Electrostatic Sprayers are the belle of the ball these days! Are they really a big deal? Does an electrostatic sprayer do something different than a regular sprayer? Read on to find out…
I have heard people say they use an electrostatic cleaner, an electrostatic sanitizer, electrostatic disinfection, etc. There is a bit of confusion here, so I’d like to help clear up the myths of electrostatic sprayers in disinfection.
The cleaner or sanitizer is whatever you put into the electrostatic sprayer. The electrostatic sprayer is just the tool, and it sprays out whatever is put in it, adding an electrical charge on the way out of the tip so that whatever is applied with the sprayer effectively wraps around that which it is being applied. Electrostatic disinfection is a myth.
Imagine a ball. If I spray that ball with a traditional sprayer, I will cover just one side of the ball. I can move my sprayer tip around the ball to get the rest of the ball covered. An electrostatic sprayer, however, does this automatically, sort of, by sending out charged particles that will “wrap” the object being treated. You can see it clearly here:
We use electrostatic sprayers to apply an antimicrobial germ shield that keeps killing germs up to 90 days. The sprayer is part of the “magic,” yes, because it allows us to do a more thorough application in a shorter amount of time.
The real magic, however, is what is sprayed out of the electrostatic sprayer. It can be water, or bleach, such as Clorox’s 360 system. Their products are only disinfectants, so they work while wet, about 5-10 minutes. They have no continued efficacy aside from treated surfaces not being as appealing to dirty surfaces to microbes seeking their next meal.
An antimicrobial germ shield, what we apply with our electrostatic equipment, works when dry, up to 90 days. It is non-toxic, no mess, non-carcinogenic, allergy-friendly (hypoallergenic), it has no odor, and will not leach. It works through the process of lysis, where any negative or neutral microbe is attracted to the positively charged nitrogen atom in base of the carbon spike structure. Pathogens are attracted and impale themselves on these nano-spikes. If it misses the spikes somehow, the positive N zaps the microbe. Germs don’t build up a resistance to this mechanical kill, so the germ shield does not promote superbugs. Just as a fly never becomes fly-swatter-resistant, so also germs don’t become germ-shield-resistant.
We use electrostatic equipment to get a faster, more thorough treatment. In applications where we are only treating walls, windows and floors, we can use a ULV fogger since getting around behind an object isn’t a concern.
See the video below for some of the confusion regarding electrostatic sprayers and disinfection myths, and how the president of Victory Innovations (they make battery-powered electrostatic sprayers) explains some of their supply difficulties.
