What's better than Windex?

[Nate Nagel]

And drive old army surplus Jeeps, yes. Both may be easily cleaned with a garden hose. :)

nate

(too lazy to frickin' DUST fercryinoutloud)

[willshak]

What is a garden hose? We leave it out in the rain, or during a drought, use urine. :-).

[Gini]

"---MIKE---" wrote I am a rather lazy house keeper and have not done my outside windows for many years. Today, in order to better view the hummingbirds, I tried to get the grime off of one of the windows. I tried SIX times with Windex and some of the grime remains. Is there anything stronger than Windex?

==== You've already gotten lots of good advice so I just thought I'd mention that almost anything is better than Windex. It's a lousy window cleaner. I can't imagine how it has lasted so long on the market. (I use 409 Glass & Surface cleaner--the purple stuff. Perfection in a bottle.)

[Phisherman]

If there is that much grime on the windows, mix

1 gallon warm water 1 cup household ammonia 1 T. dishwashing liquid (Dawn)

Use a sponge or brush with plastic bristles, rinse. Then use Windex. Wait until the windows are in the shade.

[Stormin Mormon]

I already do....

Someone else suggested ammonia and vinegar. I wouldn't mix them in the same container. One's acid, the other is alkaline.

[Art]

Do not mix vinegar an ammonia.... they react chemically and make a very nasty gas.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

No, that is ammonia and bleach. When mixed together, they make chloramines, a toxic gas.

Ammonia is a base (alkaline), vinegar is an acid. There are hundreds of recipes for cleaning solutions that contain both.

I've not tried this yet, but will soon as it is highly recommended Window Cleaner

******************* 1/2 cup ammonia 1/2 cup vinegar 2 tbsp corn starch 1 gallon of water This is the neatest window cleaner I have ever found. I do use the oven cleaner to clean the window on my glass doored wood stove, but I spray it on a cloth and then wipe the window (when the window is cold).

[Phisherman]

The vinegar is a weak acid so there is no need for concern. But, mixing these two neutralizes the pH which is not much better than plain water. It would be more effective to clean with household ammonia, rinse, then clean again with vinegar. I found nothing better than household ammonia for cleaning glass. Some "films" or debris on glass may require another cleaner. Muriatic acid is mostly HCl, a strong acid, is highly reactive and can be hazardous.