{"id":532,"date":"2014-07-07T02:29:19","date_gmt":"2014-07-07T02:29:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldwidejanitor.com\/library\/?p=532"},"modified":"2017-03-21T07:25:59","modified_gmt":"2017-03-21T07:25:59","slug":"how-to-use-a-disinfectant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldwidejanitor.com\/library\/how-to-use-a-disinfectant\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Use A Disinfectant"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/worldwidejanitor.com\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Giraffe.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-533\" src=\"https:\/\/worldwidejanitor.com\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Giraffe-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/worldwidejanitor.com\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Giraffe-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/worldwidejanitor.com\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Giraffe.jpg 338w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a>The Problem with Clean:<\/strong><br \/>\nSo you&#8217;ve taken the time to wipe down every wall, got down on your knees to clean each corner, and mopped your way out of the room without leaving a single footprint. But is the room really clean? Did you get all of the <a href=\"http:\/\/list25.com\/25-unexpected-things-that-are-dirtier-than-your-toilet\/\">germs<\/a>? It seems every time we check our Twitter feed a new virus outbreak is occurring, whether it&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/flu\/avianflu\/\">bird flu<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.webmd.com\/cold-and-flu\/h1n1-swine-flu-directory\">pig virus<\/a>, or giraffe something or another. Those germs and bacteria are seemingly ganging up on humanity. Unless you&#8217;re using a disinfectant, that room may still be a health risk.<br \/>\n<strong>Defining Terms:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>General Purpose Cleaners effectively remove dirt and soil, but most cleaners that fall into this category rarely double as a disinfectant.<\/li>\n<li>Disinfectants kill bacteria and viruses.<\/li>\n<li>Sanitizers are not equal to a disinfectant.<\/li>\n<li>All Disinfectants manufactured within the United States must be registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or similar governing entity for disinfectants manufactured in other countries.<!--more--><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Sanitizing vs. Disinfecting:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The act of sanitizing is equal to the act of cleaning. Wipe a surface with any general purpose cleaner and you have effectively sanitized that surface. There is no advantage to be gained in using a chemical that is label a &#8220;sanitizer&#8221; instead of a &#8220;cleaner.&#8221; In truth, you will remove 90% of the germs and bacteria that are present in the room by simply cleaning the room, but if you want to attack that remaining 10% you will need to apply a disinfectant.<\/p>\n<p>Though they are often confused, <a href=\"https:\/\/worldwidejanitor.com\/disinfectants-sanitizers-c-74\/\">disinfectants<\/a> are not the same as sanitizers. If you want to sanitize a doorknob you&#8217;ll need a cleaning chemical, cloth and a quick wipe. Disinfecting is a much different process and is heavily reliant upon dwell time. To disinfect that same doorknob you&#8217;ll need to spray the chemical and let it air dry. (Roughly, 10-minutes.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kill Claims:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Dwell time is what allows the disinfectant to work \u2013 complying with the kill claims (efficacy) you&#8217;ll find on the label of any EPA registered disinfectant. Some of the listed bacteria or viruses are killed upon contact, but most of them, like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vDjcJlDg_ig\">dominoes<\/a>, fall one by one as time ticks away. If you wipe the surface dry before the 10-minute mark you are asking for lingering health risks.<\/p>\n<p>The efficacy of a disinfectant is just as important as the dwell time. If you&#8217;re trying to kill the bird flu with a disinfectant that was designed for pig viruses only then you&#8217;re wasting your time. Wait 10-minutes or an hour, it won&#8217;t matter in the least. Make sure the bacteria or virus you are attempting to eliminate is actually listed in the kill claims.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Disinfecting vs. Cleaning:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While most <a href=\"https:\/\/worldwidejanitor.com\/general-purpose-cleaners-c-69\/\">general purpose cleaners<\/a> do not double as a disinfectant, so too, disinfectants do not typically contain cleaning agents. Worse yet, most disinfectants contain a quaternary which will buildup over time, resulting in a sticky surface that will attract dirt and soil. Instead of working like a cleaner, disinfectants can actually deteriorate the appearance of a room. It is therefore important to use both a cleaner and a disinfectant as part of your daily maintenance routine. The cleaner will prevent quaternary buildup and the disinfectant will ensure no viruses are lingering around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Problem with Clean: So you&#8217;ve taken the time to wipe down every wall, got down on your knees to clean each corner, and mopped your way out of the room without leaving a single footprint. But is the room really clean? Did you get all of the germs? It seems every time we check our Twitter feed a new &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/worldwidejanitor.com\/library\/how-to-use-a-disinfectant\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[291,20,21],"tags":[292,293,294],"class_list":["post-532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disinfectants","category-general-cleaning","category-janitorial","tag-disinfectant","tag-general-purpose-cleaner","tag-sanitizer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldwidejanitor.com\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldwidejanitor.com\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldwidejanitor.com\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldwidejanitor.com\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldwidejanitor.com\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/worldwidejanitor.com\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":551,"href":"https:\/\/worldwidejanitor.com\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions\/551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldwidejanitor.com\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldwidejanitor.com\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldwidejanitor.com\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}