Consumer Reports rates all purpose cleaners

[supersuds]

"Few do it all" is the subheading.

Briefly, the November issue rates general purpose household cleaners for their ability to remove soap scum, soils, and grease, as well as lack of streaking and staining (after letting them sit overnight on common kitchen and bathroom surfaces).

The only check-rated product is Pine-Sol Original. It "earned high marks on all stains", didn't streak, and cost only 9¢ per ounce. One of the low-rated products, Whip-It Earth Friendly Miracle Multi-Purpose, cost 62¢ per ounce.

Other very low-rated brands were Fabuloso, Lysol All Purpose with Bleach, and Walgreen's Nice All-Purpose.

The second-highest rated brand was Seventh Generation.

Personally, the Pine-Sol scent is a dealbreaker for me, no matter how well it works.

 

[whirlcool]

I kind of like the Pine scenting of Pine Sol. Just make sure your windows are open when you use it.

Fabuloso? Hmph! Nothing more that purple colored water! I used it once and it was worse than using plain water! Streak city too.

I wonder if my favorite was on the list? It's a product called "Sparkle" and is usually found in the upper midwest. Cleans well without streaking.

 

[bajaespuma]

Thank you for posting this. I just bought my first bottle of "Pine Sol" on a whim; I've been looking for a product that would "do it all". Is Pine Sol still made from pine sap or is it just artificially scented? Maybe I'll read the label. Is this made, I wonder, from the same base that they used to make agitators back in the day?

 

[tomturbomatic]

Pardon my mooching, but did they test Simple Green?

 

[mixfinder]

Pine Sol Horror

Do not use regular Pine-Sol on wooden surfaces. It penetrates the finish carrying moisture under the level of varnish turning the finish and the wood a milky hue. It requires sanding down to sweet wood, restaining and resealing. Pine-Sol reminds of the smell of filth, often smelling it in dirty restrooms and in the old days, labor housing. I personally like Krud-Kutter. It cleans like crazy and when you're done the hole in the ozone is a little bigger to shine on your newly cleaned surfaces.

 

[supersuds]

Tom, no, Simple Green isn't mentioned. My experience with it has been very good.

I totally agree about the "dirty restroom" smell of Pine-Sol, ha.

 

[petek]

Pine-sol isn't so kind to rubber either so beware.. I don't mind the smell when used sparingly but it's easy to over do it and have a eye-tearing pine explosion.

For the past year though I've been using some stuff called Hertel. It's made in Canada and though I'd seen it on very few store shelves I'd never bought any until one day I was chatting with Terry L on the phone and he asked me if I could send him some bottles which I did. Apparently he'd gotten a bottle from some snowbirds down in Florida and loved the stuff. Just a capful in about a quart sprayer so a bottle can last seemingly forever. Not so good on glass though I find. Whenever I'm spraying it I think of him

 

[laundromat]

Was Spray-9 on their list?

 

[launderess]

Have Said It Before, And Am Here To Say It Again For God and

Pine cleaners all leave a scent best suited to cheap knocking shops, low public restrooms, and such. Don't know why persons insist on dousing places with the stuff.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Maybe you have to be from the south to apreciate the scent of pine oil. To generations, the smell meant "just cleaned." While I know it is not a disinfectant, it can be a powerful cleaner.

John, Thanks. I like Simple Green, too. When I saw the name, it reminded me of the many times my mother asked me if I was simple-minded. It is a neutral pH cleaner so it is pretty safe for most surfaces.

 

[launderess]

Best All Around Household Hard Surface Cleaner

Is simple and cheap ammonia. You can use it on most everything except wood and a few other surfaces.

Have a stash of Mrs. Meyers cleaner in lemon verbena scent that one mixes up in a spray bottle with a dash of ammonia. Cuts grease and grime everywhere from the kitchen to bath and smells wonderful.

If you look carefully ammonia in one form or another is part of many pricey household cleaners anyway, one is just paying for the fancy packaging and so forth.

 

[danemodsandy]

Actually....

....Original Pine-Sol does have disinfectant properties, although specific steps have to be followed to realize that benefit.

First, you have to use it full-strength. Second, you have to leave it on the surface for ten minutes, which is not usual when cleaning most household stuff. For heavily soiled surfaces, you have to pre-clean the surface to remove the soil. And this property applies ONLY to the original, pine-scented product. In normal cleaning, you're not going to realize much of a disinfectant benefit from Original Pine-Sol. But -

For those who want good cleaning without the pine scent, Pine-Sol makes a Lavender formula which is more pleasant to many people. Although this product does not have the disinfectant property of Original Pine-Sol (nor any pine oil), it cleans every bit as well, in my experience. I like the lavender aroma, which reminds me very much of the Woodbury soap my great-aunt Aena used.

