Monthly Archives: February 2021

Staying Clean

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Keeping Safe during the Covid Pandemic

Many businesses that have been allowed to open during the Covid pandemic have had to follow strict guidelines to keep their employees and customers safe. This has been proven to be an especially challenging task.

For the past year we’ve all been using some combination of face masks, shields, gloves, disinfectants, bleach, gowns, paper towels and hand sanitizer among other things all with the goal of keeping the virus away from our bodies.

Like other establishments we were spending a considerable amount of time cleaning our facilities. We use spray bottles of sanitizer to clean tables, chairs and other surfaces and then wipe them dry. To save time and supplies, we purchased an electrostatic sprayer. They are different from conventional sprayers in that an electrostatic charge is applied to the disinfectant as it leaves the cone making miniscule droplets that are evenly dispersed. That the droplets are so small allows them to dry quickly.


This employee is using a large electrostatic sprayer to clean a dining table.

The cone on the end of the wand evenly distributes the disinfectant. The disinfectant dries in a few seconds and is safe to the touch.


In this slow motion video the employee is using the wand to apply the disinfectant.

This 3 gallon capacity sprayer has a rechargeable battery and can be worn as a backpack.

This is a smaller sprayer comes with two rechargeable batteries. The unit weighs less than the orange one above. Instead of a wand, the nozzle is used to adjust the spray pattern of the disinfectant.

The one gallon capacity tank for this sprayer has backpack straps for easier use. Two ounces of the concentrate are mixed with water to make a gallon of sanitizer. This brand of concentrate is confirmed to kill Covid germs.

So far we’ve had good success with these sprayers. If you’re looking for a way to keep your facility clean you’ll want to consider an electrostatic sprayer.

Backyard Ice Rink

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A Fun Outdoor Activity

This year winter came a little late to Michigan. The cold weather seemed to wait until mid-January to swoop down upon us. Then suddenly we got a bunch of snow and the temperature dropped.

With the Covid pandemic keeping us close to home, we were looking for an activity that would be fun but safe. My wife came up with the idea to build a small backyard ice rink so that the grandkids could have some outdoor exercise.

After a little thought we decided upon a 20′ x 40′ rink. We made a couple of visits to a nearby hardware store to buy 140 feet of 4″ PVC tubing, a bunch of connectors to keep them attached and a bunch of 2″ x 4″s as a support frame. The hardest part was the hours it took to locate a large plastic sheet (30′ x 50′) to hold the water. After buying all of the supplies we were ready to start.

First we had to clear the snow from the area where we want to build the rink.

Next we carefully laid the plastic sheet down over the PVC frame and then filled it with water.

Hurry up and wait. We had to wait for two days for the temperature to do its trick. That’s how long it took for the water to turn to ice thick enough for us to use.

However before skating we have to smooth the surface using our home-made “zamboni”.

Finally a look at the rink after we smoothed out the ice.
I took the liberty of pretending to practice hockey as I did 50 years ago on a local lake.

The weather has remained cold for February and so the grandkids have been able to use the rink since.

Everyone was definitely tired of being in lockdown. It’s been a boon to getting the grandkids out and about. The skating and hockey has been a very welcome addition to their activities.