"Cleaning Strength" Vinegar?

[Jacob Petersheim]

Has anyone used this? What applications?

I guess I knew that this was out there, but I really had forgotten about it. When I went grocery shopping last week I saw it shelved near the kitchen vinegars and looked at the "cleaning" and regular "white" vinegars.

I was thinking about getting a gallon of white vinegar if cheap (it wasn't) but I think the cleaning-strength had a competitive price. I believe it was something like 3 times as concentrated as kitchen vinegars.

Now, I know highly concentrated acetic acid is used for things like burning off warts (I think they use liquid nitrogen or something now??). I was into Chemistry long ago and even worked as a Chem Lab assistant in high school (even shows on my Social Security report!). So I am pretty aware of acids and other corrosive chemicals. I've had my share of Silver Nitrate spots on my hands and wrists.

So I don't think I would use cleaning vinegar without gloves. But it does sound good for things like cleaning the inside of the refrigerator. It should be good stuff for killing molds, mosses, fungi, things of that nature as well as cutting grease.

So I'd like to hear about your experiences with this as a cleaning product as well as other uses. A gallon of it feels like a lot. Is it useful enough to make that a good buy?

 

[Don Alaska]

The cleaning vinegar is generally industrial acetic acid so not suitable for food prep at home. It can be used to clean any surface encrusted with hard water residue such as faucets or showers (if they are weak acid safe). Since you were a chem assistant, you know the difference between strong acids such as acetic and carbonic and strong acids such as hydrochloric and nitric. People here use the cleaning grade vinegar as a safe herbicide, and even make a saturated salt (NaCl) solution with it to be diluted as needed.

 

[Mary Stetler]

Has anyone used this? What applications?

I guess I knew that this was out there, but I really had forgotten about it. When I went grocery shopping last week I saw it shelved near the kitchen vinegars and looked at the "cleaning" and regular "white" vinegars.

I was thinking about getting a gallon of white vinegar if cheap (it wasn't) but I think the cleaning-strength had a competitive price. I believe it was something like 3 times as concentrated as kitchen vinegars.

Now, I know highly concentrated acetic acid is used for things like burning off warts (I think they use liquid nitrogen or something now??). I was into Chemistry long ago and even worked as a Chem Lab assistant in high school (even shows on my Social Security report!). So I am pretty aware of acids and other corrosive chemicals. I've had my share of Silver Nitrate spots on my hands and wrists.

So I don't think I would use cleaning vinegar without gloves. But it does sound good for things like cleaning the inside of the refrigerator. It should be good stuff for killing molds, mosses, fungi, things of that nature as well as cutting grease.

So I'd like to hear about your experiences with this as a cleaning product as well as other uses. A gallon of it feels like a lot. Is it useful enough to make that a good buy?

The first time I heard someone ask for special cleaning vinegar, like the woman wanted a spray bottle for white vinegar. We use it for all grease cutting, lime reducing cleaning but we just get a gallon jug of white vinegar 4% and put it in a spray bottle. Voila! special vinegar. I spray grapes etc and then rinse to get any oil pesticides off. It would hurt if gotten on a paper cut but it seems safe enough for small cleaning jobs without gloves here.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

People here use the cleaning grade vinegar as a safe herbicide, and even make a saturated salt (NaCl) solution with it to be diluted as needed.

Now that you have explained it, this use seems obvious. Probably makes a goof "KilzAll" for treating anything trying to grow in pavement cracks, in place of things like glyphosate-based commercial herbicides.

It can be used to clean any surface encrusted with hard water residue such as faucets or showers

I'm smacking my forehead here too, of course it can delime heavily-chromed fixtures. Duh!

Most general cleaning probably requires dilution anyway though, e.g. window glass. So buying 3% to 4% vinegar probably makes as much sense as anything, perhaps safer to keep around, and probably more widely available anyway.


While I'm thinking about pavement cracks, have you ever worried about cracks where ants seem to burrow up making anthills?

