I have been using a steam mop for about a decade.  It does a great job on wood floors, linoleum, and tile.  The trick is to routinely clean the pad, so you are not just spreading the dirt, but picking it up off the floor.

And, I don’t add any chemicals to the water (which would gunk up the steam production unit) or on the floors.  (OK.  Sure, if there is a spill, I clean that first with “Fantastic”; let it dry; and then hot mop the floor.)

But, too many folks use fancy cleansers and mop their floors.   Which is a real problem- one about which they probably don’t know.

You see, it turns out that combination means organic aerosols are formed- the chemicals in the cleansers react with air components.  And, even in high ventilation rooms, with very low ambient ozone levels, aerosol formation is profuse.  Moreover, the particles are very, very fine- on the order of 30 nanometers- which means they are capable of penetrating deep into the lungs of those who are “working the room”.

Dr. Brandon Boor , along with Drs. J. Jiang (both of Purdue); Drs. CMF Rosales, A Lahib, BP Bottorff, EK Reidy, V Kumar, PS Stevens  (all from Indiana University);  A Tosoglou, H. Huber ( both associates with RJ Lee Group, Inc.); and Drs. S Dusanter, A Thomas (University of Lille) authored the study, “Chemistry and human exposure implications of secondary organic aerosol production from indoor terpene ozonolysis”.   The paper was published in Science Advances.

The problem is that the scents that folks love are almost all reactive- so they will combine with chemicals in the air.  And, that’s how the small, nano particles form- which can enter and damage our respiratory systems.

To determine the situation, the study involved common lemon-scented cleanser as the mopping solution.  Limonene is the typical chemical that provides that citrus scent- and it has a high propensity to hold dirt, works on various surfaces.  It’s also a monoterpene (aka, essential oil).  And, even if there are but a few molecules of ozone in the air (very typical, 5 to 10 ppb), the monoterpenes readily combine to form peroxy radicals.

But, this is not a theoretical study.  Actual mopping was done in a small (164 sq ft) room for 15 minutes.  Air quality was monitored for 90 minutes thereafter.  This room effected 4.5 full air exchanges an hour- way more than would prevail in a normal home (which effects 1-2 air changes an hour). Even so, peroxy radicals (HO₂ and RO₂) readily formed as the limonene air levels rose and the ozone concentration was depleted.  (Obviously, the ozone was combining with the essential oils.)  Moreover, it was this reaction that was the key- it was not from stirring up the dust on the floors.

Should the mopper stay in the room for about an hour after mopping, that person would be subjected to 560 to 720 micrograms of VOC (volatile organic compounds) and 3 to 7.5 micrograms of miniscule organic aerosols.  The problem is that health effect studies of these aerosols have only been done in outside air- not inside air.

And, those that mop floors for a living are the ones most likely to develop adverse health effects.  Unless they always wear N95 masks while cleaning the rooms.

Maybe it’s time you started using the steam mop system I use.

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