STORM® Versus Electrostatic.
Disinfection Method Comparison.
Our Aim Is To Bring You The Facts.
Here at MotorScrubber, we have seen a lot of misleading advertising surrounding Electrostatic Sprayers.
These Electrostatic Machines have been advertised to evenly apply disinfectant on any surface without the need to wipe. Some advertisements state that charged droplets wrap 360 degrees around all surfaces, but miss out that this only works on conductive metal objects.
Marketing videos show the electrostatic machines being sprayed 2 or 3ft (60 – 90cm) away from the surface, giving the impression they disinfect effectively. Our research on electrostatic charge contradicted the video claims, so we put the electrostatic machines to the test to show the limitations involved if using them as advertised.
Why Did We Stop Development Of Electrostatic Sprayers?
Since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic, we have been obsessed with touch point disinfection. To keep up with the demand, we developed our STORM® sprayer which has been a huge success around the world, trusted by thousands of prestigious organisations in their proactive virus control measures.
STORM® was developed to include our unique 68 micron ballistic nozzle, creating a targeted, Perfect Liquid Layer of disinfectant when applied at 30cm spray distance from the surface. STORM®’s Ultrafast unique atomisation application means touch point disinfection is up to 3x faster (compared to electrostatic sprayers) saving time on large flat surfaces, like tables.
What are the advantages of electrostatics?
We identified the only real advantage of electrostatic sprayers is the wrap around effect of droplets landing on the reverse side of touch points. After our lengthy testing on electrostatic sprayers, we noted that droplets only wrap around (curved conductive) touch points.
We asked the question of how many touch points are curved metal? We identified a very low percentage of industry sectors where they would benefit from electrostatic sprayers.
After studying online videos, we found many end users believing their electrostatic sprayer would wrap around a rubber gym ball or around a fabric sofa, this is simply impossible and extremely misleading.
Another issue we found was that if you spray from 50cm/2ft or you move too quickly, large gaps between disinfectant droplets are found on the reverse side of the curved metal object. This means only a tiny percentage of the surface is covered, leaving it at risk.
Electrostatic sprayers claim their charged particles are attracted to the surface, minimising waste to the floor.
However this is not the case. If you spray an electrostatic sprayer at a surface, you will witness large amounts of droplets being attracted to the floor, so from our research we found no benefit to this claim.
Electrostatics claim the droplets repel each other giving a more even spread.
The goal in touch point disinfection is to apply a Perfect Liquid Layer of disinfectant, to do this the droplets need to merge together, so no gaps are left on the surface leaving it at risk of cross infection.
So how do you disinfect the reverse side of flat and curved metal handles or non conductive objects?
These findings lead us to develop a greater solution for touch point disinfection.
A mobile system was needed that would apply disinfectant quickly to large flat surfaces, but was also capable of applying disinfectant to the reverse side of conductive or non conductive touch points. As many touch points are not curved or made from a conductive material (e.g metal), this sparked us to develop the on-board M-Wipes system and the application of a new patent.
Our special M-Wipes are made from a non-absorbent polypropylene material, designed to apply disinfectant and leave the surface wet. This is very important as the surface must stay wet for the stated contact/dwell time of your chosen chemical to effectively kill viruses, this time can range from 1-10minutes.
The STORM®, now combined with the onboard M-Wipes system sets a new standard in touch point disinfection. This allows quick disinfection on large flat surfaces, but also on curved metal objects or non-conductive objects. Giving full peace of mind that that the disinfectant applied is covering the reverse side. An additional benefit is a level of dirt/grease is also removed with the wipe.
After 8 months of developing and testing many sprayer technologies, we decided to end the backpack electrostatic model and instead focus on a new technology that we cannot disclose any further information on at this time.
If you are still unsure which sprayer is best for you, we are available to perform a free demonstration of our STORM & M-Wipes system. This allows you to test the results for yourself and decide which sprayer gives the fastest application, but most importantly which one gives the most reliable liquid layer of disinfectant. We are confident you will choose STORM after testing, like so many of our global customers have too.
