As thorough cleaning and disinfecting remain key to protecting the people in your building, your facility will need to find ways to efficiently increase the productivity of your janitorial team without sacrificing a clean and safe environment.
Finding ways to reduce the amount of time your cleaning staff spends on cleaning and disinfecting may seem like a difficult task. However, there have recently been new developments in janitorial technology that can help you, and your staff, do more in less time.
One of the greatest productivity-enhancing tools to help you and your staff is electrostatic technology.
Utilizing electrostatic technology in your cleaning program can cut down on the amount of time spent disinfecting, which can allow your staff to work on other important cleaning efforts.
This technology is most effective when used to disinfect large spaces, making it a good option for schools, healthcare settings, restrooms, cafeterias, and other community spaces in your facility. However, it can also be used to disinfect small crevices and other hard-to-reach spaces that are otherwise overlooked, leaving germs to multiply and spread.
In this article and video, we’ll discuss what electrostatic technology is and outline the benefits of adding an electrostatic disinfectant sprayer to your cleaning program.
What is electrostatic technology?
Electrostatic technology is the process of spraying positively charged liquid onto surfaces, which are negatively charged. The positively charged particles are attracted to the surfaces leading to an even spread and adherence to the surface.
Due to the charge of the droplets, they can wrap around hard-to-reach objects even if they are only sprayed from one side.
Electrostatic technology can be used for:
- Chemical disinfection
- Paint application
- Filtration systems
- And more…
While electrostatic technology can be used for various applications, today, we’ll focus on its importance to the janitorial services industry.
When used in the commercial cleaning world, electrostatic technology is used to disinfect surfaces and objects. This is referred to as electrostatic disinfection.
What Is Electrostatic Disinfection?
Electrostatic disinfection is the process of spraying positively or negatively charged disinfectant onto surfaces and objects. It is extremely useful given its 360-degree coverage.
How Does Electrostatic Disinfection Work?
To disinfect utilizing electrostatic technology, electrostatic disinfectant sprayers are filled with disinfectant.
When sprayed, the disinfectant is positively charged as it is released through the spray nozzle. The disinfectant droplets then attach to surfaces and objects which are negatively charged.
The attraction between the positive and negative ions allows the droplets to spread across the entire surface. This is especially useful for awkwardly shaped objects or hard-to-reach places.
WARNING: Electrostatic disinfectant sprayers can not be used to clean surfaces. Like with any other disinfecting procedure, surfaces must first be cleaned. Disinfectants cannot be used to clean dirt or soils from a surface. All soils need to be properly removed because disinfectants are unable to kill germs that are under soils and leftover residues. Similarly, cleaning cannot kill germs.
Find out how to properly clean and disinfect here: What Is The Difference Between Cleaning and Disinfecting?
What are the benefits of using electrostatic technology?
1. Enhanced Coverage
Electrostatic technology can be used to reach spots that are traditionally difficult to disinfect by hand.
Because liquid comes out in smaller droplets, they can be dispersed in areas that are hard to reach when using manual spray and wipe methods.
For example, disinfecting behind a toilet could prove difficult if done by hand. However, with electrostatic disinfection, the user can simply point and spray, and the entire toilet will be disinfected.
Similarly, disinfecting the space under a table might have traditionally required your staff to rearrange objects or spend extra time in order to ensure that a surface is fully disinfected. Many times this isn’t done or it is forgotten.
With electrostatic technology, this is no longer necessary. Due to the charged nature of the droplets, the disinfectant automatically seeks to cover the entire surface, coating them evenly for full disinfection.
If air can reach the surface then the droplets can reach the surface as well (i.e. even if a toilet seat is in the down position, electrostatic spraying will be able to disinfect the underside of the seat).
2. Increased Worker Productivity
Before your cleaning team can disinfect, surfaces and objects must first be cleaned. As mentioned earlier, disinfectants are not effective at killing germs if there are any remaining soils on the surface or object.
While your staff will still have to clean, electrostatic disinfectant sprayers can dramatically reduce the time it takes to disinfect.
Manual surface disinfection usually requires the application of disinfectants by using trigger sprayers, wiping, or pre-moistened wipes. This can be time-consuming as it requires staff to come into close contact with the surfaces to be disinfected after they’ve been cleaned.
Electrostatic sprayers function from a range of 2-6 feet from the surfaces they are being used to disinfect. This allows your staff to thoroughly disinfect surfaces from a distance, disinfecting more space in less time.
In fact, when compared to manual disinfection methods, electrostatic technology can help your cleaning team disinfect about 5x more square feet per hour.
3. Less Product Waste
When performing manual disinfection, it’s easy to use too much disinfectant on surfaces.
The charge that electrostatic sprayers give the droplets allows surfaces to become evenly coated in less time and prevents product overuse.
As dwell time varies by product, surfaces have to remain wet with disinfectant for a certain amount of time (which is listed on the product label) for proper disinfecting to be performed.
Pro Tip: What is dwell time? Dwell time is the amount of time a disinfectant needs to remain wet on a surface to effectively disinfect (kill the organisms that are listed on its label) the surface. Different commercial cleaning chemicals require different dwell times based on the EPA registration and contact time required for each organism. Commercial cleaning products which are not used with the proper dwell time and removal process are not effectively disinfecting and are not meeting EPA requirements.
Refer to your chemical manufacturer’s data for the proper dwell time for each organism type.
The even coating that electrostatic sprayers provide means your staff will have a reduced risk of overusing the product, which can ultimately save your company money.
Final Thoughts
Routine cleaning and disinfection should continue to be a top priority to protect your facility against germ spread.
While cleaning still needs to be completed, you can drastically cut down on the amount of time spent disinfecting with electrostatic disinfection.
With electrostatic technology, your staff will also be able to complete a more thorough, consistent disinfection given the product’s ability to entirely cover a surface or object.
And, using an electrostatic disinfectant sprayer can also reduce your team’s chances of overusing disinfectants, which saves your company money on products.
Imperial Dade locations offer a variety of commercial disinfectants and disinfecting equipment to support your facility’s efforts to remove illness-causing germs from surfaces in your building.
If you’re located in the United States, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, or Canada contact a specialist today to determine if including electrostatic technology in your cleaning program is right for your facility.