 

[tolivac]

You should have tried the Ammonia I used to make when I had a chemestry set-My Stepmom even liked my "stuff"You put it on dirt-and it SIZZLED!!The area was then CLEAN!!!Should have sav ed my formula!I could be rich today!My brother called it "Bones Ammonia" after a nickname of "bones".Pine Sol seems to have a "fake" pine smell now-think the funky smell of it in bathrooms and such was from the other odors already there.

 

[spookiness]

Mean Green

They didn't test it, but Mean Green is made by CR Brands, and I think Family Dollar and places like that have it. For me it does a really good job around the kitchen. I use it on the stove especially- does well with greasy dirt. Also sometimes use on countertops, and to clean the sink.

 

[sudsmaster]

I'm wondering why they didn't test Formula 409. Is it out of production or something, or just and oversight? My experience with it is that it cleans great.

I am currently using Green Works stuff - their laundry liquid (very good), their hand dish soap (very good, I also use it as a body wash), and their spray cleaner. The spray cleaner is good; not as good as F109, but good.

 

[supersuds]

Formula 409 isn't mentioned, although the somewhat similar Fantastik got a mediocre score. It was 409 that made me appreciate Simple Green. I was trying to get some grimy buildup off of light switches (you know how they get) and 409 didn't have much effect. But Simple Green made short work of it!

As for home brews, the short article mentions that equal parts white vinegar and water beat every commercial spray, especially in terms of being steak free. The drawbacks were, as you can imagine, the leftover vinegar smell and faring poorly in the surface-staining test.

 

[sudsmaster]

Although it is a proprietary formula and therefore all the ingredients are not made public, the MSDS for Simple Green establishes that is is not neutral pH; the pH of the product is 9.3. Also, the key cleaning ingredient appears to be 2-butoxyethanol, which is in a number of other industrial cleaning products.

http://www.simplegreen.com/pdfs/MSDS_EN-US_AllPurposeCleaner-Pad.pdf

 

[laundromat]

I swear by Spray9. I have used it for decades now and it gets everything sparkilng clean AND disinfected.I do a lot of side jobs regarding house keeping. Last June, I watched 5 dogs in a filthy environment. I went and got a gallon of Spray9 along with a full spray bottle that came as a bonus at HD in Hilo. I put boiling hot water in acommercial mop bucket and added a few cups of S9 to it. It got all of the filth off the kitchen floor tile and walls. I also added it to the floor shampooer to scrub the carpeting. The carpet got 5 times lighter then it was and the horrific stench was completely gone after I finished. The owners returned two weeks later and freaked out as they entered their new house. You will need rubber gloves and I do not recomend using it on items like control panels on your stoves because the decalled lettering WILL come off from the strength of this product but, it is perfect for car interiors and exteriors, tires and paneling.

 

[gansky1]

If it's good enough for dishes...why not the toilet?

Rarely use "all-purpose" cleaners per se. I find that plain 'ol blue Original Dawn dishwashing liquid does most all jobs just fine. With most cleaning jobs, a microfiber cloth (I buy them in packages of 32 at Costco) and a bucket of warm Dawn water is suitable for most surfaces and jobs. The pre-cleaning preparations make all the difference, removing loose debris (sweep, vacuum, etc.) the Dawn solution works well when mopping or hand-washing floors. You can mix it in varying strengths depending on the job. It works fantastic on windows and glass, use clean solution and clean cloth, wash and then dry with a clean towel - squeaky clean and usually always streak free. And talk about inexpensive! One regular size bottle of Dawn will outlast even the cheapest bottle of ammonia and is easier on your hands and surfaces if not mixed too strong. I converted Jon to the Dawn & microfiber cleaning method this summer and he is still discovering new and wondrous ways to use it.

I do use some Clorox Clean-Up with bleach now and then if I need the bleach action and we do use a spray disinfectant in commercial restroom applications, of course, but for general cleaning; desks, counter tops, etc. even a solution of water and Dawn in a spray bottle is preferable to most other cleaners. I've found 409, etc. to be way too strong & sudsy for spray & wipe cleaning and people seem to be getting more sensitive to scents - I like this and not that - so I try to stay as neutral as possible. Scent only lasts a few minutes and evaporates so for most jobs, it is wholly unnecessary other than for the psychological sense of productivity.