How Much White Vinegar Do You Use to Disinfect in the Washing Machine?
- Even old-fashioned housekeepers varied in their enthusiasm for vinegar as a disinfectant. Some preferred chlorine bleach; others swore by ammonia as the path to real cleanliness. Especially as the disinfectant uses of vinegar became mixed with its uses in diet, health and even pet care, scientifically minded critics lumped vinegar in the old-fashioned alternative health quest file. Recent studies, like the work of the Good Housekeeping Institute reported publicly in 2000, have reconfirmed the reliable disinfection properties of white vinegar at the normal 5-percent acidity sold in grocery stores.
- Depending on water temperature and load size, vinegar seems to be most effective in amounts between 1/2 cup and 1 cup per single load, with larger amounts reserved for potentially high-infection loads of laundry. Bed linen and pajamas used by a family member with stomach flu may require 1 cup of vinegar or a second wash cycle with a second 1/2 cup of vinegar added at the start of the wash cycle. The hottest water setting will enhance vinegar's disinfectant properties.
- In addition to adding vinegar to individual wash cycles, the disinfection capacities of laundry day can be enhanced by regular disinfection of your washing machine using hot water and vinegar. For best results, run your machine on a clothes-free cycle regularly once a month.
- While vinegar and chlorine or oxygen bleach should never be used together for any reason, pre-treating of soiled colored clothing with vinegar may enable those who rely on chlorine bleach for disinfecting to get the results they want. A first wash of soiled colored clothes with vinegar and water sets the dyes in colored fabrics, thus preventing bleeding or coloring other clothes in the washload. Those who require chlorine or oxygen bleach as a final step may wash clothes a second time, after vinegar has been drained out.