Onsite Generation Explained

Most facilities buy their sanitation chemistry. It arrives as concentrate in drums, pails or cases, gets stored, gets diluted by staff, and gets used up — then the cycle repeats. Onsite generation reverses that model. Instead of buying the active chemical, you buy a system that makes it, and you feed that system salt, water and electricity.

This page explains what that looks like in practice: what goes in, what equipment is involved, how solution reaches the people who use it, what the daily routine becomes, and where onsite generation fits and does not fit. For the chemistry itself, see how hypochlorous acid works.

The model in one sentence

Onsite generation turns sanitation chemistry from a consumable you buy into a utility you produce — like compressed air or hot water — made where it is used, when it is needed, at the strength each task calls for.

What goes in

That is the whole ingredient list. There is no concentrate to receive, no drum to decant and no dilution chart on the wall.

The equipment

A commercial or industrial system is a small process plant. The main components are:

• Pre-treatment — a softener where needed and a sediment filter in a housing, protecting the cell from scale and particles (see filtration).
• Brine supply — a salt or brine reservoir with a pump or dosing line feeding the cell.
• The electrolytic cell — where current passes through the dilute brine to produce hypochlorous acid. EcoloxTech systems use a patented single-pass design that delivers one near-neutral stream at pH 5.0–6.5.
• Controls — a control board that manages current, flow and set point, and starts and stops production.
• Storage — an optional holding tank, sized to cover peaks, with a float switch that tells the system when to refill it.
• Distribution — pumps, pipework and outlets that carry solution to where it is used: hose stations, sprayer filling points, wash lines.

How solution gets from the generator to the task

Facilities typically use one of three layouts:

1. Point-of-use. The generator sits where the solution is used — a kitchen, a clinic room, a wash station — and staff draw directly from it.
2. Central generation with storage. One system fills a holding tank; a pump feeds a small network of outlets around the building. This is the common pattern for plants, schools and hotels.
3. Fill-and-carry. Solution is drawn into labelled bottles, backpack sprayers, electrostatic sprayers or foggers and carried to the task. Any stored solution is tested before use.

Many sites mix the three. Getting distribution right is often the difference between a system that is used everywhere and one that is used only near the machine.

What the daily routine becomes

Maintenance

An onsite system asks for a short, predictable routine rather than a supply chain:

• Keep feed water softened and replace sediment cartridges on schedule.
• Keep the salt or brine supply topped up.
• Verify output — free chlorine and pH — each shift, and record it.
• Follow the service interval for the cell, pumps and valves. Replacement pumps, valves and float switches and control boards are stocked.

Where onsite generation fits — and where it does not

Where a task requires an EPA-registered disinfectant with label claims, use a registered product such as HOCl-AS200 according to its label. Generators are regulated as devices and carry no registered claims — see regulations.

Safety and training

Removing concentrate from the floor removes the most common chemical-handling task, but it does not remove the need for training. Staff still need to know four things well: clean before sanitising; keep surfaces wet for the contact time in the SOP; never mix hypochlorous acid with acids, ammonia or other chemicals; and check strength before use. Outlets and containers should be clearly labelled with the solution, its strength and the date, and the site’s safety data sheets and risk assessment should cover the solution as it is used.

For the equipment itself, access to the cell, controls and brine supply is usually limited to trained staff, with a simple daily checklist: salt level, output reading, pH reading, any alarms, and the log signed off.

Records auditors ask for

Common misconceptions

• “It replaces cleaning.” It does not. Detergents and mechanical action remove soil; hypochlorous acid is applied afterwards.
• “Salt water can’t be doing anything.” The salt is only the input. The cell converts chloride into hypochlorous acid; what comes out is a free-chlorine solution, which is why it must be handled and verified like one.
• “The generator makes it a registered disinfectant.” Generators are regulated as devices; registered claims belong to registered products and their labels.
• “Once installed, it runs itself.” It runs with little effort, but feed water, salt, filters and daily verification still need attention.

Getting started

1. List every sanitation task, its volume and when it happens.
2. Check water, power, drainage and space at the likely install point.
3. Decide on the layout: point-of-use, central with storage, or fill-and-carry.
4. Size the system and storage for your peaks (the buyer’s guide walks through it).
5. Write the SOPs and the verification routine before go-live.

The free sanitation audit does steps 1–4 with you and sends a written recommendation.

Installation and commissioning

A commercial installation usually takes place in four steps. First, a site survey confirms the location, the water supply and its hardness, drainage, electrical supply and the route to each point of use. Second, the generator is mounted with its pre-filter and softener, connected to water, brine and power, and linked to any holding tank, float switch and distribution pumps. Third, the system is commissioned: the set point is dialled in, output is measured for free available chlorine and pH, and those first readings become the baseline in the log. Fourth, the people who will run it are trained on the daily checks, the test method, refilling salt or brine and what to do if a reading falls outside range.

Most sites run the new system alongside their existing products for a short period, area by area, before retiring the old chemistry. That keeps the change controlled and gives the team time to build confidence in the routine.

Frequently asked questions