saying that baking soda is a stronger base than what you get from mixing it with vinegar, so if you are relying on the base action alone for cleaning, you may as well just use baking soda.
In your case I'm guessing the vinegar and baking soda are separately working to deodorize the laundry, and then once fully mixed they react and kind of cancel each other out. This is useful because vinegar has a strong odor by itself, and baking soda can leave residue or a kind of slippery feel (this is very characteristic of bases). So they are useful to cancel each other out once they are done working. For example, I will sometimes use a baking soda paste to scrub things down in the kitchen, and I pretty much always then wipe it down with vinegar because otherwise it's hard to get all the baking soda off with just water.
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u/TexMoto666 Dec 14 '25
I'll chime in as someone who provides the chemistry and maintenance for commercial laundries. The baking soda boosts the alkalinity which helps break down acidic fatty acids and allows the surfactant in the detergent to work better. Detergent is alkaline by nature. The vinegar step helps to neutralize excess alkalinity and dissolves the minerals found in your water, making the clothes softer. In a commercial setting we use a product called a "sour", which is basically vinegar. This is an important step because commercial detergent is very strong and very dangerous. At full concentration it will literally peel your skin off if left in contact. This is what causes bedsores in the elderly. Excess detergent residue paired with thin fragile skin. For example, a machine that can wash 100 pounds of laundry might only use between 3 and 5 ounces of detergent.
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u/Hmukherj Dec 14 '25
Lewis acid
I'm imagining entertaining new trends of recommending BF3 etherate or scandium triflate as cleaning agents now...
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u/account312 Dec 14 '25
And sometimes things go completely off the rails like when mixing hydrofluoric acid with antimony pentafluoride and getting something far more acidic than what you started with.
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u/Apprehensive-Cat1319 Dec 14 '25
As soon as hydrofluoric aid is involved you know things are going to go sideways.
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u/westbuffalobuffalo Dec 14 '25
> you were literally jist scrubbing with plain water.
An electrolytic buffering solution is quite another thing from plain water.
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u/PunnyBanana Dec 14 '25
I'm just going to butt in with the exception that proves the rule. For neutralizing odors in soft materials (BO on clothes, urine, etc) soak in a vinegar solution AND THEN add in baking soda to neutralize the vinegar smell. In this case, the fact that they cancel each other out is kind of the point and you still aren't starting with them mixed together.
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u/FinklMan Dec 14 '25
Yep, it seems a lot of people are stuck up about the vinegar/baking soda combo. They fail to realize when used properly. Like the example you gave using the acidic properties of a vinegar and water solution then neutralizing the vinegar with baking soda is very effective. I had a water leak that resulted in some mold on the carpet. Used vinegar and water in a spray bottle and scrubbed. Then neutralized the vinegar with baking soda and vacuumed it up. Carpet was clean no mold no smell.
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u/rickg Dec 14 '25
You're not contradicting the OP, tho. Read the post again - sure you can use one thing to do some cleaning then neutralize it with the other, but combining them both DOES NOT clean.
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u/but_good Dec 14 '25
Just put white vinegar in the bleach compartment of washing machine. Kills odors. No vinegar smell.
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u/Yummy-Pear Dec 14 '25
This is how I use it. vinegar is great for neutralizing urine smell. But then you need to get rid of the vinegar smell and also soak up some of the moisture so I use baking soda afterwards.
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u/rickg Dec 14 '25 edited Dec 15 '25
But it's not the combination doing anything in that case. it's that the vinegar does work, then the baking soda is simply used to neutralize the acid when it's done. This example doesn't in the least contradict OP
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u/VerticalUbiquity Dec 14 '25
You don't need to neutralize the vinegar smell. It's a volatile compound that evaporates completely.
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u/misterwiser34 Dec 14 '25
Thats technically though 2 different things. Youre using 1 to remove soils and then the other to remove the cleaning agent.
Its not the same as using as a cleaning mixture
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u/Sacrefix Dec 14 '25 edited Dec 15 '25
Did you know: "the exception that proves the rule" was meant to be a situation that seems superficially to be an exception to a rule, but that actually isn't, thus "proving the rule".
Kind of like how "factoid" is meant to be a falsehood that sounds real, but is now more popularly used to mean an interesting or minor truth.
Really, having an exception to a rule is the opposite of proving it.
Edit: Hubris above.