I had a problem with a concrete pad in front of my front porch. Pretty good sized but over time with settling from rainfall seepeage and such, it developed cracks. These are fine cracks, but enough to get me to seal them to stop water seepage from making things worse.

Ants tunneled up through the edges of the sealant, making low anthills of sand and clay. This was both unsightly and raised a concern about eventual depletion below the slab, causing cracking to worsen or widen with time.

I just took a bottle of generic liquid dish detergent and drizzled it along all of the cracks atop the cured sealant. Let it dry and left it. At the first rain there was a little sudsing, but even that is long gone now. So are those ants!

 

[Don Alaska]

Now that you have explained it, this use seems obvious. Probably makes a goof "KilzAll" for treating anything trying to grow in pavement cracks, in place of things like glyphosate-based commercial herbicides.

I'm smacking my forehead here too, of course it can delime heavily-chromed fixtures. Duh!

Most general cleaning probably requires dilution anyway though, e.g. window glass. So buying 3% to 4% vinegar probably makes as much sense as anything, perhaps safer to keep around, and probably more widely available anyway.


While I'm thinking about pavement cracks, have you ever worried about cracks where ants seem to burrow up making anthills?

I had a problem with a concrete pad in front of my front porch. Pretty good sized but over time with settling from rainfall seepeage and such, it developed cracks. These are fine cracks, but enough to get me to seal them to stop water seepage from making things worse.

Ants tunneled up through the edges of the sealant, making low anthills of sand and clay. This was both unsightly and raised a concern about eventual depletion below the slab, causing cracking to worsen or widen with time.

I just took a bottle of generic liquid dish detergent and drizzled it along all of the cracks atop the cured sealant. Let it dry and left it. At the first rain there was a little sudsing, but even that is long gone now. So are those ants!

The ants may be back though. Ants are the one place I use strong insecticide. I spray around the house and patio areas once a year to keep them from being a problem. In the greenhouses I use a boric acid-sugar water bait that seems to work fine. When ants get under a concrete slab, they are pretty protected from everything. If you don't want to spray strong stuff, you could try the Terro ant bait outdoor stations. The ants carry the bait into the nest to feed the queen and the problem ends...for that colony anyway.

 

[Marie Mallory]

Has anyone used this? What applications?

I guess I knew that this was out there, but I really had forgotten about it. When I went grocery shopping last week I saw it shelved near the kitchen vinegars and looked at the "cleaning" and regular "white" vinegars.

I was thinking about getting a gallon of white vinegar if cheap (it wasn't) but I think the cleaning-strength had a competitive price. I believe it was something like 3 times as concentrated as kitchen vinegars.

Now, I know highly concentrated acetic acid is used for things like burning off warts (I think they use liquid nitrogen or something now??). I was into Chemistry long ago and even worked as a Chem Lab assistant in high school (even shows on my Social Security report!). So I am pretty aware of acids and other corrosive chemicals. I've had my share of Silver Nitrate spots on my hands and wrists.

So I don't think I would use cleaning vinegar without gloves. But it does sound good for things like cleaning the inside of the refrigerator. It should be good stuff for killing molds, mosses, fungi, things of that nature as well as cutting grease.

So I'd like to hear about your experiences with this as a cleaning product as well as other uses. A gallon of it feels like a lot. Is it useful enough to make that a good buy?

I buy fruits and veggies and always wash them then dip in a bowl of diluted vinegar to sanitize and then rinse well again. We eat lots of berry's, especially blueberry's and strawberry's.

I use fig tree milk sap too, removes warts, pre skin cancer too. I haven't had a skin cancer removed by a doctor in several years now. I take a leaf off the tree, and end has white liquid on it, I rub it into the 'loss the word' and it is gone in a couple weeks.

 

[Krystal]

I wash my looseleaf lettuce and other veggies in a solution of vinegar and salt. Give them a spin in my salad spinner and... BAM! Fresh, clean, and crisp; ready to eat.

Vinegar is good for so many things! I always just use regular strength vinegar for all jobs.