Shall be excluded of selection: products containing phenols, active chlorines or chlorides, because of their corroding power. Shall also be excluded the aldehydes, because of their capacity to reinforce prions under saturated steam action, their allergenic power and their capacity to corrode.
How to desinfect:
• Treat separately from chrome-plated instruments,
• Desinfection shall be achieved as soon as the instrument is removed from the sterile field in the operating room.
• Hardness of the water must be between 4°TH and 8°TH. Hard water inhibits the antimicrobial action and can lead to limestone deposits on the instrument when combined with detergents.
• The chlorine content of dilution water has to be lower than 20 mg/L, to avoid any risk of surgical instruments corrosion.
• The mineral elements (iron, copper, manganese,…) content of water shall be as low as possible, in order to prevent those elements being coated on the instruments and give them, through time, a bronze or rusty-coloured surface aspect.
• Scrupulously conform to the chemical product concentration that shall not be increased nor decreased at the risk of compromising the efficiency or increasing the unsolicited effects.
• Do never mix products together, above all, do never add detergents to disinfection solution.
• Bath temperature shall be of 20°C, except for proteolytic enzymes.

If the smell of the soaking solution spreads, it means the water temperature is too high, and the active ingredients volatilize to the detriment of the efficiency.

Instrument's immersion shall be total, for the desinfection to get extended to the whole instrument's surface, and to avoid electrolytic reaction.

Respect soaking time. A too short soaking time would compromise the desinfection action and a too long with some corrosive products would lead to an irreversible damage to the instruments. As a rule, regardless the selected product, soaking time shall never exceed 30 minutes, while scrupulously respecting the recommended concentration.