How to avoid germs - Gas Station

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How to avoid germs - Gas Station


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I hate getting sick. Most of you feel the same way. I especially hate getting sick when I’m responsible for teaching classes that have paying customers and have also been scheduled far in advance.

Besides not wanting to let anyone down, it’s simply no fun to put on a high-energy class without the energy. :dunno:


So I’ve learned to be a germaphobic. Especially when traveling due to the volume of people you will come into contact with. Besides the people you will come into contact with there all the people you will not come into contact with BUT you will come into contact with the things these people will have touched.


Here’s where I start when I'm traveling.

Getting gas for my car

Instead of throwing caution to the wind, here’s a simple way to avoid all the germs at the Gas Pump. Keep disposable nitrile gloves in your car.

Then do this, put one glove on the hand you will use. Only use this hand to touch everything.


The numbers on the keypad

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The selector button

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The gas nozzle handle and squeeze trigger

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Fill your gas tank - PROTECTED

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And think about this, if you fill all the way to full, you'll make less visits to the gas station and thus reduce the number of times you touch anything at the gas station.

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Use your clean hand to pull the glove off by the tip of the cuff where there was no surface contact with anything and dispose of at the gas station.

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Think about it...

If you don’t wear disposable gloves - you touch all the components at the gas pump to fuel up your car.


Next you get back into your car and grab and hold the steering wheel. The steering wheel becomes a Petri dish where the warmth and moisture from your skin will now create a perfect environment for germs to grow. Maybe your driving for a few minutes, maybe hours. Maybe after you are done driving - now your getting on a Jet. An enclosed environment.


How many people “touch” the surfaces on a gas pump?

I normally wouldn’t share this type of how-to info but in light of the Coronavirus in the news - it’s timely.




Disposable Nitrile Gloves

The thin disposable black nitrile gloves are inexpensive in context of your health and the health of all those around you. I don’t care where you buy your gloves but if your already placing an order for some car wax - add a box of these to your order and be pro-active about prevention. Autogeek also carries ORANGE heavy-duty nitrile gloves.



Here's the difference between the black and the orange gloves.


The black nitrile gloves are thinner and cost less. They also rip easier due to being thin.

Disposable Black Nitrile Gloves - Sizes: Medium - Large - X Large - XX Large

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The orange nitrile gloves are much thicker and more stout than the black nitrile gloves and also cost a tick more,

Orange Heavy Duty Nitrile Gloves - Sizes: Medium - Large - X Large - XX Large


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Price differences


Box of 100 black nitrile gloves = $16.00 = 17 cents per glove or 34 cents for a pair to wear.

Box of 100 orange nitrile gloves = $18.99 - 19 cents per glove or 38 cents for a pair to wear.

(in most cases you wear a pair of gloves, not just one glove)


There's a time and place for both types. I tend to prefer the orange gloves when doing any substantial work as they are much more heavy duty and also have dimples on them which increases your grip strength.

I prefer the black gloves when shooting video or taking pictures as the orange tends to blow-out the exposure making them look like they glow, which then takes away your focus from what you're trying to showcase.





Stay safe my friends...


:)


p.s.

If this Coronavirus is not contained and gets out of control in the United States, you're going to want a lot of gloves for everything and anything you have to do in public. Let's hope and pray it doesn't become a problem.


:bolt:
 
Great idea Mike. Just put a few nitrile gloves in a zip lock bag and tossed them in my glove compartment.
 
Well Mike... 99.9% of all the tips that I've read of yours I mostly agree with... But I can't buy into this one.

It's just never gonna happen for me.
 
I agree, makes sense. Only thing I began to think about, is how many times a day we all touch door handles to enter a store, same thing in a store when using a card to pay, and you're touching yet another keypad to perhaps enter a PIN.

People who are sick bagging your groceries, or making your food at a restaurant. Shopping carts, another place where germs live, and how many times lesser stores have no disposable wipes.

Not sure how well they work, they claim to kill germs, is a liquid Hand Sanitizer. Reckon that cannot hurt, and I've seen these in very small bottles. where they're handy enough to stick in any pocket when you're out and about.

Maybe one can buy a larger bulk bottle, and simply refill the smaller one to save some costs.
 
Well Mike... 99.9% of all the tips that I've read of yours I mostly agree with... But I can't buy into this one.

It's just never gonna happen for me.

How about a small bottle of hand sanitizer like MarkD51 suggested?
 
I use an app so the only thing I touch is the nozzle, nothing else on the pump. But I do get a bit disgusted touching that.
 
