Cleaning with HOCl You Make at Home

Cleaning with HOCl you make at home starts with a tested batch and a surface that has already had the visible soil removed. This guide is a room-by-room routine for counters, floors, bathrooms, handles and switches, using solution from a countertop generator such as the Eco One. It is a handling and application guide, not a chemistry comparison. For how bleach and hypochlorous acid differ in pH and concentration, see HOCl vs. Bleach on hocl.com, HOCL LLC’s own site.

HOCL LLC sells machines only. It does not sell bottled HOCl. If you do not yet have a making routine, start with How to Make Hypochlorous Acid at Home.

Make a batch, then check it

A typical home cleaning liter on the Eco One is the 200 ppm recipe in the how-to: fill the 1.5 L pitcher only to the 1 L line, add 2 g of food-grade, non-iodized kosher salt and 1 teaspoon of 5% distilled vinegar, fit the lid, and run Setting 3 twice (16 minutes). Confirm concentration and pH before you pour. The target pH is 5–6. How to read the papers, and the 1:5 method if you have made a 500 ppm liter, is in HOCl PPM and pH Basics.

Do not spray a batch you have not tested. If pH is below 4, do not use or store it; chlorine gas can be released. If pH is 4–5, shelf life will be very short — plan to use that liter promptly and re-test, rather than leaving it in a jug.

Clean visible soil first

Wipe or wash off crumbs, grease, hair, mud and other visible dirt before you apply HOCl. A dirty surface hides soil under the film you just sprayed, and it wastes solution. Use a microfiber cloth or a sponge with ordinary detergent and water for that first pass, rinse if the cleaner leaves a residue, and then apply the HOCl to the cleared surface.

This order is the same in a kitchen, a bathroom or a hallway: soil comes off first, then the HOCl.

How to apply it

Pour a tested batch into a closed bottle made of a chlorine-compatible plastic. The 8 oz PET fine-mist spray bottle is the usual working bottle for HOCl (PET is on HOCL LLC’s storage list). A 10 oz continuous mister, also PET, is the larger refillable option if you want a longer trigger spray. Cap the bottle when you are not spraying. Keep the rest of the liter in a closed, light-protected jug and refill the working bottle as needed, as described in HOCl Storage and Shelf Life.

Spray enough to wet the surface, then wipe with a clean cloth. Do not mix this bottle with any other cleaner. Label it so it is not confused with the Eco One’s separate potassium hydroxide cleaner, which belongs in its own bottle.

For more on where HOCl often fits in a home, see Hypochlorous Acid at Home on hocl.com.

Room by room

Counters and kitchen surfaces. After food prep or a meal, remove crumbs and spills, then spray and wipe the cleared counter, appliance handles, and the sink surround. Stay on the surfaces you actually intend to clean. This is not a food-prep or produce-wash guide.

Floors. Sweep or vacuum first. Mop or wipe with HOCl only after loose dirt is up. A 1 L batch goes further on floors when you are mopping a small room than when you are also filling several spray bottles; plan the liter before you start so you are not mid-mop with an empty jug.

Bathrooms. Clear hair and residue from sinks, counters, and the area around the toilet and shower, then spray and wipe those surfaces. Do not mix HOCl with toilet bowl products, scale removers, or anything that contains a strong acid or bleach. If you use a separate bathroom cleaner on a different day, rinse that surface before HOCl goes on.

Handles and switches. Door knobs, light switches, railings, remote controls, and appliance buttons. Follow the first clean with a short wipe, spraying onto the cloth, not directly onto electronics. Work with a cloth you can launder, and do not dip a dirty cloth back into the storage jug.

Never mix

Never mix HOCl solution with ammonia, bleach, strong acids or other cleaners; mixing with ammonia can release chloramine gas, and mixing with strong acids can release toxic chlorine gas. Add only the vinegar or additive your manual specifies, in the amount it specifies. If someone breathes in fumes or swallows solution, call Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222 (poisonhelp.hrsa.gov).

Keep the HOCl bottle and the Eco One’s potassium hydroxide cleaner clearly apart, and never pour them into the same container or onto the same uncleaned surface as a combined “boost.” The potassium hydroxide cleaner is strongly alkaline. Wear gloves and keep it away from children.

The Eco One’s separate cleaner mode

Among HOCL LLC’s current machines, only the Eco One also makes a potassium hydroxide (KOH) cleaner. That run uses food-grade potassium carbonate in place of salt — not in addition to it. The Eco One manual’s directions are: add 2 grams of potassium carbonate and run Setting 3 for 8 minutes, using only that additive. Do not combine salt and potassium carbonate in the same batch. Rinse the pitcher between an HOCl run and a cleaner run.

Use the KOH cleaner as a degreaser on greasy hard surfaces. Try it first on a small, out-of-sight spot. It is a different solution from the HOCl you spray on cleared surfaces. Store it in its own labeled bottle. A blue degreaser spray bottle is sold for that purpose so the two solutions are not confused. Wear gloves, and never mix the cleaner with HOCl, bleach, or strong acids.

The 100-gram pack is the store’s additive for this Eco One mode only. It is not an additive for the Hypo 7.5, and it is not a bottle of ready-made cleaner. HOCL LLC sells the machine and the additive; you make the cleaner in the pitcher.

How this differs from household bleach in practice

This is not a remake of the vs-bleach article. The practical handling differences you will notice at the sink are these:

Concentration units. Household bleach is typically described as a percentage of sodium hypochlorite and then diluted from that bottle. The HOCl you make is described in ppm for a 1 L batch, and you check that number with test paper after the run. There is no one “cup per gallon” rule that converts one into the other for every job.
pH. The Eco One recipes aim at pH 5–6. Household bleach solutions are much more alkaline. That difference is chemistry. It is not a reason to mix the two, and it is not a claim that HOCl you make can replace bleach. The fuller comparison is in HOCl vs. Bleach.
Never mix. Neither product should be combined with the other, or with strong acids or ammonia. The never-mix rule above applies in full.
Storage. Store made HOCl closed, protected from light, at room temperature or cooler, in HDPE, LDPE or PET, and re-test after storage. Details, including the Eco One manual’s storage statement, are in HOCl Storage and Shelf Life. Do not assume an old jug still matches the reading you wrote down on make day.

If you are deciding whether to make solution or buy a bottled product, remember that HOCL LLC sells machines only. Cost figures for a liter you make, compared with bottled listings, live on the cost calculator and in Hypochlorous Acid by the Gallon.

A short cleaning checklist

Make and test a liter; confirm pH 5–6.
Remove visible soil first.
Apply HOCl from a closed PET spray bottle or with a clean cloth.
Work room by room: counters, floors, bathrooms, then handles and switches.
Keep HOCl and the KOH cleaner in separate, labeled bottles.
Recap, store what you do not use, and re-test later.

For the recipes and the papers, use the Eco One and the how-to. For machine specifications versus the larger Hypo 7.5, see Choosing an HOCl Generator and the compare page.