More about Vinegar

I wonder sometimes who will find this blog helpful, as it's really aimed at folks out of the mainstream, in rural areas far from helpful (expensive) professionals, and/or perhaps single moms without a man around to do the dirty work (all of the above apply to me).

But, if even one person finds an answer here, I'll be happy.

I also need to give credit to all the unknown places I found some of these tips, tricks, and fixes over time. If I know where I found something, I'll link to it, but in the absence of new major issues lately, thought I'd revisit some old ones.

Like vinegar. I recently wrote about using it to kill fruit flies. But it's also good for a couple of other household issues that I use it for regularly.

The first is hard water. I have that, in spades. And I'm not going to try to figure out how to put in a water softener system in my house, nor would I even if I could, because what exactly are you putting in the water to "soften" it? I drink that water, so don't really want to add anything extra to it.

So I have an ongoing issue with faucets, showerheads, the electric kettle, the canner, etc. getting this buildup of minerals over time. That buildup clogs the faucets and showerheads, coats the elements of the teakettle, etc. etc.

I could go out and buy CLR ($$ for nasty chemical stuff), but instead I use vinegar (I like pickling vinegar as it's a bit higher acidity, but regular old white vinegar is fine, the cheapest you can find, as you're not eating it).

For faucet aerators, shower heads, etc. - first take them off of their various faucet spouts or what have you (faucet aerators should be easy to remove with just fingers, but for the shower head you may need a pipe wrench, a worthwhile investment only if you have other pipes to wrench, if not, vise grips are a good second choice). If you can separate faucet aerators into component parts (screens, washers, etc.) do that, but try to remember what order they go back together in (good luck with that). Heat the vinegar to the boiling point, remove from the heat, and drop in all the bits. Watch them foam as the vinegar eats away the mineral buildup. For really badly caked things you may want to do this twice. Rinse thoroughly, put back together again, and replace them.

For things like electric kettles, just fill them with vinegar (or a mix of vinegar and water), bring to a boil, maybe boil for a couple of minutes (for as long as you can stand the stench of boiling vinegar), then rinse a lot to get the vinegar taste out and all the bits of yechh that come off the element. You can apparently do this with coffee makers also (I don't use one, so can't swear to it), just pour the vinegar in and run it through a regular coffee cycle, then rinse repeatedly.

I get mineral buildup even in my toilet bowl, and for this I heat a LOT of vinegar, not quite to boiling, plunge as much water out of the toilet as possible, then very carefully pour the hot vinegar in to the bowl to let it work at the buildup. I leave a little water for dilution and also cooling, as I am secretly afraid I might crack the bowl if I pour too much too hot vinegar in too quickly. So this tip is totally at your own risk. Once I've let it work a while I get in there and scrub a bit just to loosen up bits that might not let go otherwise.

And one final tip - which might lead to another post - stinky and/or slow-draining sink. First thing I do is dump a bunch of baking soda into the drain (maybe a half-cup or so -- I buy it in bulk, forget those tiny Arm and Hammer boxes). Then I pour in some vinegar (don't need to heat it for this), and you get the same volcanic reaction you do at a science fair (so if your sink is really shallow, reduce the baking soda amount). I put in enough vinegar to dissolve all the baking soda, then follow it with lots of hot water. This will usually clear minor stinks and slow moving issues, but for major issues you may have to take things apart -- more on that, and other great uses for baking soda -- later.