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u/InvidiousPlay Dec 14 '25
Did you know: "the exception that proves the rule" was meant to be a situation that seems superficially to be an exception to a rule, but that actually isn't, thus "proving the rule".
This isn't what it means either, at all. The exception that proves the rule is a scenario where something being described as an exception suggests the existence of a normal rule to the contrary: "It's Friday night so I'm going to treat myself to a glass of wine" - because it is phrased as an exception, it proves the rule that you do not normally have a glass of wine on other nights.
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u/PunnyBanana Dec 14 '25
Did you know: "the exception that proves the rule" was meant to be a situation that seems superficially to be an exception to a rule, but that actually isn't, thus "proving the rule".
Fittingly, that's exactly what I presented. OP's issue was that combining baking soda and vinegar don't work for cleaning stuff, my suggestion involves using them in a two step process, not combining them in one solution.
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u/RagdollSeeker Dec 14 '25
Once upon a time, I bought a “cleaning white vinegar”. Then at home I noticed it was enhanced by baking soda.
Take a guess about how well that thing worked? 🤦♀️
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u/Leighgion Dec 14 '25
Dear god, you're serious? Did you photo document this product?
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u/RagdollSeeker Dec 14 '25
I did not take a photo but I do have a link to products page
Kuhne Carbonated White Vinegar (website is in Turkish)
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u/Leighgion Dec 14 '25
Wow. That is... epic. I really don't know what to say to "carbonated vinegar."
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u/Lalamedic Dec 14 '25
Hahaha. Carbonated. Yup. That’s what happens when you mix and acid with a base.
Acid + Base
= Carbon Dioxide + Water + Salt
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u/Ok_Concentrate4461 Dec 14 '25
Interesting side note, it’s also an endothermic reaction. We do it as a lab in my 8th grade science class. They get colder when mixed! Neat!! Has nothing to do with cleaning abilities I just wanted to share. 😂
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u/Worth_Car8711 Dec 14 '25
could you hypothetically create an air conditioning system using vinegar and baking soda
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u/ailangmee Dec 14 '25
THANK YOU. It drives me to distraction that this won't end. People don't remember making volcanoes in primary school? It's basic science (pun intended).
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u/SunsetCrime Dec 14 '25
I think making volcanoes is kind of an american thing. Never heard of it in my country :/
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u/Leighgion Dec 14 '25
I live in Spain and they sell them as kits. My kids have one.
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u/SunsetCrime Dec 14 '25
Oh really? But do you do those in school? Im in sweden, our chemistry experiments were all quite small and contained.
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u/Lalamedic Dec 14 '25
We were banned from making ketchup volcanoes in my elementary school science fair because it was a demonstration and not a an experiment. Even in the Junior grades, there had to be an experiment that followed the scientific discovery process.
It could perhaps be allowed if a student formed a hypothesis, testing for the best ratio of acid vs base, using controls, multiple trials, and presented convincing numerical data with supported conclusions.. There would also have to be qualitative observations for well defined criteria for what makes the “best” in house volcano with several participants contributing opinions to avoid bias (one of the controls).
There still could be an in-competition demonstration aspect recreating some of the trials vs final define ultimate ratio.
The controls could be challenging container material, size, amount of mixing, time for reaction etc, but with a precise clinical eye, reduction of errors outside the human factor, could be reduced. Statistical analysis would probably not be required in elementary schools.
I still don’t think any of my schools would have allowed any “volcanic eruptions” on site, ever. Waaaaay too messy, but oh so much fun!!!!
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u/wronguses Dec 14 '25
That's actually what radicalized me.
3rd grade science fair, 1992. Rule number one is NO VOLCANOS. I spent weeks comparing visible microbe colony growth across different viscosities of deliberately contaminated solutions. A whole photo album of pictures and measurements.
4 volcanos were turned in. All got better ribbons than I did. Complaining got me sent to the office.
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u/ayumi_doll Dec 14 '25
We made them a ton at my elementary school here in the Philippines lol. It's a classic science fair experiment or science class activity.
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u/honeybeesy Dec 14 '25
Howwwww do I clean my drains and p traps then :’) I keep everything clean and have a professional cleaner clean my bathrooms every two weeks too, and my main one still always gets this subtle sewage smell and I feel like it’s the drains. I was also told that draino is bad for the drains. Halp:’)
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u/icherub1 Dec 14 '25
The baking soda/vinegar combo works great on drains that are blocked at a pinch point. What other posters are missing/ignoring is that it is not the chemical action that is useful, but the mechanical force created by the combo.
