Cleaning Product Testing Page 5

Do Shaklee Basic G, Basic H, Melaleuca Sol-u-guard, Lysol Power and Free, OdoBan, Fabuloso, Star San, Thieves Cleaner, Cleaning Vinegar, ALPET D2, Essential Oxygen 3% Hydrogen Peroxide, PureGreen 24, Lysol concentrate kill germs?

Answer: Shaklee Basic G, and Essential Oxygen 3% hydrogen peroxide are great! Odoban and Sol-u-guard are pretty good. 

In these experiments, I tested OdoBan 

, Fabuloso , Lysol Multi-Purpose Cleaner w/ Hydrogen Peroxide , Heinz Cleaning Vinegar , regular white vinegar, Melaleuca Sol-U-Guard 

, Shaklee Basic G, Shaklee Basic H , Thieves cleaner, Essential Oxygen Hydrogen Peroxide 3% Food Grade

, Alpet D2 , Puregreen24, Lysol Concentrate Disinfectant, and Star San Acid Sanitizer.  I followed the manufacturers recommendations for all the products that needed diluted. The PureGreen24, Alpet D2, Lysol Power and Free cleaner, and vinegar did not need diluted. The Sol-u-guard is a 1:1 dilution. I used the Fabuloso and Basic G in a 1:64 dilution. The OdoBan was a 1:25 dilution. I used the Thieves cleaner as a 1:10 dilution and undiluted. The Star San was a 1:640 dilution. The Basic H was 1.5 teaspoons of the concentrate in 16 ounces of water. The regular Lysol concentrate was diluted 5 tablespoons in 1 quart of water. 

I do these experiments on the countertop using germ water made from dirt and added bacteria. If you would like the details of this experiment, please read this procedure page. The short version is that I put 1mL of germ water on each countertop square and spread it around with my gloved hand. I let the germ water completely dry. Then I add .5mL of each cleaner (at the proper dilution) to the appropriate square and spread it around with my clean gloved finger to completely cover the square. I go over the square several times to make sure the cleaner is completely covering it. Then I set the timer for 10 minutes( because Basic G and OdoBan said they required 10 minutes to disinfect). After 10 minutes I swab the square and rub the swab onto an agar plate. The agar plates are incubated for 24 hours in my warm incubator. The bottles of all of these cleaners say that they are only to be used on a CLEAN smooth surface so don't get your hopes up. My experiments use dirty surfaces. 

Understanding Agar Plates

In case you are new at looking at agar plates, let me explain. Agar is a Jello-like substance that bacteria and fungus like to grow on. The whitish/yellowish dots you see are colonies (or piles) of millions of bacteria. Some types of bacteria are not able to grow on these agar plates. Viruses can not grow on these agar plates. So, just because a plate looks clean, doesn't mean that no microorganisms whatsoever were present. We assume that a clean plate means that most bacteria were killed. However, there is the tiny possibility that the cleaning product just stopped the bacteria from growing as opposed to actually killing it. Also, I can't make any determination as to the time it took the product to kill the bacteria since the product was still with the bacteria on the agar plate. (Both the bacteria and the cleaner would be picked up in the sterile swab.) So, I don't know if it took 1 minute to kill the bacteria or hours. These experiments are still very useful when used to compare cleaning products and cleaning methods. 

Results

In the 2 experiments above, we can see that Fabuloso and OdoBan are not fabulous, but Essential Oxygen food grade 3% hydrogen peroxide is fabulous. 

In the above experiment, we see that Basic G and Soluguard have some significant bacteria killing ability. I also put some hand sanitizers in this experiment. You can see how much better my favorites are (Zylast

 and GFS BioProtect) compared to regular Purell advanced. It is amazing that these hand sanitizers can be more effective than lots of the cleaners. 

In the above experiment, Basic G is still doing great. I also have the undiluted Thieves cleaner in this experiment, but it just doesn't compare to hydrogen peroxide. The Lysol Power and Free Hydrogen Peroxide cleaner clearly kills some germs but is not super impressive. 

