Equipment guide
Buying a fogger online vs leasing a validated machine
We are not going to pretend cheap foggers do not work at all — they atomise liquid. The question is whether an atomiser plus an unvalidated chemical constitutes infection control in a building where somebody could get hurt or an inspector could call.
In short
A £150 garden sprayer will produce a mist. What it will not produce is a documented dose for your room volume, a defensible safe re-entry time, a trained and competent operator, validated chemistry or evidence for an auditor. For regulated environments the machine is the cheapest part of the job.
6 min read ·
What you get for £150
A pump, a nozzle, a tank and a manual. Droplet size is usually adjustable but unverified, build quality varies, and the instructions will tell you to use 'a suitable disinfectant' without telling you which one, at what dilution, for what contact time.
None of that is illegal. It just means every technical decision that matters has been handed to whoever happens to be holding the machine.
What a validated machine adds
A surveyed dose per room volume, a chemistry with published efficacy data behind the up to 99.9999% claim, a safe re-entry time you can put on a door sign, trained operators and technical support from a named regional office.
It also adds consistency. The same machine, chemistry and method every time is what makes results comparable and records meaningful.
Where the cheap route actually costs money
Three places: an incident where nobody can evidence what was used, a failed audit or client inspection, and re-treating spaces because the first attempt did not achieve anything measurable.
The third is the common one. Sites often fog for a year, see no change in their infection or complaint numbers, and only then discover the droplet size and chemistry were never going to deliver.
So when is buying reasonable?
Low-risk, unregulated spaces where the outcome is odour or general hygiene rather than infection control, and where nobody will ever be asked to prove anything.
The moment patients, residents, students, food or the public are involved, the evidence trail is not optional and leasing a validated machine is the straightforward way to get one.
Frequently asked
- Can we use our own disinfectant in a leased machine?
- No. The machine is leased with SanoChem because the efficacy, dosing and safe entry times are validated for that combination. Substituting chemistry invalidates all of it.
- Do you sell machines outright?
- Our model is leasing to approved organisations, which is what keeps training, chemical supply and support attached to the machine.
- What is wrong with a garden sprayer indoors?
- Droplet size, dosing accuracy and the absence of any validated chemistry or re-entry calculation. It will wet surfaces; it will not deliver a documented whole-volume decontamination.
- How do we know your figures are real?
- The up to 99.9999% claim is supported by independent testing on file, including 6-log spore reduction from a single ten-minute fog and over 5-log reduction of M. tuberculosis in an 80m³ laboratory.
Sources: material published by Sanondaf UK at sanondaf.co.uk (news, research and case studies) and the technical and commercial documentation held by the Shropshire & West Midlands office. Figures are indicative and confirmed at survey. Efficacy is stated as up to 99.9999% reduction.