Tell Me Why: Why Can't I Mix Bleach and Ammonia?

posted September 19, 2006 - 1:48pm
Tell Me Why: Why Can't I Mix Bleach and Ammonia?

Because the giant warning on the bottle in bright red print with a skull and cross bones isn't enough, hundreds of people are wheeled into emergency rooms every year after mixing a deadly combination of ammonia and bleach- a corrosive concoction that can cause the lungs to fill with liquid.< p>

Household bleach is 5% sodium hypochlorite. Mix it with ammonia and mono- and di-chloramines are formed. These nasty fellows will cause lovely symptoms such as respiratory tract irritation, tearing, and nausea. To make things better, add water to get hydrochloric acid and nascent oxygen- also known as chlorine gas, the chemical weapon of choice of Nazi Germany in World War II- for the added bonus of drowning in your own fluids!

Should a person misguidedly join these two in a most unholy matrimony, they may feel fine for a short period of time until they notice white spots in their peripheral vision. (That would be the lack of oxygen to the brain.) Then they may feel woozy. Then if they're lucky, they'll wake up on a gurney in the emergency room with a breathing tube down their throat and a totally hot doctor-- who probably thinks they are an idiot.

As a rule of thumb, never mix any household cleaners together, ever- as many of them have either a bleach or ammonia base. In the quest for a supercleaner, you'll have to use that good ol' fashioned never-fail product- elbow grease!

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Comments

Oh my gosh!

Well, there's a mistake you don't make twice- I hope! I'm so glad you're ok! I used to own a cleaning business and I used water based chemicals and did not allow clients to provide their own cleaning products for this reason! Even when you know you can't mix things like this there's always a potential for someone to forget or not realize what they're doing. It's too fatal a mistake!

D Crawford's Xombyte

It sounds as if you speak from experience

I made this fatal mistake "ONCE!" It scared me, I had no idea what I had done. I mixed clorox and ajax. To be safe just don't mix any other cleaning product with another that is the conclusion that I came to. I remember wrapping a scarf around my face as to keep from breathing the fumes as I rushed out the door of my house. It took some time before the air was safe to breath and I was coughing up stuff from my lungs. Dreadful!

Knowledge is power!

That's what I heard somewhere anyway...

D Crawford's Xombyte

Thanks

Good to know.

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