Tell me about sanitizing wands

[Nohal]

I keep seeing ads for sainitizing wands on tv and the internet. Does anyone have one? Do they work? Worried about the after effects .

 

[TLSnell1981]

Don't know if they work but I bought a UV-C months ago.

 

[_19disnA]

Lots of products are appearing for sale by companies attempting to profit from the whole covid situation. I would look for established/reputable companies selling existing products without making a lot of dubious claims. Certain types of ultra-violet light can apparently be used to disinfect household surfaces. For every reputable product there are probably 5 others that are useless. I would do more online research before buying any type of 'magic wand' making claims not backed by valid science.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Just use MUNDET MAGICUM and your wand will be nice and clean. Although you really shouldn't pick troll bogies with your wand.

 

[okeydokey]

I have seen ads for this electronic water misters that you can put sanitizer in. Has anyone here bought one?

 

[low-key]

 

[Carol_]

Try this

 

[cobright]

I keep seeing ads for sainitizing wands on tv and the internet. Does anyone have one? Do they work? Worried about the after effects .

UV-C is a great germicide but most of those wands are garbage. If it's generating the UV light with LEDs, don't even bother. One exception is a LED UV cell phone disinfector. Cell phones don't take well to liquids and alcohol can mung up the screen protectors or maybe even screens. But for this application, the UVC LED is only being asked to sanitize a dozen square inches of surface space.

If you get a UVC lamp that looks like it has a fluorescent tube in it, now you're talking. But even using a handheld wand like this without eye protection will leave you hurting. The risk with UVC isn't so much a danger of cancer but it will leave your skin and especially your eyes feeling like they've been through a sand storm and it hurts for the better part of a day.

More concerning, to me anyway, is that most good UVC lamps also produce a large amount of ozone. Ozone (O3) is also a great germicide so on that score it's a win, but at those concentrations ozone is killing every living cell it touches. Sure, we all got some cells to spare (mine are around my waist) but O3 is actually pretty bad for you.

If you are very concerned about sanitizing a few particular things at a time, there are some good instructables on building a UVC light box. I have one. But oddly enough, most of the things I need to sanitize go into my clothes washer and/or dryer or my dishwasher. Whatever's left is usually mail (I actually run my mail through a lamination machine (without the laminating plastic of course)), or groceries. Most groceries get left out in the sun for 15 or 20 minutes and the stuff that I cant leave out get misted with hydrogen peroxide. H2O2 works well, and breaks down quickly into non-toxic water. And it's cheap.

 

[cobright]

I have seen ads for this electronic water misters that you can put sanitizer in. Has anyone here bought one?

The little tiny one? Nano mister or biomister? A tiny ultrasonic 'fog' machine with a rechargeable battery has a lot that will go wrong.
A refillable spraypaint can like this or similar will do the same thing and I know for a fact that you can put 100 gallons of ... whatever, through one of those spray cans.

My cousin has a business doing crime-scene cleanup and they disinfect on large scale using airless paint sprayers. Very high pressure and creates a very fine mist. They make handheld versions if you're very concerned. I shopped around until I found a good plastic spritser bottle and I use that to apply hydrogen peroxide.

 

[Starwind]

I keep seeing ads for sainitizing wands on tv and the internet. Does anyone have one? Do they work? Worried about the after effects .

I purchased a larger one and a smaller travel size one well over a decade ago from a reputable company that at the time was one of the leading companies making such devices. The company is still in business but no longer sells the wands.

At the time an in research about UV-C wands I have done since, a few things stood out:
- the consumer has no way of knowing if the thing is actually "working" as in doing what it claims to be doing;
- quality control issues are rampant so buying from a reputable company with a good track record is important and even then there can be issues;
- it is VERY important to understand and adhere to safety precautions when using them - they are dangerous if not used properly !
- the market is full of a lot of unknown players selling products of unknown origin -- many of which look like they all come from the same place with a different name slapped on them -- and unknown whether they actually work

I would be VERY VERY VERY hesitant to buy one right now unless it was from a well established company that had a good reputation and was already selling them well before covid. Good luck finding that. My travel one died about a year ago and I went looking for a replacement and was unsuccessful.

SW