Don't mix hydrogen peroxide and vinegar together in the same mixture. This can create peracetic acid, which may be toxic and can irritate your throat and lungs, eyes and skin. You can, however, alternate spraying hydrogen peroxide and vinegar on a surface. Just make sure to wipe the surface between sprays.
Don't mix hydrogen peroxide with vinegar
Hydrogen peroxide and vinegar can be used on the same surface as long as it dries in between applications but they should never be mixed. When the two are mixed, it creates peracetic acid, which can harm the skin, eyes, throat, nose and lungs.
Hydrogen oxide (separately, a great cleaning agent and antiseptic), if mixed with vinegar, creates peracetic acid, as vinegar contains acetic acid. This combination of vinegar and hydrogen peroxide is potentially toxic and corrosive, which can break down or damage the surface it is applied to.
Hydrogen Peroxide Precautions in the Laundry
Never mix hydrogen peroxide with household ammonia, chlorine bleach, or vinegar in a closed container. Dangerous gases can form. You're also wasting money if you use hydrogen peroxide and chlorine bleach in the same wash load.
Hydrogen peroxide reacts with vinegar to form peracetic acid which is corrosive and can eat away the metal. Salt acts as an electrolyte which lowers the electrical resistance of the whole process and allows the oxygen atoms to be exchanged easily.
Mixing hydrogen peroxide and baking soda causes a chemical reaction that produces carbon dioxide and certain other chemicals which can cut through soap scum and hard water stains. This mixture can therefore be used to clean anything from bathroom tiles to cooking utensils.
Is mixing hydrogen peroxide and baking soda safe? Hydrogen peroxide and baking soda are completely safe and are even recommended for cleaning and whitening your teeth. The combination can also conquer some of your toughest cleaning jobs including baked-on grease, dingy grout, laundry stains, and hard water buildup.
It's also important to mix vinegar with other ingredients carefully. “Never mix vinegar with other cleaning products like bleach or ammonia or those 'blue' window cleaning products [like Windex], because they can create dangerous chlorine gas,” Gayman says.
In fact, when H2O2 is produced in human metabolism the body calls on the remarkable enzyme catalase to destroy hydrogen peroxide very quickly. One catalase molecule can destroy over 4 × 107 hydrogen peroxide molecules a second.
While hydrogen peroxide can be used to clean many things, it's best to mix it only with water. Combining the solution with ammonia, chlorine bleach, or vinegar in a closed container can cause unsafe gasses to form.
Hydrogen peroxide also kills normal cells within the wound — including healthy skin cells and immune cells — and slows blood vessel formation, all of which are important for wound healing.
Hydrogen peroxide can be damaging to your gums, your tongue, and your tooth enamel, leading to painful decay that could be costly to repair.
“When you add peroxide to dish soap, it breaks down into oxygen and water. The soapy water then traps that oxygen, creating bubbles, making your dish soap extra foamy.”
Lemon juice makes hydrogen peroxide a bit safer than juice, while hydrogen peroxide nullifies the sour taste and smell of lemon juice. Together, they make the perfect combo and will give you better results than using them individually.
For deeper cleaning, people safely can mix baking soda with a small amount of hydrogen peroxide to create a toothpaste. However, since hydrogen peroxide can sting, people with sensitive teeth and gums should discontinue using this paste if they experience pain or discomfort.
“Vinegar does have disinfectant activity,” Alan Taege, MD, infectious disease expert at the Cleveland Clinic. “Vinegar is acetic acid, which has the ability to destroy bacteria and viruses." But, Dr. Taege notes, "many commercial disinfectants would likely be more effective." (More on that in a minute.)
The mixture of sugar and hydrogen peroxide produces a renewable liquid fuel that can be stored for long periods - weeks, months, years - and used when needed to power automobiles or to heat homes, factories and office buildings, or to power steam turbines for producing electricity during peak-time demand.
Based on their findings, and after reviewing the current literature concerning hydrogen peroxide, we propose that hydrogen peroxide, as an antiseptic agent, could play a pivotal role in reducing the hospitalization rate and COVID-19–related complications.
Use vinegar. Like baking soda, you can use distilled white vinegar as either a bleach-free pretreating solution or as an additive to a standard wash cycle. White vinegar is an acidic solution that can be used to brighten the appearance of white fabrics.
Hydrogen peroxide removing stains from clothes is well and good. However, a cause of concern is whether it will also remove and bleach out the color of your clothes. Hydrogen peroxide is an oxygen bleach that is usually considered safe for colored clothes.