2 questions about cleaning with bleach!

dandy-candy

Being old fashioned and frugal I like to use diluted bleach to wash floors and surfaces but I have 2 questions I am hoping someone here can answer...

1 - when you make up a diluted quantity how long is it good for? I usually mop it about and throw it away but if I keep a bowl on the side with dishcloths in will it keep killing germs for a day or 2?

2 - does bleach kill the swine flu virus if I use it on door knobs etc, and if so would it need to be neat or can I still use it diluted?

Thanks for any help!

Seakay

I don't think that bleach goes off - you can buy it at various strengths so presumably it is diluted to some degree any way.
I use a mini swing top bin of diluted bleach to put my dishcloths in until I am ready to wash them, so sometimes that can be a week and there does not seem to be any ill effects.
I use the bleachy water to clean the lavatory after the dishcloths are taken out of it and it seems to be as effective as usual.
This is the advice given about measures to take in the home against swine flu:
"Take everyday actions to stay healthy.
Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.
Stay home if you get sick. CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them."

allydowd

Bleach does kill the swine flue virus since it kills influenza A pathogens:

Information from Domestos website:

http://www.domestos.co.uk/germsnews/swineflu-protect.asp#q2

allydowd

A group of scientists by the names of L. C. Adams, I. Fabian, K. Suzuki, and G. Gordon did a scientific study in 1992.

They discovered that bleach DOES slowly decompose even if the bottle is closed and that when a bleach solution is exposed to the air is DOES slowly lose its bleaching power. Over 2 days it decomposes by 25% if the room temperature is 15 degrees centigrade. Therefore, it is advisable to keep bleach in a bottle for maximum efficiency.

Fire_Fox

dandy-candy wrote: »

2 - does bleach kill the swine flu virus if I use it on door knobs etc, and if so would it need to be neat or can I still use it diluted?

Thanks for any help!

Viruses are just 'naked' DNA and need to be inside a cell to multiply: unlike bacteria, viruses can't survive long without a host. You are therefore unlikely to catch swine flu from a doorknob - it's usually from someone sneezing near you or, say, into their hand and then shaking your hand and then you eat your lunch ... It's far more important to wash your hands regularly than surfaces you might touch.

"Answer from James M. Steckelberg, M.D.

The length of time that cold or flu germs can survive outside the body on an environmental surface, such as a doorknob, varies greatly. But the suspected range is from a few seconds to 48 hours — depending on the specific virus and the type of surface.
Flu viruses tend to live longer on surfaces than cold viruses do. Also, it's generally believed that cold and flu viruses live longer on nonporous surfaces — such as plastic, metal or wood — than they do on porous surfaces — such as fabrics, skin or paper.
Although cold and flu viruses primarily spread from person-to-person contact, you can also become infected from contact with contaminated surfaces. The best way to avoid becoming infected with a cold or flu is to wash your hands frequently with soap and water or with an alcohol-based sanitizer"
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/infectious-disease/AN01238

nanokitten

That's not strictly true, although viruses don't survive for year like bacterial spores do they are not by any means naked (they have a protein coat).
Best advice is swine flu can survive about 24 hrs on hard surfaces (20 minutes on soft ones). Hot soapy water is perfectly good for killing most bugs, if your worried, make it nice and hot and nice and soapy. Otherwise use very dilute bleach, milton, dettol... (as coating door knobs in conc bleach is more likely to blind someone in your family than anything else!).
Alot of manufacturers are jumping on the band waggon but alot of it is unnecessary hype. However I must admit we use dettol wipes (for convienience) on all the door knobs, loo flush etc for infection control, when someone has an eye infection or (like I did two weeks ago) possible swine flu contact.

on the subject of how long bleach keeps once diluted, it will be mixed with stablisers in the bottle and once diluted, exposed to trace elements in the water etc it will start to decompose, but for the purposes of housework, it's probably fine for a day or two but better to make up fresh after that.