Uses of ammonia: Applications in the home

Ammonia has a wide variety of uses in household cleaning. Its properties make it the perfect ally against grease and stains.

What is ammonia?

Ammonia is a colourless gas, but with a strong and highly characteristic smell, composed of one atom of nitrogen and three of hydrogen, making its chemical formula NH3. Since it was invented, ammonia has had multiple applications in industry and nowadays, one of the best-known and most widely used applications is household cleaning. 

Properties and main uses of ammonia in the home

Despite its smell being unpleasant for many noses… Ammonia, previously dissolved in water, has multiple properties that are extremely valuable for cleaning our homes, make a note of the uses of ammonia!

• It is a powerful degreaser: one of the most effective uses of ammonia is its strength in cleaning grease stains, so it is a must-have when it comes to cleaning splashes of fat or oil in our kitchens. 
• It adds shine to surfaces:
• Windows and glass: another use of ammonia in the home is for cleaning windows and glass, leaving them glistening. To do this, dilute a cup of ammonia in a bucket of warm water, wet a cloth and wring it thoroughly before cleaning the surface. Afterwards, dry the glass with a glass cleaning cloth.  Watch out! We recommend you always wear suitable cleaning gloves to protect your hands from the ammonia.
• Bathrooms: as well as adding shine to tiles, ammonia acts very effectively in removing mould, rust and bacteria that forms in the bathroom.
• Ornaments: another property of ammonia is its cleaning power when it comes to cleaning ornaments such as, for example, copper or bronze. It will return their original shine!
• It helps to remove unpleasant odours from some fabrics: like vinegar, it has the ability to remove unpleasant odours from fabrics like cloths, rags or towels. For this, when you are going to wash these items in the washing machine, add a splash of ammonia to the softener drawer and the unpleasant odour will disappear. You can also mix ammonia with water in a spray bottle and dampen slightly the insides of shoes or trainers to remove unwanted smells.

Ammonia has a strong smell, we recommend you ventilate your home when you use this cleaning product, use this product with great care and always protect your hands.