If we talk about screens, there are a lot of screens that we are surrounded with. Be it a computer screen, mobile screen, window screen, and whatnot. We often employ scratches on these screens when we aggressively clean them while we are in a hurry or on the go.
People tend to use a weird combination of ingredients like vinegar, baking soda, alcohol, abrasive clothes, and many other things to clean their screens. Whether it is a TV screen or the screen of your smartphone, you should never be harsh with it because, in the end, they are made from almost the same material.
Most people end up losing the longevity of the screens or irremovable marks on them just because they used a harsh cleaner or did aggressive scrubbing. Using harsh chemicals while cleaning your screen can also be damaging as it cuts through the layers of the glass and leaves irremovable marks.
What should you do and what type of ingredients you should use to clean your screens, everything is available further in the article. So, if you have a dirty computer, TV, mobile, or window screen that needs some cleaning, then keep on reading.
7 Things that You Should NEVER Clean With Vinegar
If you are finding ways to do a deep cleansing in your house and looking for an effective cleaner, you might resort to a Google search. Once you write cleaning there, you will get a variety of suggestions telling you to clean anything and everything with “vinegar.”
In the cleaning articles, you will find recipes to make cleaning solutions at home which usually include vinegar diluted with water to approximate of 5% acidity, the usage of distilled white vinegar is the perfect option if you are looking for a non-toxic cleaner, that kills bacteria and gets rid of germs from small places by using vinegar mixed solutions, get rid of hard water deposits, and removing muck at a quarter of the expense of branded cleaning supplies.
It is commonly believed that vinegar can be used for anything but it isn’t the holy grail solution to get rid of grimes and germs. Distilled Vinegar is a good ingredient if you want to decaffeinate your coffee maker or make your window clean and spotless. What it basically does is that the acid reacts with the organic materials and scrubs them away.
Just imagine the process. Now, would you want the vinegar to eat up other things on the surfaces of things in your home? It is a vigorous process and if you are cleaning delicate stuff, then you shouldn’t be using vinegar to do so.
We have curated a list of things that should be avoided in a vinegar cleanse at all costs. You should look for gentle cleansers and chemical-free agents for them so they do not get ruined quickly and get thrown into the dumpster.
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Kitchen Counter Tops
Avoid employing vinegar if you intend to preserve your marble countertops in a top shape. Natural stones like granite and limestone are tarnished and scratched by acidity. Sansoni attributes this to bruising because it could lead to them losing their luster. Vinegar can eliminate any sealants which have been used on other solid materials, such as marble.
Alternatively, we advocate using a sponge or washcloth doused in a gentle cleanser to cleanse these kinds of surfaces. For tough stains, only ever use plastic scrubbing cloths.
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Dishwasher
It’s possible that you’ve noticed that operating a dishwashing machine with a pitcher of vinegar inside will effectively eliminate the hard-water layer and odor-causing bacteria. Even as a cleaning aid, numerous individuals employ vinegar.
In our dishwashing machine testing lab, CR specialists examined if vinegar might remove the residual film. According to Larry Ciufo, supervisor of CR’s dishwasher laboratory, “It accomplished nothing.” “Earlier before, it might have been better than doing nothing at all, but nowadays, there are primarily designed dishwashing solutions that actually function well.”
To get rid of the hard-water layer, Ciufo recommended using a dishwashing cleanser like those manufactured by Finish or Affresh.
Moisture stains cannot be eliminated with vinegar, and some dishwashing companies recommend using them since the acetic acid in vinegar could erode away at the plastic components of the equipment.
There is a multitude of rubbers on the marketplace, a number of which interact with vinegar and among which some really don’t, as per Glajch. If your appliance’s instructions do not really mention that vinegar can be employed to clean the latex and you don’t understand what type of latex it comprises, then you should choose not to.
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Electronic Screens
Vinegar can be a superb streak-free window washer when paired with the proper quantities of water. However, don’t ever employ it on a display that is digital, such as a Television, pc, cellphone, or iPad. According to a digital product inspector at CR, vinegar can impair a display’s anti-glare characteristics and even decrease the reactivity of a touch panel.
