Hypoclorous Acid and the important role PH plays in it

It was brought to my attention the concept of using HOCl with a humidifier. In theory, it seemed like a great idea. So I started doing some digging on the issue.

After doing some research, it seems that it can be a good solution in some cases, however caution is advised.

The reason is as follows. While I had mentioned in a previous post, that a high PH can cause the HOCl generator to produce Hypochlorite, (household bleach), if the PH is too low, it can create CL2 or Chlorine Gas, which can be extremely dangerous.

HOCl is the form that CL2 takes when it is dissolved in water, it is non toxic and extremely beneficial. When the PH is at or below below 2.5, it begins to cause the CL2 to separate from the liquid, and take its gaseous form, CL2, which can be dangerous. The lower the PH, the more CL2 is produced.

So while it does seem that a humidifier can be used to disburse HOCl, care must be taken to insure the proper PH when doing so. Additionally, an ultrasonic humidifier disburses about 350ml of fluid in an hour, our handheld foggers disburse the same amount in around a minute.

So a humidifier can definitely be a positive tool in disinfecting, when proper caution is taken to get the right PH. If you need to disinfect an area quickly, our foggers would be a better tool for the job.

Below is a link to a study regarding the efficacy of disbursing HOCl in a ultrasonic humidifier

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7034383/