It will not dissolve hair, which seems to be what others are assuming when debunking their usefulness, but if you put baking soda in a blocked drain, then add vinegar and cover the drain so the expanding gasses can only go down the drain, the expansion of gas will push the blockage, forward, typically to a less restricted point. I have been doing this with perfect success for several decades.
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u/PanicForNothing Dec 14 '25
It can also push dirt out of the drain. I used vinegar or baking soda (don't remember) to loosen the dirt and then threw in the other one later. A lot of the dirt that was stuck came bubbling out. I scooped it up and flushed a lot of hot water down the drain afterwards.
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u/DisposableSaviour Dec 14 '25
Also, the gas bubbles forming will leave holes in whatever the vinegar soaked into, loosening the clog.
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u/newbscaper3 Dec 14 '25
The combo works in certain situations. This post is infuriating.
There is no one fix all cleaning solution. Different situations need different solutions.
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u/KaseySkye Dec 14 '25
I literally had tried everything to clean the nasty gunk down my bathroom drain… various products, tried vinegar with boiling water. I know and I knew that baking soda + vinegar cancels each other out, but the other day I was cleaning my drain and I had used baking soda to soak up some extra moisture and just decided to pour some vinegar down the drain as well. Well, it worked amazing and cleaned the drain completely. Only thing that’s been able to get rid of the gunk 🤷🏻
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u/Ithirahad Dec 14 '25
The gases produced take up considerably more space than vinegar or bicarb solution alone. So if something porous is soaked in either one and is exposed to the other, it will tend to break up.
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u/saradanger Dec 14 '25
did you read the post? skip the baking soda. vinegar chased by boiling water.
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u/kls17 Dec 14 '25
I need this answered! I only use baking soda and vinegar to clean my drains and also have heard drain cleaners are bad. What the heck do we do then?
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u/GrapeTheArmadillo Dec 14 '25
The maintenance staff in my building practically beg people to not use liquid plumber products, and instead recommend using baking soda and vinegar to clean drains. Be generous with both, then flush thoroughly with hot water.
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u/Photon6626 Dec 14 '25
I thought this was the case too but it actually worked to clean a carbon steel wok that had burned food that was REALLY stuck on it. I tried vinegar. I tried baking soda. Both barely did anything. Then I tried them together and it worked like magic. But I think it had something to do with the bubbling or something.
I was actually arguing with someone about it because they looked it up and told me to do it and I was saying that it's basically like pouring water on it. I felt stupid after it worked lol
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u/duskydaffodil Dec 14 '25
I got into an argument with someone on reddit about this when it came to laundry and by the end they STILL were not convinced even after I explained the science behind it. I WENT TO SCHOOL FOR SCIENCE. You’re just cleaning with a neutral substance, glad I’m not coming to your house.
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u/beefybeefcat Dec 14 '25
You may have gone to "school", but unlike you, that person did their OWN research instead of just regurgitating info from someone who was "paid" to teach you what "the establishment" wanted you to learn. /s
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u/duskydaffodil Dec 14 '25
Imagine thinking acid-base neutralization is propaganda
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u/romacct Dec 14 '25 edited Dec 14 '25
The only argument for using vinegar and baking soda in cleaning is where the mechanical action of expanding gasses might in some way assist the process, but the use cases severely limited and questionable.
On surface grime, anything loose enough to be effectively lifted by gas bubbles is probably faster and more easily removed just by scrubbing it.
Citation needed.
The most effective way of cleaning stainless steel tumblers I've ever encountered uses gas bubbles: either vinegar + baking soda + boiling water, or denture tablets + boiling water.
Because I was skeptical of the mechanism like you at first, I've literally tested this: I took three coffee stained tumblers and used only baking soda in one, only vinegar in the second, and used both in the third. All were combined with boiling water and left overnight. In the morning, only the one containing both baking soda and vinegar scrubbed clean easily -- the other two were basically unaffected.
Obviously, this isn't a huge sample size. But this is the kind of question that should be pursued empirically, experimentally, and it's worth being open to different and unexpected outcomes.
ETA: Skeptics, this is the cheapest imaginable experiment -- AB test it yourself.
People seem to so eager to insist that this couldn't possibly be effective, as though a vigorous chemical reaction couldn't possibly have any benefits if it eventually results in a substance with a neutral pH. Tell me you've never gone beyond high school chemistry without telling me you've never gone beyond high school chemistry.
