Does putting hand sanitizer on a brass or steel doorknob lead to rust?
Is there a rust-less way to disinfect a dirty metal doorknob?
You probably don’t really need to on the brass one; it’s naturally antibacterial due to something called the “oligodynamic effect”, and will kill all bacteria present in 8 hours.
Steel on the other hand, isn’t nearly so toxic.
The obvious method that comes to mind is to use heat, but I’d think that something along the lines of using some kind of commercially available disinfectant for the appropriate contact time (probably around 10 minutes) and then carefully drying the doorknobs would be fine and not lead to undue rust.
Brass doesn’t rust. Pure alcohol should work on steel without rusting.
Thanks, but what about parasites? Someone got cat/dog droppings on the doorknob and germs might not be the only concern.
Clean it with anything you like, and then dry it right afterwards. Rust takes a lot longer than a minute to happen.
If I knew that there was dogshit on one of the doorknobs in my house, my first thought wouldn’t be, “Better be careful cleaning it, as it might rust.” No, my first thought would be, “Ugh, gross. Get that off there as quickly as possible.” And then I’d be asking who had dogshit on their hands?
But maybe it’s just me.
It’s droppings from the underside of a shoe; someone put their foot to the doorknob.
Don’t use hand sanitizer. Clean it with bleach water then dry it.
Does this person understand how to use a doorknob?
Yes, but that’s kind of beside the point/too late by now.
I apologize for the hijack. And I agree with the advice above; clean it, preferably with bleach, and they dry it immediately. And then clean it again.
bleach is an aggressive oxidizer. it will affect metals to a greater amount and faster than water.
a hand sanitizer may have oil and alcohol.
soapy water is a good and effective cleaner.
The OP said the doorknob was bronze or steel. I doubt it’s actually steel, but rather stainless steel or brushed nickel. If it’s stainless steel, you could soak it in a mild bleach water solution all day with no problem. For brushed nickel or bronze, rinsing it in bleach water, drying it and following up with clean water (and drying), really shouldn’t cause any issues.
I don’t know about alcohol or some random soap the OP has around their house, but I do know that bleach will kill just about anything in dog feces that’s likely to make you sick. Bleach water is the reason you don’t get e.coli every time you eat ‘triple washed spinach’ or a fruit salad from your favorite deli (everything in there should have been soaked in a bleach water solution of 100-200ppm).
Hand sanitizer is mostly alcohol. That shouldn’t rust metal. However, the door knob may have some kind of protective coating to prevent rusting. The alcohol could act as a solvent and dissolve the coating leaving the bare metal exposed to the elements and that could cause rust.
Best to use soap and water. If the knob does have a coating to prevent rust, water won’t take it off.
Something like Fantastik or 409 might be a good bet also- they’re good cleaners, and IIRC, the latest formulations are antibacterial with some sort of quat compound.
And… good cleaning is the vast, vast majority of of effective disinfection anyway- it’s something of a maxim among brewers. The idea is that if you physically remove everything that houses bacteria and the bacteria themselves, you’re only having to kill a very few remaining bugs.
I don’t get the drama here…I mean yes, poop is offensive and contains bacteria. But any antibacterial cleaner, or dish soap, or bleach, will take care of that. Anyone with cats, dogs, birds, other pets, infirm elderly relatives or children knows this. Over-sanitizing everything in your environment is not a great idea.
Even worrying about the effect of hand sanitizers on a poopy door knob and worrying about the rust screams either anal-retentive or germophobic to me. Just clean the freaking thing with whatever soap or cleaner is available. All soap is antibacterial by definition. Soap or cleaners labeled “antibacterial” may actually domore harm than good.
I second this. Did a bit of Googling and a lot of brass doorknobs in particular have a lacquer finish that can be removed using denatured alcohol. Which means that your hand sanitizer can probably do a number on it.
Don’t bother. a quick whisk over with a duster and polish will do. I’ve never sanitised a doorknob in my life and they have yet to seize the chance to kill me or my family.
go tell that to the Golgafrinchans.
You could just wash it.