HOCl Hypochlorous Acid Sanitizing

YES, IT DOES!

References:

• NIH article*: Shared with me by my friend, Grace, a research article regarding using HOCl as a disinfectant to sanitize medical clinics. (*added 8/10/20)
• EPA: Screenshot below

And from BrioTech’s website:

Link to Source

HOCl is a legit multi-purpose eco-friendly cleaner and safe for families/environment, and also as a disinfectant again the sars-cov-2.

For airborne/surface viral disinfecting, spraying a strong mist over a large surface is probably the most useful for most of us.
One of the best sprayers I have ever used, and strongly recommend would be the Flairosol bottles for its fine mist spray that is useful for furniture, surfaces and etc. Opt for opaque bottles because light and heat are enemies to HOCl.

(HOCl efficacy reduces over time, I think around two weeks, at which time you need to make a new batch or re-charge it in the system. Storebought HOCl have additives/produced differently to stabilize and prolong the shelf life of HOCl.)

Here are the Flairosol bottles I use to spray down doorknobs, faucet handles, light switches, and etc …

Here are the amber bottles I use for storage and to give away

Here are the 4 things to remember about storing HOCl to prolong its life:

1. Avoid light (I store in opaque bottles)
2. Avoid vibration
3. Avoid heat (I store mine in the fridge)
4. Avoid air (keep it sealed)

• Personal Sanitizer: put them in little bottles and use as needed outside (must be under 200ppm or lower). You can spray on hands/face, leave wet for 30 seconds.
• Package/Mail/Delivery/Car Door Handle/Face Mask/etc Sanitizing: Spray spray spray
• Air/Room Sanitizing: When not at home, you could put them in humidifiers to disinfect while you are out. I don’t recommend having it running if you will be home (or in the same room), as you don’t want to be breathing that in. (Besides what that Doctor did :p ). Use in a non-heat humidifier, such as an ultrasonic humidifier.
• Furniture Sanitizing: Spray door knobs, locks, faucet handles, light switches. Spray down furniture as needed, I also read ppl spray on kitty litter and trashcans to remove odors. Advised to leave wet for 10 min and let dry naturally. Under 200ppm is safe and will not corrode stainless steel.
• Fruit and veggie wash: now I don’t have to keep buying them and have more plastic-waste
• Household cleaner: apparently it’s a good toilet/bathroom cleaner too according to Shine
• Disinfectant Wipes: spray down reusable wipes and wipe up
• Keycap Cleaner: It works great for pulling dirt/grime off my keycaps due to it’s electric charge
• Litter Box: Our litter box has never been easier to clean. Poop residue, even the dried bits, slide off so much more easily with this, and it got rid of the odor.
• Note: remember that HOCl will kill all bacteria, even good ones, so use on your body only during Disease Season to ensure your bacterial balance can recover.

Here’s a video on how it’s used in Taiwan facilities/clinics at low ppms.

A video on how you could use it on groceries (in lieu of Lysol wipes). Also to make sure it doesn’t contaminate your freezer as previous coronavirus strains lived frozen/in the freezer for ~2 years.

I purchased both, and here I document my experiences with them… in the end, I preferred the EcoOne and use it weekly. My FoN is stored in the closet as a backup.

I had a good bit of help from the HOCl FB users group.

Force of Nature: FON sells premade packets that you just add water, to make things easy. Sold on Amazon or their site

EcoOne: a supposedly higher quality build/larger quantity producing version that you mix yourself

For International Friends... equivalent versions seems to be SanClean G1/100? NueClean of Australia? eKlean 50 is an Asian branded version?

Update: 03/28/2020

I received my EcoOne machine a week ago and now have compared both units. I prefer the EcoOne because it is a more straightforward device and the opening is wide enough for me to easily measure FAC (Free Available Chlorine) and pH directly, where the FON has such a skinny neck I needed to pour it out to measure.

Update: 3/15/2020

I’ve made a lot of batches now and also given some to friends/family. I’ve found that the packets that came with my FON did not produce what I expected it to. Using my measuring tools, I had to tweak it in order to get pure HOCl. Therefore, I think whether you purchase the FON or the EcoOne, you will need tools. Even if you purchase packets to use with the FON, you *might* not be getting what you expected to get. Of course, everyone’s water supply is different, but I’ve heard from many other FON users that their results were also different from expectations.

Update 3/13/2020

So if you make your own, at what concentrations is it safe with rinse and safe w/o rinse, at what point might you have corrosion risks?

I found the EcoOne FAQ to be very elucidating since the domestic household EcoOne is not their bread and butter, as their main line of business is commercial HOCl sprayers.

Update 3/12/2020

I received my FON machine today and made my first batch of cleaner using the provided capsule. I did some measurements and it turned out to be:

~67%HOCl and 33% Hypochlorite…at 500ppm (I used Reverse-Osmosis water)

That seems like it would be a decent cleaner, but 500ppm seems a little high to be skin-friendly. Since from online research it seems like skin contact should not go over 200ppm. I will just end up using this batch for household cleaning.

Next, I wanted to make a dermal-safe version of just pure HOCl at 200ppm and that required quite a lot more measuring, tools, time and guesswork. I did end up succeeding and figured out how continue to do so in the future. But if you choose to purchase FON, please do so with the understanding the capsules makes a decent cleaner (they say you don’t need to rinse or wipe afterwards, but at 500ppm I would if it’s on skin or delicate surfaces), as I am not comfortable to leave it on my skin (I had wanted to make this an alcohol alternative hand sanitizer).

The coronavirus has hit the United States… and one morning as I was still mulling over the situation, I saw an Indiegogo email about the Egret: https://www.egretlab.com/

Almost looks too good to be true… plus the Egret it would take months to receive it and covid was already here. From there, I looked up this electrolyzed water concept and saw that it’s a real thing and that it had been used in the Food Industry for probably over a decade.

Since then, my HOCl verification journey has taken me all over the internet, from articles to research papers, and even information shared to me from friends. Here is a list of some notable ones I keep around for reference:

• • 2010 Food & Water Magazine article about electrolyzed/activated water, low cost, safe and eco-friendly
  • LATimes Article on using HOCl for housekeeping/hotel cleaning
  • Australia Meat & Livestock Industry using HOCl as eco-friendly sanitizer on meats/food processing
  • Taiwan using HOCl (次氯酸) as household/commercial sanitizer, in ball pits, medical clinics, domestic homes, drugstores and more. I always wondered how they keep everything so clean and safe in the kids play spaces.
  • Viking Systems: sells industrial HOCl machines and their homepage has a good video showing how they use it in nursing homes. I wonder if the Seattle nursing home ever used something like this and if it would’ve made a difference.
  • Gen Eon: another American producer of commercial machines
  • Sanyo Japan: made an informative video explaining HOCl below in their virus washing purifier machine below

  …And that is how I found out about the EcoOne and Force of Nature devices in the U.S.