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Rule #1 For Safe Facilities & Odorless Restrooms…

…Dont Clean With A Disinfectant 

Disinfectant and/or Neutral Detergents Can Be At the Heart of  Germ & Odor Problems

Restrooms Should Never Smell Like Restrooms

Washing a soiled surface with a disinfectant-detergent solution does not achieve the results manufacturers would like to have you believe… Disinfectants are not designed to be general cleaning detergents. By law, product labels must say that it is illegal to apply a disinfectant solution into soil. A surface must have all soil removed (pre-cleaned) prior to applying a disinfectant solution.

Clean restrooms don’t have lingering odors… Odor is caused by micro-organisms (germs) as they digest soil and give off odorous gas. If there were no soil, there would be no germs consuming soil and giving off gas/odor.

A disinfectant-detergent is a healthcare treatment chemical that must be applied to clean surfaces that get washed and rinsed immediately following every medical procedure. (e.g. on operating & emergency room surfaces)… A residue-free general detergent should be used, and any materials used in the process need to be clean, untreated, and as lint-free as possible.

The disinfecting solution is applied after the surface is washed. As the treatment dries, a chemical film (residual) forms to provide up to 5 or 6 hours of protection while waiting for a medical procedure to happen. The residual catches, holds, and kills targeted germs (listed on the product label) as they land on treated surfaces to help prevent the transferring of live germs to patients.

A disinfectant residual film works well against landing airborne germs which are usually less in concentration than other means of germ depositing. For instance, the germ count on the tip of a finger could be too high and thus over-power the germ-killing film. Germs may survive and get transferred to a patient. Wherever a germ makes film contact, the contact spot becomes “contaminated” and will not kill another landing germ.

Note: If a disinfectant solution is used for mopping floors, washing sinks, etc., the left-behind residual film that is designed to catch and hold germs, acts as a “glue” to collect and hold soil to the floor, grout, baseboards, around sink fixtures, etc. When a disinfectant solution makes contact with soil, the solutions killing power normally drops to virtually zero. Each time the surface is re-washed, more “glue” gets soaked into the already-clinging soil to help ensure the collection of even more germ-loaded soil.

No single disinfectant can kill all germ strains…

No matter how much you may try to kill 100% of germs on a soiled surface, there will be surviving germs…
e.g. Resistant, un-targeted, and germs the solution never reached. If soil remains after cleaning, there will be germs digesting the soil and releasing odorous gasses. Therefore, the safest strategy is to focus on removing virtually all of the soil each time a washing is performed… Minimizing the availability of germs.

Surviving germs multiply quickly and replace dead germs in left-behind soil. Repeated washings with a disinfectant solution (e.g. daily restroom cleaning), fosters an increase in soil accumulation and the imbalanced proliferation of resistant and surviving targeted germs. Therein lies the potential foundation for epidemics, pandemics, nosocomial infections, allergy triggers, etc…To be considered clean and safe, a surface does not have to be sterile… Just clean.

Immune systems in living things keep germ populations balanced and under control as long as the surrounding environment remains relatively clean… Not sterile. Yes, one-time-use medical treatment surfaces require a washing and disinfectant treatment after each use… But, all other surfaces need to be washed with a quality detergent as frequently as soil removal is deemed necessary.

Don’t be fooled by the term Disinfectant-Detergent… The term tends to make people think that the product will clean soil from any surface and kill all the germs in the process. Not True.

There is just enough detergent in a disinfectant formulation to help ingredients remain together and spread evenly on pre-cleaned surfaces. For example, floor finish and latex paint are also made with a small amount of detergent (surfactant) for the same purpose of holding ingredients together in water… But, they are not labeled as floor finish detergent or latex paint detergent.

If a disinfectant formulation had enough detergent in it to ensure good cleaning results, the detergent would not be able to distinguish between what needs to stay and what needs to go… The disinfectant ingredients would go with the soil and nothing would be left to protect the surface.

Bottom Line: Removing soil removes germs and helps prevent infections, allergy triggering, etc… and, even mold growth. Always focus on removing soil using a residue-free cold water detergent.

If its Clean, Its Sanitary®
We guarantee the best cleaning results ever from either of our two cold water detergents.

Fast-1-2-3 EFP for general cleaning and Walls N All EFP for washing restroom flush fixtures, showers, bathtubs, faucets, and exposed pipes. Walls N All EFP removes soap or chlorine residue to help prevent slipping. Click here for more information.

A third product, Creme Cleanser, is used only as an initial scratch-free scouring of a surface…
e.g. stainless steel, porcelain, ceramic, etc. Once cleaned, surfaces are maintained with either of the detergents.

Thank you for allowing me into your day. Please feel free to call us whenever you have questions or need technical assistance.