Sodium bicarbonate makes cleaning easier! The way to use sodium bicarbonate for cleaning.


Hi.

Do you know sodium bicarbonate, known as baking soda when used for cooking, is famous for one of the most ecological cleaning substance in Japan?

These days some TV programs and magazines focus on it as a tool to clean your house both easily and ecologically.

 

However, there are types of sodium bicarbonate at a stores, and different people introduce different ways to use it for cleaning.

Today, I’m going to introduce sodium bicarbonate, which gives you great convenience when to clean the house.

When you have known the way to make it, how to use it, and what to clean with it, your task to clean the house will surely become much easier!

 

Sponsored Link


1. What is sodium bicarbonate spray?


Sodium bicarbonate spray is a spray that sodium bicarbonate is dissolved in the water is in.

 

– How to prepare it?

① Put 5mg of sodium bicarbonate powder in a spray bottle.

② Pour 100ml of water in it. The recommended temperature of water is 40℃ to 45℃, which make sodium bicarbonate powder easier to be dissolved in the water.

③ Replace a cap of the bottle tightly, and shake it several times.

 

The spray doesn’t keep longer, so don’t make it too much.

 

– How to use it?

Just spray things you want to clean with it, and rub them with a towel or some cloth!

If you would like to get rid of tough dirt, you can take it off more easily to put kitchen paper on it, spray the paper and leave it for 30 to 60 minutes.

 

– What sodium bicarbonate is about?

As I mentioned above, sodium bicarbonate is also known as baking soda. Water solution of sodium bicarbonate is mildly alkaline (pH8.2) and it causes no harm to us. Because of the characteristic, it can neutralize acid to some extent, and also can decompose oil and protein in dirt.

In addition, it can neutralize and decompose the bad smells that acid things emit!

 

Now, I’m sure you know why sodium bicarbonate is an ideal cleaning substance!

 

 

 

2. What types of sodium bicarbonate is suitable for cleaning?


There are three types of sodium bicarbonate.

 

– For medical purposes

It has high purity and fineness of powder.

 

– For cooking

It is baking powder and you can easily find at a supermarket.

It is also used as abrasive (some people use it like toothpaste for this reason).

 

– For industrial purposes

It is the cheapest and not fine compared to those for other purposes.

In fact, it is the most suitable one for cleaning.

The roughness makes it easier to take off dirt.

And the rough powder easily sticks to acid substances, which not only softens the sticky dirt to take it off but also gets rid of the odor the dirt emits!

It’s also nice that you can find one for industrial purposes at a 100yen shop.

 

If you can’t find it anywhere, use one for cooking as a substitute for one for industrial purposes.

 

Sponsored Link


3. Is sodium bicarbonate suitable for cleaning a bathroom?


As you already know, sodium bicarbonate has low pH and is safe to use for cleaning a bathroom.

However, because of the low pH, the detergency of sodium bicarbonate is lower than the detergents which contain sodium sesquicarbonate or sodium carbonate.

 

Here, I’m telling you some effective ways to clean a bathroom with it.

 

– Removing scale on a bath tub or tools in a bathroom

Draw a bath, put sodium bicarbonate, and leave it overnight.

It will make you clean a bath tub much easier with its alkaline, which softens scale on the bath tub.

When you do it, soak tools with scale in the tub.

The water that sodium bicarbonate is dissolved in also cleans the tools in it.

 

– Cleaning a drain

Spread sodium bicarbonate evenly across a drain, and leave it for 5 to 10 minutes, then clean it with a sponge.

I recommend to use sodium bicarbonate when you clean a drain, because not only it removes dirt stuck to it but also it gets rid of the odor that a dirty drain emits.

 

– Cleaning a pipe

It may be the most difficult part in a bathroom to clean, even though many think they want to because a pipe often smells very bad when it gets dirty.

Here, sodium bicarbonate works really well.

Just put a cup (180mg) of sodium bicarbonate in a pipe, and flush it with hot water.

You must use hot water instead that at room temperature, because the substance is not easily dissolvable.

 

– Cleaning a floor in a bathroom

When you would like to take off black stains, which generate from soap scum and scurf, put sodium bicarbonate on a scrub brush or a toothbrush to rub the stains.

If it doesn’t get rid of them, it’s not soap scum or scurf, but mineralogical fur that generates the stains.

In this case, use citric acid, instead of sodium bicarbonate, to remove them.

 

4. What sodium bicarbonate is not good at cleaning?


Sodium bicarbonate with low alkaline pH cannot clean some parts of your house effectively.

Here I give you some examples.

 

– Sticky oil dirt at a kitchen

Sodium bicarbonate is not good at removing it, because of the low alkaline.

Its pH is 8.4, which is much lower than that of sodium carbonate (11.2) and sodium sesquicarbonate (9.8).

If you prefer it to other substances or detergents, sodium bicarbonate spray made of hot water will work well.

 

– Strong mineralogical stains

Tap water contains calcium hydrate for making pH of water with weak acidity to low alkaline in some areas.

Sodium bicarbonate can’t work well because what it wants to get rid of is low alkali stains; it’s the same with sodium bicarbonate, and alkali cannot remove alkali.

 

When you want to clean things with strong mineralogical stains, use citric acid.

 

– Toilet

It might be waste of time to clean a toilet with sodium bicarbonate.

Dirt and odor in a toilet is usually caused by ammonia, which is weak alkali.

As I mentioned above, alkali can’t remove alkali.

Give up using it, and use a suitable detergent for toilet.

 

– Things made of glasses and acrylic boards

Sodium bicarbonate isn’t suitable to clean them because it may polish them too much and they may have small scuffs.

Sodium sesquicarbonate has less polishing action and it’s better to use.

 

– Things made of wood, tatami mat and carpet

Things made of natural materials, which contain rich protein, shouldn’t be cleaned by sodium bicarbonate.

It is excellent at taking off dirt and stain with much protein very well, but it may cause tarnishing or deterioration when it is used on the surface of things made of those materials with rich protein.

 

– Things made of aluminum

Aluminum changes in color to black when it reacts chemically with alkali.

So, I recommend that you should not use sodium bicarbonate for cleaning things made of aluminum.

 

– Does sodium bicarbonate works well when I wash clothes?

The answer is no.

It’s because the pH of sodium bicarbonate is low relative to that of detergents (pH 9-11) for washing clothes.

 

 

5. How can I prevent from having white residue on things I cleaned?


Sometimes you may find white residue after cleaning things with sodium bicarbonate.

 

– What causes white residue?

It is sodium bicarbonate that wasn’t dissolved in water.

When you are cleaning things using it, it is transparent and you cannot see remains on things you have finished cleaning.

When they are dried, sodium bicarbonate remained on their surface is also dried and becomes white.

 

– How can I get rid of it?

The best way to get rid of it is to use citric acid, which causes neutralizing reaction to remove the white residue.

 

– How can I prevent from having the white residue?

There are two ways to prevent it.

 

(1) Wipe twice

The important thing is that you have to completely wipe sodium bicarbonate.

If you wear shoes or slippers when you clean a house, wipe their soles so that they don’t carry it into other rooms.

 

(2) Use citric acid spray

As is mentioned above, citric acid neutralize alkali sodium bicarbonate, which prevents from causing the white residue on the surface of things cleaned by it.

 


 

 

How was it?

Let’s use sodium bicarbonate for cleaning many parts of your house ecologically!

I hope it helps you a lot!

 

 

 

Sponsored Link


Facebooktwittergoogle_pluslinkedinrssyoutube