As you can see from these experiments, results can vary. Each experiment contains a little bit different amount of dirt and different added bacteria. So, the results are not exactly the same (which is why I repeat them several times). In some experiments, white vinegar, Sol-u-guard, PureGreen24, Lysol Power and Free Cleaner, and Thieves cleaner appear to be killing some bacteria. In other experiments, they don't seem to do much.  Of course, the reason is likely because most of these cleaners can only be used on already clean surfaces. The regular Lysol kills some bacteria but really, really, really smells terrible. As usual, 3% hydrogen peroxide always works well. Shaklee Basic G is impressive! It works so well even on the dirty surface! It also has a mild and very pleasant smell. So, if you want to use Basic G for your regular cleaning, you have my blessings! (I'd still get out chlorine bleach if anyone has a stomach bug). You can purchase Basic G from the two authorized sellers that were kind enough to send me samples to try. http://katederrico.myshaklee.com/us/en/   and http://sagaciousliving.myshaklee.com/us/en/.  Basic G is not allowed to be sold on amazon. So, I would not buy it on amazon because it might be counterfeit. 

What about on the kitchen sink? 

Now,  it might be unfair for me to expect so much from cleaners that clearly state on the bottle that they can't handle dirt. So, I decided to test them in a real life situation. The kitchen sink. We all expect that whatever disinfectant we are using WILL KILL the germs in our kitchen sink, right? I did not add any extra dirt or germs to my sink experiments. This is just a sink like yours. I just rinsed everything down the drain so that the sink looked clean and had nothing stuck on it. 

I swabbed the sink and rubbed the swab onto an agar plate for the dirty control. Then I sprayed 1 cleaner all over one side of the sink using 30-40 sprays. The sink was completely covered with the cleaner. Then I sprayed the same number of sprays of my beloved 3% hydrogen peroxide all over  the other side of the sink. I did not wipe the sinks or rinse them. I set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes. After the time, I swabbed each side of the sink and rubbed the swabs onto an agar plate. The plates were incubated for 24-48 hours in my warm incubator. I also tested some of my neighbors sinks since I can only do one test every few days in my own sink. (Must have time to let it get germy again). 

DISCLAIMER: I can't guarantee that any product that produces a clean-looking agar plate is actually killing germs as opposed to preventing them from growing on the agar plate by some other means. I can also NOT make any determinations about how long the product took to kill the germs because the product is still on the sink when I swab the sink. So, the swab picks up the product and the germs. So, the product is transferred to the agar plate with the germs. It could have killed the germs in 1 minute or in 24 hours. 

Basic G in the sink

Shaklee Basic G did awesome in my sink.

This wasn't the kitchen sink but I did the same experiment on my shower floor and Basic G did awesome! 

Sol-u-Guard in the sink

This time I used my kitchen sink and my neighbor's kitchen sink and Sol-u-guard did awesome!

Even though Melaleuca Sol-U-Guard  did not always do great in my countertop experiments with lots of dirt and germs, it did OK in them and it did great in this real life sink situation. So, if this is your favorite cleaner, I think it is fine. I would still get out the chlorine bleach if someone gets a stomach virus. 

ALPET D2 in the kitchen sink

For this experiment, I tested Alpet D2  on my neighbor's sink. ALPETD2 is a cleaner with the main ingredient of isopropanol. It smells strongly of isopropanol which I am not a fan of.

This time when I tested the ALPETD2, I rubbed it in really good all around the sink with my gloved hand. I was sort of scrubbing the sink with my gloved hand. 

From these results, I can tell that ALPET D2 does kill bacteria. However, it is obviously a disinfectant that must be used on an already extremely clean surface. 

PureGreen 24 in the kitchen sink

I tested PureGreen 24 in my neighbors' sinks. It did very well. 

OdoBan in the sink

Even thought OdoBan did not do well in my countertop experiments, I still had high hopes for it in the sink. I filled a spray bottle with a solution of 5% (1:20 dilution) of OdoBan. The bottle says use a 1:25 dilution to disinfect. I made it 1:20 so it was a little stronger. I swabbed each side of a dirty sink. Then I thoroughly sprayed one side of the sink with OdoBan (about 40 sprays). Then I sprayed the other side of the sink with 3% hydrogen peroxide (about 30 sprays) and let the cleaners sit for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, I swabbed the sinks and rubbed the swabs onto agar plates. The plates incubated for 24 hours.

As you can see, the OdoBad did a great job killing germs in real people's dirty sinks. 

Disclaimer: I can't be 100% certain that any product that I test is actually killing bacteria as opposed to somehow preventing the bacteria from growing on the agar plate by some other means. I also can't tell how long it takes a product to kill the germs since the product is picked up in the swab with the germs and stays on the agar plate during incubation.