Well Mike... 99.9% of all the tips that I've read of yours I mostly agree with...


I'm feeling good about that. :dblthumb2:



But I can't buy into this one.

It's just never gonna happen for me.

I have no problem with this, each person can do as they will.

I started doing this last year when traveling for the Roadshow Classes. Usually I would fill up first thing in the morning before driving from Stuart, Florida to the PBI Airport about 30 minutes away. When I thought about how many people will have touched all the components needed to get gas into a car and then touching them AND then jumping into my car and holding onto the steering wheel for 30 minutes before being trapped on a jet for hours, it simply grossed me out.

But I'm a lot more careful than other people. When I set up any class, there's a LOT of money and logistics behind these classes, not just on Autogeek's part but on the part of all the people attending, (they fly-in, get hotels, rental cars etc.), and the hosts for the classes stopping their normal routines for Autogeek.

I can't risk getting sick and bringing pre-planned events to a screeching halt. Too much money involved not to mention hopes and dreams on the part of the people attending.

So I do a LOT of little things when I travel. For example, when entering or existing a building, whatever the commonly touched door handle is - I don't touch it. I look for some other place or area to touch to get the door open.

When taking a Tram at an airport, for example the Atlanta Airport, everyone grabs the bars, the hand-handles that hang down, the side rails, etc. I never touch those things.


Of course whatever is going to happen is going to happen, but I'm not going to help the germ transfer process if I can help it and often times I can help it - it's called thinking and being pro-active.

The glove idea above is just my good hygiene habit, everyone that reads this can do as they will. At some point the Coronavirus will pass but there's always something new on the horizon and the common cold.


:)
 
Great reminder. Back in the early days as a bench chemist a bunch of us were eating lunch (1988, I am dating myself) and we came up with the disposable gasoline glove that we could sell to the gas stations. Long story short, we never got it off the ground. To this day I keep solvent resistant gloves in my car that get cleaned weekly ( or that day if a spill occurs n they smell)so not as to add more hard to breakdown waste to landfills (nitrile gloves take decades to degrade, there are recycling programs and also Green Dex that breakdown easier) . Just food for thought
 
How I go to the gas station So I'm well known at the pump lol
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Sent from my SM-N960U using Autogeekonline mobile app
 
Great suggestion Mike, but I’m a little annoyed because your premium gas is only $3.01 for 93 octane. I’m paying almost $4 for 91. Ugh!
 
AG sells Gtechniq I2 Tri-Clean interior cleaner, it has anti bacterial stuff in it. I don't know the science behind it, but apparently it keeps killing bacteria days after you've used it. And it's a fantastic cleaner to boot. I don't want to get sick and die, but I don't want to add to our landfill problems by using itrile gloves for everything I come in contact with. Maybe I'll keep some I2 and a bottle of hand sanitizer in my center consol as a happy medium.
 
A couple of notes ...

1. Hand sanitizers are not effective against viruses, only against certain bacteria. The FDA just cracked down on Purell for making bogus claims about its effectiveness on viruses.

2. The length of time that bacteria and viruses can survive on various surfaces differs greatly. As does their ability to cause infection/illness.

Here is a great article from the NHS on this information - How long do bacteria and viruses live outside the body? - NHS


The basics of washing your hands and keeping your hands away from your mouth and nose still make the most sense. And if you choose to wear a mask when flying, make sure that mask can capture/contain something as small as a virus (microns in size). Call the mask manufacturer when in doubt.
 
57Rambler beat me to it. A gas pump handle is probably 1 of a thousand things you touch in a day. Can't see avoiding one out of a thousand things doing much... other then offering some peace of mind. Washing your hands a few times a day, trying to avoid touching your face and staying away from people as much as possible will do far more then anything else. Also, I'd recommend not using anything with antibacterial agents in it. As mentioned, it won't help against virus and it simply make treating bacteria that much more difficult. As the 99.99% claims on the bottle... it is 99.99% marketing.
 
I don't want to get sick and die, but I don't want to add to our landfill problems by using itrile gloves for everything I come in contact with. Maybe I'll keep some I2 and a bottle of hand sanitizer in my center consol as a happy medium.
Hand sanitizer kills bacteria. You are probably most worried about a virus. Hand sanitizer will make matters worse and washing your hands is just as effective. Consider spending a little more on biodegradable gloves, such as those made with EBT. They will break down in 1-5 years. Cost about $13 for 100.
 
I wouldn't toss those gloves in the trash at the station, they have your fingerprints in them now.
 
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