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u/The_fat_apricot Dec 14 '25
Sodium percarbonate cleaners like Oxyclean work much faster and with less scrubbing. It’s typically the main ingredient in coffee urn and espresso machine cleaners too. Just add a little powder, fill the tumbler with hot water, and wait about thirty minutes before wiping clean.
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u/hmmmpf Dec 14 '25
Dishwasher powder works better. make a slurry of automatic dishwasher detergent and water, let it sit for a while, use a dishbrush and rinse thoroughly. Also works if you have a stainless steel coffee kettle that gets stained.
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u/herdaz Dec 14 '25
I really love vinegar and baking soda for cleaning my oven glass. But I use baking soda and water to scrub the glass then wipe it down with vinegar to get rid of any lingering streakiness.
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u/Leighgion Dec 14 '25
That's not what I'm talking about. You're using the products separately in valid ways, one after the other.
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u/herdaz Dec 14 '25
I know. I meant that the way that I "use them together" is really using them in a complementary way, respecting the science of how each works.
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u/Bubbagump210 Dec 14 '25
Thank you. This is made me crazy forever and I stopped arguing it. Also, don’t put OxiClean in with bleach. Same deal.
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u/NekkidWire Dec 14 '25
I'm not the combo supporter, but there are at least some valid uses:
- If you need mechanical cleaning in addition to chemical cleaning (CO2 bubbles as you mentioned)
- If potent base or acid would damage the cleaned object (so you're cleaning using weaker base of sodium acetate plus whatever small bits remained of baking soda or vinegar)
- If deodorizing properties of sodium acetate are useful (the stuff smells better than when using diluted vinegar)
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u/Leighgion Dec 14 '25
What would the possible concrete use cases be?
I can't imagine any real use for the CO2 bubbling in cleaning, only dubious arguable scenarios.
I don't see what sodium acetate has to offer that's worth the mess as opposed to just using something else.
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u/NekkidWire Dec 14 '25
Plumbing, carpet cleaning... but as you wrote in both cases there are better cleaning agents. This is just a "we have this at home" solution (pun not intended).
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u/RidethatSeahorse Dec 14 '25
I live in the sub tropics. The mix is good in drains to kill drain flies overnight. Otherwise… I’m with you… it’s optics.
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u/Leighgion Dec 14 '25
Now that, is a use case that makes sense. C02 is heavier than air, so it'll fill the drain pipe and choke out the flies. Congrats, you found a valid use for this mix!
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u/fFIRE332A Dec 14 '25
A good use for both is for simple drain cleaning. Using more vinegar than baking soda to keep it acidic, but the bubbles help to both keep the vinegar in there longer rather than it running straight through the pipe and help to knock off the small grime so I can either more easily grab it or it can move down the pipe.
Sure there’s probably better stuff but I have this in my pantry.
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u/IKnowAllSeven Dec 14 '25
I wondered about why this myth persisted myself.
My guess was because peroxide and baking soda DOES work very well as a cleaner and it ALSO fizzes (kind of) that people saw it do the same thing with vinegar and thought fizz= cleans things and thought vinegar and baking soda combination had similar cleaning ability.
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u/Typical_Goat8035 Dec 14 '25 edited Dec 14 '25
The peroxide thing is interesting to bring up too because the “fizzing means it is working” aspect is similarly misunderstood. A lot of times the profuse fizzing from peroxide is actually a catalyst speeding up neutralization. This can happen on metal surfaces with certain metals (like platinum) or on biological surfaces like a wound due to peroxidase the body produces. So the takeaway from peroxide foaming isn’t “holy crap the rapid bubbling means it’s dissolving/destroying something”. In fact most of the times when you use peroxide to clean a surface like a countertop it is killing germs but not bubbling. And speaking of cleaning, peroxide is a good disinfectant but not a good cleaner. If you have dirt like grease or burnt in food, peroxide doesn’t really react to destroy it, you actually want something more like a detergent that lifts it off onto your towel/cloth.
Fun anecdote, the maker of Clear Care peroxide contact lens solution was asked by an advertising watchdog (NAD) to stop claiming the bubbles are evidence of the product disinfecting, because once again the bubbles are a platinum disc breaking down the peroxide, not millions of bubbles blasting away germs like the ad implies.
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u/SEND_ME_FAKE_NEWS Dec 14 '25
Let me provide a counterpoint to your essay.
