Not for Antibacterial Soap

[groman]

I just noticed the soap pumps in the bathroom at work (the metal-built-into-thecounter-kind) have stickers on them that say “Not For Antibacterial Soaps”.

Why would a metal, I presume stainless steel, soap container and pump care if the soap in it was antibacterial or not? Is it a corrosion issue?

[mittu]

Taken from www.mops-buckets.com (you can’t make this stuff up)

WARNING: Do not use E4-rated antibacterial soaps (active ingredient PCM or Tricclosan), iodine-based surgical soaps, or alcohol-based antiseptic solutions.

That warning applies to most of the soap dispensers they sell, those which are suitable for such soaps carry the following blurb:

Corrosion-resistant valve dispense E4-rated antibacterial soaps, iodine/alcohol-based solutions, as well as liquid and lotion soaps, and synthetic detergents.

So at a loose guess it is something to do with the corrosive properties of iodine/alcohol-based solutions.

[mittu]

Another quote from www.saniflowcorp.com seems to confirm this in a designer’s note about one of it’s products:

Do not use E4-rated antibacterial soaps (active ingredients PCMX or Triclosan), iodine-based surgical soaps, or alcohol-based antiseptic solutions in this unit. Soap valve is not designed to dispense these types of corrosive soaps.

So I don’t think it is the outer container that causes the problem so much as the valve, certain dispensers can be ordered with the “E4-approved” valve or with a standard valve.

[AskNott]

At my old job, we had trigger sprayers in two kinds. The yellow ones were for corrosive liquids, such as the phosphoric acid solutions we used to get lime off the stainless sinks. If you put acid in the standard kind, it would eat the seals and check valve in a week or two, and start leaking on your hands. Ouch.

[cantara]

But are the regular anti-bacterial soaps really that corrosive? I used the iodine/alcohol based ones at the hospital when my kids were born and those are a completely different animal (to my eyes). Are the Dial Antibacterial soaps going to cause the same problems?

I also read the instructions for our kids bottles which are Avent plastic with silicone nipples. They said to avoid anti-bacterial soaps as well. Can the Sunlight Antibacterial soap in a sink full of water deteriorate the baby bottles too?
[sub]Tip: don’t use dish soap with lotion for the kids bottles, the nipples soak it up and they taste terrible.[/sub]

[Ferret_Herder]

@cantara

But are the regular anti-bacterial soaps really that corrosive? I used the iodine/alcohol based ones at the hospital when my kids were born and those are a completely different animal (to my eyes). Are the Dial Antibacterial soaps going to cause the same problems?

Though their website doesn’t list the active ingredient, that I saw, plugging in the term “triclosan” to their search form brings up the Dial antibacterial soaps. Must be a hidden key word. IIRC, it is the typical antibacterial ingredient in home antibacterial soaps, and listed above in mittu’s post as not to be used in certain dispensers. So I’d wager that yes, it will cause those problems. Check the label to confirm.

Home use of antibacterial soaps is overdoing it, anyway. Last I read, various strains of bacteria were developing a resistance to triclosan due to overuse of the ingredient. At work (I work in a hospital) we are told to avoid antibacterial soap unless specifically indicated, and to instead use alcohol-based hand sanitizer after washing up with regular soap.

[Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor]

@AskNott

At my old job, we had trigger sprayers in two kinds. The yellow ones were for corrosive liquids, such as the phosphoric acid solutions we used to get lime off the stainless sinks. If you put acid in the standard kind, it would eat the seals and check valve in a week or two, and start leaking on your hands. Ouch.

Where can I get trigger sprays that are resistant?
One at a time/cheaply?
I keep a 10% bleach solution in the kitchen at Casa Bosda.