Using vinegar as a window cleaner - good or bad? The pros respond.

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To get closer to an answer, and crack this enigma, we have called in real expert help in the form of Darek Lubowicki, delivery manager at XLNT Workplace and with over 10 years of experience in window cleaning. And now to the question we're all wondering:

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Does vinegar work as a window cleaner?

- In fact, I have never tried vinegar, because I have a hard time with the smell, but I have understood that it should be good for windows, as they should be extra shiny from vinegar. If I were to recommend something else mundane that is available in the home, however, I would say that dishwashing detergent works best. Often better than window soap depending on the brand.

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Which window cleaner do you recommend?

- It depends a little on which windows will be plastered. There is a difference between cleaning windows outdoors on, for example, the roof of a shopping mall, where all possible heavy dirt lands, compared to plastering windows inside.

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Darek continues:

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- But if I were to recommend something, besides dishwashing detergent then, I would say Ciroc. All our cleaning services, including window cleaning, are Swan Ecolabeled, so we use the Swan-branded Ciroc itself, often together with eco-labelled dishwashing detergent. Grease dissolves fat, and you want an agent that dissolves fat on the windows, but at the same time increases the shine of the window. Then Ciroc fits really well. In some cases, you may even need to use a means that removes limescale, depending on the condition of the window.

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Therefore, vinegar can still be a good addition

To say that vinegar is bad to use as window soap would be an exaggeration. Vinegar can absolutely serve as a window cleaner. Just what Darek mentions, fat dissolves fat best, and therefore vinegar may not be the most effective means to use as a window cleaner. But, with that being said, vinegar is actually also fat-dissolving. Thanks to its low pH value, acetic acid can also break down fatty acids, making it a viable alternative. Although not as effective as, for example, dishwashing detergent.

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In contrast, vinegar is very effective to use to remove limescale deposits. As a substance, lime is considered basic, and acidic substances, such as acetic acid, have the ability to make basic substances less basic. Unfortunately, we skipped that chemistry lesson, but with knowledge borrowed from Illustrated Science We understand that lime, which is actually various chemical compounds containing the element calcium, and especially calcium carbonate, is precisely basic. We also understand that acetic acid can therefore dissolve lime coatings by creating an imbalance between free and bonded carbonate ions, which occurs when the free ions react with the acetic acid. As the balance is restored, the lime coatings dissolve.

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So, is vinegar good or bad to use as a window cleaner?

Thus, after the small chemistry lesson, we can conclude that vinegar can be especially good to use as a window cleaner in cases where your windows have lime coatings. If they don't, you can skip the vinegar and use regular dishwashing detergent and water instead, and preferably a variety with an eco-label if you ask us.

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Recipe for window cleaning with vinegar

For those of you who are eager to try making your own window cleaner with vinegar, a few different recipes abound in the ether. But almost all of them contain only the three simple components water, vinegar and dishwashing detergent.

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We recommend the following recipes:

• 6 cl white vinegar
• A few drops or about 2.5 ml of dishwashing detergent
• 5 cups hot water
• Some kind of spray bottle

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Instructions:

• Mix vinegar, dishwashing detergent and warm water in the spray bottle
• Shake well to mix the ingredients
• It's done! Now you just have to polish it.