Bleach alternative

[92ThoStro]

What is an alternative to bleach to sanitize dishes after washing? Can't use bleach every day because of the septic, and we can't use antibacterial soap to wash. There has to be septic friendly sanitizers?

 

[bluewraith]

...you use bleach on your dishes???

 

[steve666]

Check your local restaurant supplier.

 

[Mgderf]

...you use bleach on your dishes???

You don't"?

I use bleach on just about everything! I even use it to clear up poison ivy/oak/sumac... Scrub this blister open then douse with bleach... problem solved.

A lot of restaurants use bleach to sanitize their lettuce for salads. Purdue University bleaches their salad lettuce daily.


Bleach is your friend, unless you mix it with ammonia, them it can become your mortal enemy.

O.P. Have you thought about vinegar?

 

[JokerGirl]

Try switching it up with Oxy-Clean.

 

[88GT]

What is an alternative to bleach to sanitize dishes after washing? Can't use bleach every day because of the septic, and we can't use antibacterial soap to wash. There has to be septic friendly sanitizers?

Unless your immune system is compromised I don't know why you would need to.

Why can't you use antibacterial soap? You can't possibly use enough of it to destroy the bacterial colony in a septic system. I would think likewise with bleach as well. Unless you're using straight bleach, which isn't necessary.

Baking soda and vinegar. Rubbing alcohol.

 

[gregkl]

We don't use bleach or any other strong cleaners to wash our dishes. The ones that don't go in the dishwasher get washed with Dawn.

Knock on wood, we have never had anything "bad" happen to us.

We also don't use anti-bacterial soap to wash our hands.

Do you have some kind of immune deficiency that requires absolutely operating room sanitary conditions?

 

[chezuki]

Product Detail // Go Ecolab // Driving growth with our distributors

FYI, all soap is antibacterial by nature, regardless of whether or not it is marketed as such.

 

[JetGirl]

I am the queen of bleach.
Counter tops, dishes, floors, shower, potty, you name it, I bleach it.
That being said, vinegar is a great alternative for lots of reasons.

 

[gregkl]

Not to thread jack but if any of you have a good way to clean light colored grout on the kitchen floors I am all ears.

I have tried steam and it gets some, but not all.

You can PM me if you want to keep this thread on topic.

 

[JetGirl]

Not to thread jack but if any of you have a good way to clean light colored grout on the kitchen floors I am all ears.

I have tried steam and it gets some, but not all.

You can PM me if you want to keep this thread on topic.

If it's stained and nothing you try is doing the trick, there are grout lighteners you can purchase. It takes a little bit of prep, though. It goes on like a paint would, so it's time consuming.

 

[littletommy]

I use Star-san when I'm making wine or brewing beer, but if you're sanitizing then putting the dishes away, it will not do much good. You'd want to sanitize immediately before use.

 

[eldirector]

Sanitize AFTER washing? I've never bothered. We just use dish soap, dry, and put away.

If you want something more "natural" than commercial dish soap, then maybe something like this:
https://www.lehmans.com/p-2164-farmhouse-dish-soap.aspx

 

[2ADMNLOVER]

Not to thread jack but if any of you have a good way to clean light colored grout on the kitchen floors I am all ears.

I have tried steam and it gets some, but not all.

You can PM me if you want to keep this thread on topic.

If it's stained and nothing you try is doing the trick, there are grout lighteners you can purchase. It takes a little bit of prep, though. It goes on like a paint would, so it's time consuming.

Let's complete the thread jack .

Light colored grout in a high traffic area (kitchen , bathrooms , hallways) is always a bad idea unless you don't have kids / animals and your all OCD about keeping it clean .

What stained the grout ? Juices , wines , tomato's or anything acidic will stain the grout if left on it .

White distilled vinegar and water in a 50/50 mix is all you need to keep new grout looking good . You might need a white scratch pad and some elbow grease .

Old stained grout is another ball game .

Depending on the overall condition of the grout you might be able to cut out the stained section and re grout that area . You can add a little RIT or other dye (even dirt) to that section to make it blend in with the rest of the floor .

Cutting out the old grout and going with a darker color will give you longer lasting results than painting a product on .

The are also epoxy paints made just for grouts but it's not something I recommend an inexperienced home owner try on a large scale in an open area .

 

[Jaredjosh]

Hot water. I think the effective temperature to sanitize dishes is 180°F.

 

[bobbittle]

Sanitize AFTER washing? I've never bothered. We just use dish soap, dry, and put away.

If you want something more "natural" than commercial dish soap, then maybe something like this:
https://www.lehmans.com/p-2164-farmhouse-dish-soap.aspx

It's actually required in the restaurant world. Never done it (or even considered doing it) at home.

 

[giovani]

When we were kids mom always used boiling water from the stove to sanitize the dishes after my siblings and I washed thrm.

 

[JettaKnight]

I use Star-san when I'm making wine or brewing beer, but if you're sanitizing then putting the dishes away, it will not do much good. You'd want to sanitize immediately before use.

Not sure how "septic tank friendly" StarSan is. But, you could use it in a spray bottle using distilled water. It's a food grade no-rinse sanitizer.

But again, it begs the question of why are you sanitizing dishes at home?

 

[Bunnykid68]

Wash em and let em air dry. We worry about killing to many germs these days, germs and bacteria aren't all bad and build up a good immune system. Go ahead and eat some dirt and boogers

 

[92ThoStro]

Yes you bleach dishes if you don't have a dish washer.. we use to own a convenience store that had a small kitchen/deli counter and we got a list of everything health and safety related to comply with. You need a big stainless 3 sink for wash rinse and sanitize, a sprayer, our sprayer was like 300 bucks IIRC, and a sanitizing solution. Bleach is cheap. Even though you are putting them away after you sanitize them, you should still sanitize them. I currently work in a restaurant and we sanitize every dish and surface we used before we close, and put them away. Then use them again the next day.

At home I cover all the dishes that are air drying, so flies and stuff don't land on them. We have lots of flies because we have farm animals, and we have litter boxes in the house. So fly on cat poo, then land on dishes = eeew

I bleach and use pine-sol on all the hard surfaces daily. Pine sol smells sooo good I wish it was a drink LOL


Thanks for mentioning Eco Lab. We use that company at the restaurant I work at. But didn't know their products were sold to the general public for home use. I will see about Star Sans being septic friendly as well.

Now to the reason I need a septic friendly sanitizer

Barn was 1899 and the house a few years later. The septic is also EXTREMELY old. Can't even flush TP down the toilet. When it rains a lot we have a hard time flushing the toilet because the drain field gets saturated. We always hear the bathtub gurgling when we flush the toilet during a light rain. Our detached garage which is bigger than the house (LOL) has its own septic and full bathroom which works very well and even has a big 3 segment sink like from a restaurant, but lugging the dishes out there would be a huge pain.

I would like to stay away from boiling water.
Our house well is super hard. It smells of sulfur, and has so much calcium and lime that it destroys water softeners. If we boil it, it creates this "foam" and is just really nasty. It is drinkable, but we get water delivered anyway. We don't even use the well water to cook with. And using ice mountain water to sanitize our dishes would be kind of a waste of good water.