6 ms·
Am I odd or just a former biochemist? I just use bottles of isopropyl alcohol around the house with paper towels and don't need all this Lysol/ammonium stuff
by supernova87a 6y ago
Am I odd or just a former biochemist? I just use bottles of isopropyl alcohol around the house with paper towels and don't need all this Lysol/ammonium stuff that leaves semi-sticky residue and film everywhere. Alcohol was scarce for a while but last 2 months you see it getting restocked more reliably.
- Mountain_Skies 6y agoThe grocery store I shop at has several dozen large bottles of alcohol hand sanitizer on the discount table, marked down about 80%. They've been there for a couple of weeks. Either they're not selling well even at a discount or they keep restocking the discount table with a larger overstock in the backroom.
- kevin_thibedeau 6y agoThere is a glut of hand sanitizer nobody wants. It isn't as useful as plain alcohol.
- bonniemuffin 6y agoSame, I worked in bioscience labs and I also just use spray bottles of isopropanol around the house, just like what I used in the lab. If it's good enough for working with human tissues and infectious HIV derivatives, it's good enough for my kitchen counters. Sometimes I add a few drops of lavender essential oil if I want to feel fancy.
- chadcmulligan 6y agoDoes it dry your hands? I read when this started you should mix it with aloe vera or some such so your skin doesn't dry out.
- supernova87a 6y agoMaybe a little, but just for momentary cleaning it's not a big issue. Wash hands and put on some lotion afterwards anyway. Just don't clean for 30 minutes without gloves on. It gets absorbed through skin (like all solvents). Regarding aloe, I prefer no extra stuff in the cleaning solution that gets deposited all over whatever I'm trying to clean.
- refurb 6y agoYes, there are simpler approaches, but not all surfaces are compatible with isopropanol.
- supernova87a 6y agoThat's true -- just be careful with some plastics/rubber surfaces that may get degraded by alcohol. But generally in the kitchen and bathroom, it's pretty safe.
- refurb 6y agoThe only issue with isopropyl and ethanol is contact time. If it’s a very warm surface, the alcohol can evaporate quickly - which is one reason they add gelling agents to hand sanitizers. But yes. For the kitchen and bathroom, alcohol works great as does dilute bleach (though the smell annoys me).
- etrautmann 6y agoSame, I find IPA much more useful for rapidly wiping down phones and keys and hands etc.
- re 6y agoI haven't seen isopropyl alcohol in stock in my local drug and grocery store since before March.
- anonuser123456 6y agoYou are odd. I just use soapy water.
- byecomputer 6y agoSoap is the way to go--apparently it just rips viruses apart limb-from-limb. Weird image to have when washing one's hands, but kind of also reinforces the utility of doing it.
- dehrmann 6y agoEven ripping the virus apart is probably overkill. There's been pressure to remove things like triclosan (yes, it's not anti-viral) from hand soap because soap already does a good job washing off pathogens, so actually killing them doesn't help much.
- byecomputer 6y agoAs far as I know, the virus de-limbing is something soap does naturally. It's intrinsic to soap and has nothing to do with added chemicals.
- phonon 6y agoPure isopropyl alcohol is not a good disinfectant, and is highly flammable. You need some water, to act as a catalyst. Also, it doesn't inactivate spores, so you need hydrogen peroxide or something chlorine based as well.[1] https://blog.gotopac.com/2017/05/15/why-is-70-isopropyl-alcohol-ipa-a-better-disinfectant-than-99-isopropanol-and-what-is-ipa-used-for/ https://blog.gotopac.com/2017/05/15/why-is-70-isopropyl-alco...
- supernova87a 6y agoYes that's correct, you need to dilute it to something like 80% to be most effective.