Does Baking Soda and Vinegar Really Clean? (And What to Use Instead)

A sink and faucet clean, one product at a time

This routine uses three cleaners on one sink without ever letting two of them meet. The rinse between them is the whole trick.

1. 1

   Wash off grease with dish soap

   Squeeze a few drops of dish soap onto a wet non-scratch sponge. Wash the sink basin and the faucet with warm water, paying attention to greasy spots near the drain.

2. 2

   Rinse all the soap away

   Run warm water over the basin and the faucet until no suds are left.

3. 3

   Scrub the basin with baking soda

   Sprinkle baking soda on your damp sponge and scrub the basin. That is the way Utah State University Extension describes using it as a gentle, non-abrasive cleanser for sinks.

1. 4

   Rinse until the grit is gone

   Rinse the basin well, and run your fingers over it. When it feels smooth and not gritty, the baking soda is gone. This matters, because leftover baking soda would cancel out the vinegar in the next step.

2. 5

   Wipe hard water spots with vinegar

   Dampen a microfiber cloth with plain white vinegar and wipe the white, chalky spots on the faucet and around the drain. Keep it off cast iron, because Arm & Hammer says acids like vinegar can create rust and destroy a pan’s seasoning.

3. 6

   Rinse and buff it dry

   Rinse the faucet with water, then buff it dry with a clean, dry microfiber cloth. That is how Arm & Hammer finishes its own faucet cleaning method.

When it will not work, and what to do instead

Sometimes the job really is bigger than baking soda or vinegar. Here is what to reach for then.

• You were hoping the fizz would clear a slow drain. Here is the grain of truth. A chemistry lecturer writing in The Conversation says the one place the bubbling may help is as a physical push, like in a blocked drain. Start with a plunger, and see Does baking soda and vinegar unclog a drain?.
• The grease is brown and baked on. Baking soda is a mild base and will not do much here. Washing soda is the stronger cousin. See How to clean baked-on grease with washing soda.
• You need to sanitize or disinfect. Neither one is sold for that job. The EPA regulates cleaning products only if they sanitize or disinfect, so a product that does will carry an EPA registration number. See Clean, sanitize or disinfect: what the label really means.
• The pan is cast iron. Skip the vinegar. Arm & Hammer’s burnt pan directions use a baking soda paste with a stiff brush for cast iron, then drying and oiling the pan.

Why it works

Here is what is happening in that foaming bowl. Vinegar is an acid, and baking soda is a mild base. When they meet, they react and use each other up.

What comes out is water, a salt called sodium acetate, and carbon dioxide, which is the fizz. Nathan Kilah, a chemistry lecturer at the University of Tasmania, explains that sodium acetate is an even weaker base than baking soda. So the mix ends up weaker than the baking soda you started with.

Think of pouring hot coffee into iced coffee. You do not get both at once. You get something lukewarm in the middle.

And with the amounts people usually pour, one of the two is way out ahead. Kilah worked out that with typical home ratios, over 99% of the baking soda can be left over after the fizzing stops. Whatever cleaning happens comes from that leftover powder and your scrubbing.

You have probably watched a video where someone pours vinegar onto baking soda and the whole sink foams up. It sure looks like hard work is being done, but the bubbles are the two cleaners canceling each other out.