Alternatively, use a gentle towel or fabric that has been moistened with ordinary water. If a blemish is very difficult to eliminate, consider utilizing dish detergent diluted in water to the fabric as opposed to the display. (To give you an idea of the amount of cleanser to utilize, Panasonic proposes a 100:1 water-to-detergent proportion.)
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Cloth Iron
Don’t ever put vinegar in the reservoir since doing so could corrode the appliance’s innards irreversibly. The interior of the compartment of the bulk of steam irons is shielded by a covering, however, acid can destroy the lining before proceeding onto the metallic materials.
Study the instruction booklet to discover the best technique for cleansing your specific device of iron. If your model contains a self-cleaning capability, you generally only have to preheat the press, add the water to the tank, disconnect it, and position the iron over the basin to ensure that the soleplate is staring down. When the self-clean button is clicked and kept down, warm water and steam, in addition to any contaminants, are expelled from the soleplate.
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Washing Machines
Oftentimes vinegar is employed to lighten garments or to remove impurities and smells from clothing. However, just like with dishwashing machines, it can significantly damage the latex tubing and valves in some washing machines, contributing to leakage. Steven Grayson, manager of Foothills Appliance Service in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, experiences this issue quite routinely.
According to Grayson, “repeated use of vinegar can completely break pipes, generating leakage and potentially causing various kinds of extra devastation to the home.” Through his expertise, front-load machines are particularly prone to damage from vinegar.
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Small Machinery
Most kitchen counters equipment, like grinders, espresso machines, and toaster ovens, have both plastic and glass panels that can be safely cleaned with vinegar. Nonetheless, you would prevent any latex components or metallic ones because vinegar can erode these substances. Stainless steel is a component of this as well. Nanni demonstrates that stainless steel exists in several degrees. The inferior ones are frequently employed for kitchen gadgets and are more prone to corrosion, which can be exacerbated by acid.
If unsure, change to the diluted cleaning solution. Discover some more cleaning tips for your tiny equipment.
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Knives
Several stainless steel qualities need to be guarded against the atrocities of vinegar. Kitchen knives and other utensils with bare edges are extremely vulnerable to damage. According to Jim Nanni, the head of CR’s equipment evaluation, vinegar can degrade knives’ finishes and render the edge damaged.
You would prevent using vinegar with standard kitchen materials such as aluminum and copper. Heated water and cleaning liquid serve as the ultimate cleaning fluid.
Cleaning Your Television
When the summer season approaches, everyone starts to put their winter stuff away and in turn get to clean everything to make your house and surroundings spick and span. In that process, we go through every corner of our house to dust everything off and clear every piece of equipment and appliance we can get our hands on.
The thing that is prominent in our house is the television. Numerous people have multiple televisions in their homes each one dedicated to every room. When doing deep cleansing, we often clean our televisions because it has the majority of dust and grime accumulated in them.
If you have kids in your home, your television would definitely have fingerprints smeared on the edges of the screen. Most of which cannot be taken off simply from water and a cloth. Most people swiftly use Windex on their TV screens which is a huge NO. You can significantly damage the screen of your television and it would cost you hundreds to get a replacement screen.
Many of the new generation TVs have a special coating on them which saves the inner delicate microchips and sensitive sensors from getting damaged. If that protector is vigorously cleaned off by Windex, then your TV’s delicate parts will be bare and out in the open to get accumulated in dust and grime.
You can definitely clean your TV and get that sparkly clear screen back but not with harsh chemicals and aggressive rubbing. You shouldn’t use any liquids, press too hard to get the smears off, and use traditional liquids that you often use to clean countertops and windows.
Microfibre cloths are a good choice but are gentle because they can leave scratches and marks after you are done cleaning your screen. Many television sets come with a cloth that can be used to clean. But if you have thrown it away or lost it, the material of the cloth is very similar to that one which is given with a prescription and sunglasses.
Do you want a better solution? Here are some of the television manufacturers that have recommended and given the solution on how to clean their specific TV models:
Samsung
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Switch off your television set and let it cool down before taking the plug off the switch.
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Gently wipe the frame and the screen with a microfiber cloth. TV screens are super fragile and can easily get damaged if someone puts too much force on them.