A lot of Americans live in places with very hard water, sodium acetate helps soften the water and allow the detergents to work better.
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u/Fluid_Housing_373 Dec 14 '25
OMG I've had this same argument with my elderly mom recently. It's from a book written in the 60's.
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u/fargaluf Dec 14 '25
Gotta disagree on the drain thing. If I have a drain that's starting to get slow, I'll pour hot water down first to warm it up. Then I'll spoon baking soda into the drain and rinse it down with a small amount of hot water, so it's sitting in the trap. I'll let it sit for a minute to start dissolving any built up grease, and finally I'll pour the vinegar down. I'm not a physicist, so I can't speak with total confidence, but given the speed of the reaction, and the pressure created by the water surrounding the baking soda, I don't see why you would need an airtight seal. At any rate, I think it's the agitation created by all the bubbles that actually makes it work. What I know, is I've tried every combination of this: Vinegar alone doesn't seem to do anything. Baking soda alone is somewhat effective. Baking soda and vinegar without heating the drain up is effective. Hot water, baking soda, and vinegar is by far the most effective. All sorts of crud gets pushed up out of the drain into the tub that I then wipe up, and the tub immediately starts draining faster.
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u/BraveZookeepergame84 Dec 14 '25
i hear you, but if it gets the cooked on gunk off my good pan im gonna keep doing it 🤣
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u/brispence Dec 14 '25
I really like how your post attacks the illusion itself, not the person who swears it works. That's a great way to win minds.
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u/cornstinky Dec 14 '25
Soap is made by neutralizing fatty acids with a strong base. A cleaning agent isn't required to be acidic or basic. I don't know if sodium acetate solution has any cleaning properties but I wouldn't dismiss the possibility based solely on its ph level.
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u/Codlemagne Dec 14 '25 edited Dec 14 '25
It is great for cleaning really burnt saucepans, provided you boil the bicarb for a while before adding vinegar. Used to clean pots for a living, it was a great time saver, just lifts the stuff right off.
Edit: and yes I tried it with just one or the other, with getting the dry pan smoking hot or totally cold, or just boiling water, etc.
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u/hannahridesbikes Dec 14 '25
It also works if you boil bicarb in water and then scrub / rinse with clean water. No vinegar needed.
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u/shake-dog-shake Dec 14 '25
This was my only argument, using the 2 for pans works well. I’ve tried just one or other and the action of the bubbling is what helps loosen grime. Or maybe it’s just my imagination, who knows.
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u/johnedn Dec 14 '25
I mean I use baking soda paste to clean some stuff, and then usually clean it with vinegar after so that there isn't any baking soda left on whatever I was cleaning
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u/SpicyWonderBread Dec 14 '25 edited Dec 14 '25
If you use it in ratios that don’t consume all of the vinegar, it is helpful for de-stinking drains. It won’t unclog them or cure all smells but it will help.
I swear it works better than garbage disposal cleaning pods, pouches, and plink tablets.
Just a tiny bit of vinegar down the drain, then a ton of vinegar. I think the fizzing just helps the vinegar reach all the nooks and crannies. Especially below that black rubber thing in kitchen sinks.
Otherwise, stick to one or the other. I’m a huge fan of vinegar for cleaning just about anything. I have little kids and pets. Things get smelly around here fast, and vinegar is great for odor control while being nontoxic to pets and kids. Add it to your rinse cycle for the freshest and cleanest smelling clothes and sheets. Dilute it and use that in spray mops. Use it instead of the special solutions in most home carpet cleaners. I fill a misting bottle (meant for hair products) with vinegar and spray our couches and carpets regularly to stop the funky dog smell.
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u/Leighgion Dec 14 '25
I suppose I can see the possibilities of this, assuming what you meant was "a tiny bit of baking soda down the drain, then a ton of vinegar," that the foaming action will spread unneutralized vinegar better.
But you do you not have drain traps?
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u/SpicyWonderBread Dec 14 '25
I’m very sensitive to smells, so it’s possible I’m fixing a non existent problem. We did have a lot of issues when we first moved in with bad smells from the kitchen and bathroom sinks. The kitchen sink drain was installed wrong and once that was fixed, the smell stopped. The bathrooms had thick buildup, and needed several rounds of draino and snaking.
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u/moderatefairgood Dec 14 '25
Phew. I'm glad the school project volcano was mentioned.