What Is Dwell Time?

What Is Dwell Time?

Dwell time is what makes disinfection work or not work. It is the amount of time a certain area needs to remain wet with a particular type of chemical in order to kill whatever you are trying to kill (pathogen or virus for example). There are different solutions available. For example, there are solutions that have a dwell time that is up to 10 minutes. However, it is recommended to avoid these solutions.

How to Make Sure That the Disinfectants Actually Works

You need to spray the solution first and not wipe it until it is completely dry. You should not spray it and use a paper towel to dry it off at the same time because it will not work. Instead, in order to make disinfection effective, you need to spray and leave the solution on the surface until it is completely dry. That is how you know that the disinfectant did exactly what it was supposed to do. Only when it is dry, you can wipe the surface and make sure that you can see a nice sheen on it and the shininess of the solution on the surface.

Wipes vs. Spray Cleaners

The main difference between disinfectant wipes and spray cleaners is the amount of time it takes to disinfect and the different types of disinfectant chemicals in the solution.

Wipes have a shorter dwell time and are a little harder to keep the area wet. Therefore, you need to look for something with a shorter dwell time and a strong disinfectant. Spays are different: since you can coat more area by using sprays, you can choose something having a bit longer dwell time. However, you should keep in mind that if you use the solution with a longer dwell time, the area needs to remain wet for an extended period of time, this is not good for some surfaces. For example, if you are disinfecting a wooden area, the wood can be potentially damaged by the disinfectant.

Disinfection and Cleaning Are Not the Same

Cleaning is what happens before you disinfect. You need to clean everything before you spray your disinfectant. When you spay the disinfectant, you make the surface coated. Then you need to let it sit and let the chemicals do their job and disinfect the area.