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If smears and fingerprints are still present, you can spray clean or distilled water on the microfiber cloth (not directly on the screen) and wipe your tv with it.
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Wait for the television to be completely dry before plugging it back in.
Caution: Avoid utilizing any kind of detergent, scrubbing powders, beeswax, window cleaner, or other dishwasher soap that comprises chemicals like acetone, alcohol, ammonia, or benzene.
Do not use hand towels or rough wipes. If you ever do, you risk irreparably ruining the panel by damaging it or destroying the anti-glare protection. Avoid throwing water over the Television deliberately. Make absolutely sure to properly cleanse the television. Whenever pressed too aggressively, TV screens might break because they are brittle.
LG
If you are looking for ways to clean your OLED, LED, or 4K tv screen, then do so by utilizing a gentle and dry cloth. Your primary target is to prevent the scratching of the screen in every way possible. Employ gentle circular motions to see better results and effective cleaning. The circular motion helps in targeting each area from a variety of angles so that no spot is left behind.
Caution: You shouldn’t use any harsh chemicals like thinners, alcohol, and benzene as they have the capability of damaging the protective film that is used to safeguard the panel.
Another thing is that you shouldn’t directly spray any kind of liquid onto the TV screen as you might have the danger of getting an electric shock.
SONY
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Employ gentle wiping while cleaning the screen or the exterior of the tv. Use cloths that have a soft and dry fiber similar to those which are given with an eyeglass cleaner.
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If you somehow have a spot of ink on the tv from oil markers, immerse a piece of cloth in a non-soap cleaner which is diluted by less than 1% with warm water. Wring the cloth properly so that all the excess water is squeezed out. Then wipe away carefully to remove the ink stains.
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Right after wiping with the wet cloth, use a clean and dry cloth to wipe the little moisture that is left behind.
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Do not use any kind of detergents that have harsh abrasives
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If you apply pressure or force while cleaning the TV screen, the liquid crystal order will collapse and it might look like dirt. You can turn the tv off, wait for a while, and then put it back on to get your television back in its old state.
CleanScreen: The Original Cleaner
They were the first company ever to see that cleaning was not done properly by using vinegar and harsh chemicals. Because the screen of digital devices are pretty fragile, so they need extra care. CLeanScreen came up with a gentle formula that would deeply remove all the dust, dirt, and grime from the screens without damaging the surface of the screen.
It is very important to use a different cleaner for your digital screens because numerous glass and window cleaners have chemicals that can induce irreversible damage to the polymer of the screen monitors. The CleanScreen formula is carefully developed by combining ingredients that are completely natural and non-abrasive so the end result is a clean screen with a polished effect.
You can clean the following with the help of CleanScreen liquid cleaner:
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Eyewear
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Mobile Devices
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Laptops
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Computers
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Camera Lenses
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Home Theater
CleanScreen Notebook Cleaner
This package includes a CleanScreen liquid cleaner with a microfiber cloth that can easily clean the following things:
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E-Book Readers
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Smart Phones
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GPS systems
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Camera Lenses
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Sun and Eyeglasses
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Laptops and Desktops
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Rear Projection and flat panel TVs
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And anything that requires gentle cleaning
CleanScreen Clean and Polish Cloth
It is a super absorbent microfiber cloth that is super gentle and soft on your delicate screens. If you have lost the cloth that is provided with your TV set or you just want an upgrade, you can always buy this reasonably priced cloth and clean your devices away without any abrasions or scratches.
CleanScreen Liquid Kits
They have two cleaning kits that you can also use on the go while you are traveling or on a trip. No need to buy expensive stuff to clean your phone when you can easily use CleanScreen’s top quality cleaning gels.
Executive Size 4-Pack
This package has 4- 6ml Bottles including a 6″x6″ microfiber cloth.
Briefcase/Purse Kit
This package includes two 30ml Bottles of CleanScreen gel and a Microfiber Cloth.
Ending Statement
You should be gentle and careful while cleaning the screens of your digital devices. Do not use any and every kind of cleaner because it may further damage the screen of your digital device. Do not be too aggressive while cleaning the screens because they are super delicate and need your tenderness and care to last long.