Sanitizers for Drains
Can anyone recommend a sanitizer/cleaner for food manufacturing plant drains? This is for weekly cleaning and the purpose is continuous maintenance in terms of microbial control. I'm looking for non-hazardous, non-corrosive, safe to use cleaners - I've heard about foam-based/detergents. Can anyone share their experience with these? Thanks!
I suggest speaking with your cleaning chemical supplier. I use Ecolabs product Mirko Quat weekly on our drains and it works great!
ECOLAB has a ton of solutions. Acid based quats can be great, and inexpensive. They also have a two part detergent / sanitizer called BOOST which can get your drains to the point where you don't have to even brush them. Of course, you'll have to clean out the catch baskets. But if you keep up with the application of BOOST you don't have to pull apart your drains for cleaning. It has worked quite well for us.
It really depends on what your issue is. Lots of people have problems with Listeria in drains though so here is GMO's patented belt and braces drain treatment ™
Firstly get specific drain cleaning equipment and colour. Use that for drain cleaning only. You wouldn't clean your floor at home with your loo brush!
Secondly remove the drain cover and any other removable traps etc. Get rid of gross debris. Clean in a dedicated (colour coded) trough with detergent and good contact time. Often your staff will try and say "oh the drain covers are cleaned as we clean the floor", they're not, they often harbor biofilms.
Swill detergent down the drain itself and scrub any accessible surfaces.
Rinse everything.
(The belt and braces approach.) Now disinfect with diluted hypochlorite solution. Submerge any removable parts and spray on all accessible surfaces of the drain itself. Don't just bucket it down, a spray gives better "cling". Leave for 20 mins. Rinse.
Then spray accessible surfaces and the removable parts with dilute quaternary ammonium based disinfectant (yes it is still ok to use on the floor). Spray again when in situ and leave.
If you're on top of drain cleaning you could miss out the bleach step.