No medical degree is writing this although my wife has been in medicine/medical field her entire career here's my 2c. I have found that the Purell and similar hand sanitizers have a large percentage of alcohol. Active ingredient 62% Ethyl Alcohol. The all important instructions step# 2 "Rub hands together until dry" is where the issues may come about. I should be able to take some photos from our under5yr old S&S pianos from teaching studio where there is some noticeable concerns. As to an exact analysis of the reason for the alleged degradation, I believe it may be more of a connection to the alcohol and finger oil on the key tops rather than the plastic "melting". The S&S finishes do have a reaction with denatured alcohol and I believe that Ethyl is too close a partner to denatured to take a risk giving an "all safe" for the waterless cleaner. The old finished key tops as well. Again I reemphasize that as long as the stuff DRIES there is no reaction and the hands are "debugged". Germs need moisture to survive. Put a virus or bacteria in a pietre dish, let it dry out and it dies. Gerry Cousins West Chester University of PA > From: scott.thile at murraystate.edu > To: caut at ptg.org > Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:09:48 -0500 > Subject: Re: [CAUT] New flu info > > I use straight denatured alcohol for cleaning keytops all the time. It does > not hurt modern plastics, ivory, or ebony. It will sometimes lift the paint > used on some sharps, or whatever is used to blacken the sides and back of > the keysticks. I have not had any problems with it on lacquer or polyester > finishes. > > As Ari mentioned, I don't think cleaning the keys is the answer. You'd have > to clean them after every use of the piano. More effective to have hand > sanitizer dispensers handy and use that before and after practice or lesson > sessions. It's not like you can stand guard and clean keys after each > student leaves a practice room! > > Scott E. Thile > Murray State University > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On > > Behalf Of Ari > > Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 7:45 PM > > To: caut at ptg.org > > Subject: Re: [CAUT] New flu info > > > > > > Hi list. > > > > I'm hesitante to write since I'm out of my depth but... > > In Toronto hospitals they don't hose down the door handles, > > door jams etc. with sterilizing liquids every time they're > > handled, they have, instead, at the entrance to the wards, > > dispensers of sterilizing fluid you're encouraged to use as > > you enter, or leave, or both. How about having, once an > > effective sterilizing liquid is identified, both the prof and > > student(s) wash their hands with that liquid before the > > lesson, after, or both and leave the piano > > keys alone. Even if you succeed in sterilizing the keys you > > still have > > your hands to worry about. > > Surgeons used to use a liquid soap called physohex, I may be > > spelling it wrong, it was said to be pretty potent. > > > > Ari Isaac. > > -----Original Message----- > > From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On > > Behalf Of Jim Busby > > Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 7:54 PM > > To: PTG-CAUT (caut at ptg.org) > > Subject: [CAUT] New flu info > > > > All, > > > > My son Eric is a new Pharmacist and "up" on all the latest, > > and has some pretty good sources for products. I asked him to > > do some research and here is what he told me; > > > > - Hydrogen peroxide is NOT proven to kill flu germs. It may, > > but Eric says he wouldn't trust it w/o testing. > > - Lysol wipes HAVE been proven to kill type A flu (Swine flu > > is type A) but not type B, which is a lot of the others > > - Clorox wipes say they kill flu but they have NOT done the > > testing. THey have the same active ingredient as Lysol, but > > other stuff is different and the bottom line is it's NOT > > tested/proven. > > - Lysol wipes (all wipes w/o alcohol) need 10 minutes to be > > effective (!!! I didn't know that!) > > - Alcohol/alcohol wipes take only 30 seconds and is effective > > - Sprays (Lysol or Clorox) are far more effective than wipes, > > mainly because of the alcohol, and take 30 seconds, > > but...they have alcohol, (which we believe is bad for keytops > > and finishes.) (Is it really??) > > - Flu and other viral germs can live on a surface like piano > > keys for 2 days, but Eric says say 3 to be safe. > > > > I'm revising the revisions of my revised rough copy of the "policy"... > > > > For whomever told me that Hydrogen Peroxide would kill flu > > germs, do you have a source for seeing the tests? Eric > > couldn't find any. > > > > Does alcohol really hurt keytops, or is this another urban > > pianotech legend?? I've never seen it, but there's a million > > things I haven't seen. > > > > I hate to run this into the ground, but it looks like we need > > to study this more. I don't know about you, but BYU and Snow > > College want something definitive ASAP, and I'm afraid profs > > will take it upon themselves to start hosing down the piano > > after each student. Hence my pressing this query. > > > > Thanks. > > > > Jim Busby > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20090923/e8720031/attachment.htm>
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