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Supply Situation

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Well, almost 5 months in to this thing and we're still hale and hearty, still taking precautions and and still predominantly homebodies although we do venture out as we feel we need to.

It hasn't been much of a hardship with a roof over our heads, power and water to keep us comfortable. The freezers are still well stocked so there is nothing to worry about there for a few months at least. The beer fridge is adequate and the liquor cabinet may well outlast me. Stores of toiletries and consumables are still good except for one thing ... disinfectant wipes. We're not out of them by any means but the stock is getting to be lower than I feel comfortable with. There are tubes of wipes in all the vehicles and the RV, in the shop, in almost every room in the house and we still have some in the closet but I can't find anywhere to get replacements. I haven't looked in the last week or so but I couldn't find any online. There aren't any in the stores in our little town and going to the big city Sam's is out of the question. I don't think that they have any anyway.

Now, I do have a source in town but I'd rather not be obligated to my business owner friends and deprive them of their supply. Do any of you guys know of a source? I'd be much obliged.

As I said, it's not desperate but it would increase my comfort factor.
 

pixie

Well-known member
SUPER Site Supporter
You can make your own with a sealable container and some alcohol and/or glyceren or hand sanitizer. Google it.

Hydrogen peroxide is an effective germ killer. Put a spray top on a container of that.
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Baby wipes are your friend. I use them in the shop for wiping my hands and stuff.
Pour some rubbing alcohol on them and they'll work as disinfecting wipes.
 

mla2ofus

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Without going into detail I read an article in a nat'l geo article yrs ago by a doctor regarding overuse of disinfectants/antibacterials and people not taking a full prescription of antibiotics. I haven't used any disinfectants or antibacterials on my body and always take the full prescription since then and am reasonably healthy for my age. I do use the antibacterial on my hands when visiting someone in the hospital.
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Without going into detail I read an article in a nat'l geo article yrs ago by a doctor regarding overuse of disinfectants/antibacterials and people not taking a full prescription of antibiotics. I haven't used any disinfectants or antibacterials on my body and always take the full prescription since then and am reasonably healthy for my age. I do use the antibacterial on my hands when visiting someone in the hospital.

I live out in the country and am on a septic system, 2 of them actually. My plumber, also a friend, told me 25 years ago that the worst thing you can do to your septic system is is to use bleach type disinfectant toilet cleaners or antibacterial hand soaps. Generally we avoid them if at all possible.

Thank you pixie. We have spray type antibacterial cleaners and tons of towels and shop towels but those disinfectant wipes are just so convenient. Also, my wife is a great believer in hydrogen peroxide for bug bites and scrapes and cuts so we have bottles of it. Frank's pharmacy is pretty well stocked.

Zoomer, I never thought of baby wipes. As I said, my pharmacy is pretty well stocked including rubbing alcohol, so after a trip to CVS I will be able to manufacture some if things get desperate which I don't think that they will but it's nice to have an alternative plan if things do turn to crap.

Thank you for your ideas. They are appreciated.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Baby wipes are your friend. I use them in the shop for wiping my hands and stuff.
Pour some rubbing alcohol on them and they'll work as disinfecting wipes.
Just make sure you use enough alcohol. We have baby wipes at the house now that we have a baby. We buy the water based wipes from Amazon because they are cheap. Its surprising how much water is in the pack. So if you are going to convert the water based wipes into alcohol disinfectant wipes you will likely need to add a good bit of alcohol.

The below recipe is one of many very similar recipes that I found on the inter webs. Depending upon the type of alcohol used, you can see its roughly a 50%-50% mix, depending upon the "proof" of the alcohol used.

  • If using 91% isopropyl alcohol, mix 7 cups of alcohol with 3 cups of water.
  • If using 95% ethanol (otherwise known as grain alcohol), mix 6 cups of alcohol with 4 cups of water.
  • Tightly close the container and store your wipes in a dark, cool place to prevent alcohol evaporation (or place in a plastic sealable bag for portable wipes).

FWIW, I've not been able to find name brand disinfecting wipes, but I still have a couple of Costco multi-pack Clorox wipes. I have been picking up generic stuff for when the Clorox brand wipes run out as they sporadically show up at the supermarket. We do the INSTACART thing, so I just place them on my order when they are in stock and get them with my fresh produce, etc

But Clorox and Lysol brand tubs of wipes are nowhere to be found.


