I probably mixed bleach and Oxi-Clean...How worried am I? What do I do?

December 1, 2018 7:19 PM

I frequently wash the floor in the dog's washroom (yes, yes, that's not the point) with oxi-clean powder. This tends to leave some white residue. I wanted to wash with bleach, because it's been a while and it needed a thorough cleaning. I know you can't mix, so I washed floor with tonnes of water (no oxiclean) a few hours ago. Waited. Then dumped some bleach and then water on it. There was fizzing. Now I'm worried about deadly fumes. Should I be?

This is in the bathroom. The door to that bathroom is closed and the passive exhaust fan is running (i went in and climbed on a ladder and held a kleenex up to it to be sure, since it makes no sound). My baby is on the other side of the condo with three closed doors between the offending mix and the baby.

Should I be worried and what should I do? Go dump more water on it to dilute it?

posted by If only I had a penguin... to Science & Nature (8 answers total)

after someone who knows the ingredients comes in here and advises you about the fumes question, you need to read

the EPA's guide to mold, moisture and your home

and this article is about mold but it applies to your situation because what you are doing is going to cause a mold problem. or might. why chance it? just use vinegar!

why not to use bleach on mold
posted by cda at 7:31 PM on December 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Ok, so first, I'm pleased to report that I wasted an AskMe. Someone advised by private message that I should call poison control just in case. I called poison control and they said that with mixing cleaning stuff, there is a very strong reaction and it is apparent immediately. Like either I can't breathe and that's a problem, or I feel fine and there's no problem. And yes, clean with water if there's any residue left.

Thanks for the info on mold, CDA. There's no mold issue in the dog's bathroom, though, I do use bleach to clean mold from my tub and bathmat in my bathroom. Is that bad? The article seems to be about porous surfaces (i.e. not tubs), but tiles aren't porous either and you seem to think it's bad for me to wash my floor with bleach (or oxi-clean).

Vinegar will just encourage the dog to pee where she shouldn't.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:40 PM on December 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

The article is also an ad for mold remediation services and a bit alarmist. Hard surfaces are fine with bleach.
posted by twoplussix at 8:39 PM on December 1, 2018 [9 favorites]

So glad to hear there were no nasty fumes. You're right on the money using an enzyme cleaner like Oxyclean for dog based accidents. For those wondering what it contains it is basically washing soda & hydrogen peroxide (when mixed with water). Just remember with bleach that it should be pretty well diluted before home use, which helps make the fumes less of a problem. If you do decide to try vinegar next time it doesn't disinfect unless you heat it up undiluted to like 70F & let it sit for 10 minutes & even then isn't as effective as bleach, hot soap & water will kill more germs than vinegar.
posted by wwax at 8:42 PM on December 1, 2018

the whole point the alarmist article is making is that "bleach contains a lot of water, so you'll make the problem worse by adding moisture, call an expert for major home mold problems". While there are a bunch of different reasons for bringing in mold remediation people for major leaks that have caused mold, this isn't really relevant to your problem.

Vinegar has a cult-like following that makes lots of claims for it's supposed magic effectiveness at lots of things. I hate to say this, but if the concern with jug bleach is that it contains water, household and culinary vinegar contains even more.
posted by twoplussix at 8:47 PM on December 1, 2018 [8 favorites]

I called poison control and they said that with mixing cleaning stuff, there is a very strong reaction and it is apparent immediately. Like either I can't breathe and that's a problem, or I feel fine and there's no problem.

Yes, it's not a subtle thing. Choking, freaking out, all that.
posted by bongo_x at 11:46 PM on December 1, 2018

I've accidentally mixed bleach and ammonia (the big no-no) and yes, it's almost like a physical wall of fumes hitting you. You would know it.
posted by HotToddy at 6:56 AM on December 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

Mixing hypochlorite (which is what is in household bleach) with peroxide (which is what is produced when the perborate in OxyClean is dissolved in water) is really just fine, fume-wise. It produces chlorine ion (as in sodium chloride or table salt), water, and oxygen bubbles. This is in fact the safest way to neutralize household bleach, since it does not result in exposure to sulfites the way Anti-chlor may, though of course neutralizing it renders both the peroxides and the bleach utterly ineffective as cleaning agents.

OCl- + H₂O₂ → Cl- + H₂O + O₂

Mixing hypochlorite bleach with an acid is bad, because it produces hypochlorous acid and deadly chlorine gas. Vinegar, usually containing 5% acetic acid, is a weak enough acid that people don't generally die from the amount of chlorine gas produced by cleaning with the combination; the situation is much more likely to be deadly when bleach is mixed with a stronger acid, such as that contained in acid-based toilet cleaners.

NaOCl + CH₃COOH → Cl₂ + CH₃COONa + H₂O

Mixing bleach with ammonia is very bad, because it produces chloramine gases.

NH₃ + NaClO → NH₂Cl + NaOH
NH₂Cl + NaClO → NHCl₂ + NaOH
NHCl₂ + NaClO → NCl₃ + NaOH
posted by chromium at 10:11 AM on December 2, 2018 [10 favorites]