SOURCES for the below chemicals --> https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-...virus_l_5e95fe81c5b6a7e383dfbba5?guccounter=1
Hydrogen peroxide: According to the CDC, hydrogen peroxide is effective against a whole army of microorganisms, such as bacteria, yeasts, fungi, viruses and spores. A solution of at least 3% will kill germs ― including the cold virus ― after six to eight minutes of exposure.

Isopropyl alcohol: Also known as rubbing alcohol, this chemical compound has proven disinfecting qualities when left on surfaces for at least 30 seconds. Since rubbing alcohol is water-soluble, it can be diluted, but the concentration needs to be at least 70% to kill coronaviruses.

Household bleach: Bleach is strong and effective at killing bacteria and viruses when diluted properly. According to the CDC, that’s 4 teaspoons of bleach per 1 quart of water. Just be sure to let your bleach solution sit for at least 10 minutes before wiping it off...
 

FrancSevin

Proudly Deplorable
GOLD Site Supporter
We are required to use alcohol daily to sanitize the machines before production. It amounts to at least a gallon of Isopropyl a week. When Sam's and others ran out we found Stove alcohol by the gallon at Lowe's. Cut it with a little water and stayed in business.

Alcohol and disinfectants became so rare, and priced so high we bought five magnums of Smirnoff's Vodka. Relatively cheap but it is only 50% alcohol. Now that supplies are back on the store shelves, we can use it in our home wet bars.

I don't drink the stuff so, last week, some of my employees got a bonus prize
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Dang. Wished y'all lived closer. I have probably 6 55-gallon drums filled with alcohol as well as about 150-200 gallons of medical hand sanitizer. I give gallons of the hand sanitizer to some local stores and the police department. Some places won't take it because it's "expired" (as if hand sanitizer expires...). The alcohol, I just use as fire starters or heat for the shop in the winter.
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
Dang. Wished y'all lived closer. I have probably 6 55-gallon drums filled with alcohol as well as about 150-200 gallons of medical hand sanitizer. I give gallons of the hand sanitizer to some local stores and the police department. Some places won't take it because it's "expired" (as if hand sanitizer expires...). The alcohol, I just use as fire starters or heat for the shop in the winter.


So how did you decide to buy or get so much of this stuff?
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Many years ago, a semi-truck load of medical hand sanitizer was made, cased and marked for a hospital in Japan. These are the 1-liter clear plastic pouches that you insert into wall mounted hand sanitizer stations. 4 packages per box and probably 80 boxes per pallet.

Just as it was leaving the factory, someone caught that the packaging wasn't correct. Something about the language itself being wrong or something wrong in what was said on the package.

Well, the company wouldn't send it. Nor would they re-process the contents as it wasn't worth the effort as it would be 100% manual labor.

So, they wanted it disposed of. They gave it away to someone who lives a few miles from me under the rule that it had to be removed from the OEM labeling. That guy set pallets full of the sanitizer in his barn then set up some process to separate the gel from the alcohol. He plugged away at it for a long time, and filled over 20 55-gallon jugs of just the alcohol.

Due to age or some other circumstance, he was selling his farm and all it's contents. A friend and I went to check out his farm equipment and inquired about all the drums and pallets in the back of one of the barns. He told us the story of what I just said. He then said we could have all of it for free so long as we promised to finish the process of getting it out of the OEM packaging. We agreed then came back with dump trucks and trailers and removed it all.

We split the drums 50/50 and my friend said I could have the still packaged sanitizer as he didn't have the time to get it all out and repackage himself. We each then had 10 55-gallon drums of alcohol.

Along with all the drums and OEM packaged sanitizer, he also gave us almost 500 Type F 1 gallon jugs (the style jug used for antifreeze). I got my kids out to the shop where the trailer was sitting with the hand sanitizer and we set up an assembly line to get it out of the OEM packaging and into the jugs. Made pretty quick work of it and I ended up with about 250-300 gallons of hand sanitizer, now in plain white jugs (but we wrote "hand sanitizer" on the jugs with a Sharpie).

Voila, it's all out of the OEM packaging and we're good. I now use most of it for getting fires started or heating the shop.
 

Jim_S

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
Voila, it's all out of the OEM packaging and we're good. I now use most of it for getting fires started or heating the shop.

And now we know “the rest of the story.” :th_lmao:
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
That's awesome BC - thanks for sharing - I love those sort of stories. I was wondering if you had some crazy prepper premonition but instead it was just a good opportunity.
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
I've been waiting for that explanation for a long time. See, it wasn't all that hard and it was perfectly logical.

How come I never fall into these opportunities? :wink:
 
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