CT815 Keyboard WetSwab Alcohol-Saturated Foam Swab

When “Quick Keyboard Cleaning” Becomes a Contamination-Control Step

Keyboards, keypads, and instrument control panels are deceptively dirty interfaces. They sit at the intersection of glove contact, skin oils, airborne dust, label adhesive, and occasional process splashes. In controlled environments, they also become transfer points: an operator touches a keypad, then touches a cart handle, then touches a staging bin. The real problem is not cosmetic grime. It is uncontrolled residue and uncontrolled technique — especially when liquid alcohol is poured, sprayed, or applied with improvised swabs that drip into key wells and spread contamination instead of capturing it.

CleanTex CT815 Keyboard WetSwab is designed to make that job more repeatable: a pre-moistened, elongated foam swab sealed in an individual foil packet to clean between keys and around tight plastic geometries without opening an alcohol bottle on the bench.

What it’s for

CT815 is a workstation-cleaning swab for:

• Computer and instrument keyboard keys and keypads
• Small control panels and recessed button edges
• “Sticky key” situations where oils and fine debris accumulate in the keycap perimeter and travel channel

It is best thought of as an access tool: it gets solvent and mechanical contact into places wipes cannot reach, with packaging that supports one-swab-per-task discipline.

Decision drivers (what buyers should care about first)

• Wetness control and solvent concentration: You are buying repeatability. A “damp” swab lifts and captures; an over-wet swab floods key wells and spreads soils.
• Head geometry and stiffness: Long, flexible foam reaches between keys; too soft and it rides over edges, too stiff and it can snag and smear.
• Residue risk: Alcohol chemistry, water content, and head material drive drying behavior, streaking, and any visible film risk.
• Low-linting behavior with the reality check: Many swabs are marketed as “lint-free,” but no swab (or wiper) is truly lint-free. Your goal is low-linting and process-appropriate shedding control.
• Packaging discipline: Individually sealed foil packets reduce evaporation drift and help enforce single-use technique.
• Documentation fit: In regulated spaces, you may need SDS alignment, lot/pack traceability, and an SOP that explains how you prevent dripping and cross-contamination.

Materials and construction, explained in practical terms

CT815 is described as a pre-moistened swab with an elongated, flexible foam head and a rounded, easy-to-hold handle, sealed in an individual foil packet. In practice, that geometry matters more than it sounds:

• Foam head behavior: Foam distributes solvent across a surface while providing mild “micro-scrub” on textured plastics. For key edges, foam compresses into corners better than rigid cotton tips, which tend to bridge and leave soils behind.
• Handle control: A rounded handle improves rotational control. Rotation is not a nice-to-have; it is how you present a clean contact face as the swab loads with soils.
• Bonding matters even when you’re “just cleaning a keyboard”: If the head-to-handle bond uses adhesive, there is always a theoretical risk of softening or leaching with aggressive solvents. CT815 is pre-moistened with an alcohol solution, so the practical risk is usually lower than with ketones, but users in stricter contamination-control programs should still qualify the swab for residue and shedding in their specific use.

And again: even if a swab “dries quickly,” treat all swabs as low-linting, not lint-free. The difference is how you validate and how you use it.

Specifications in context

On the SOSCleanroom product page, CT815 is sold as:

However, the Safety Data Sheet for “Keyboard WetSwab” (CT815) lists the solution as 2-propanol (isopropyl alcohol) 60% and water 40%.

Operationally, do not treat this as trivia. Alcohol percentage changes:

• Dry time and streaking risk
• Soil solubility (oily fingerprints vs. salt residues)
• Flammability profile and vapor loading in confined work areas

Best practice in controlled environments is simple: verify the alcohol concentration on the packaging label and the current SDS for the lot you received, then lock that into your cleaning SOP. If your process assumes fast flash-off, do not rely on assumptions when the documentation differs.

Cleanliness and performance metrics: how to interpret the “why” behind the numbers

CT815 is positioned as a workstation-cleaning swab, not as a published-metrics cleanroom swab with stated NVR, ionic extractables, or particle-shedding tables. That does not make it bad. It means you must align expectations to risk.

For keyboard and control-panel cleaning, the critical metrics are typically:

• Visible residue / film risk: A water-bearing alcohol blend can leave more visible drying patterns on glossy plastics than higher-purity alcohol. If cosmetic appearance matters, qualify on representative panels under your lighting conditions.
• NVR (nonvolatile residue): If keyboards sit inside cleaner manufacturing zones (ISO 7/8 tool bays, packaging rooms), NVR becomes more meaningful. A practical qualification is a swab pass on a clean glass or stainless coupon, dry-down, then visual inspection under angled light for streaking or pooled residue lines. Higher-criticality programs use gravimetric residue or TOC screening as a gate.
• Ionic extractables: Typically less critical for keyboards than for product-contact surfaces, but relevant in microelectronics where residues can migrate under humidity and bias.
• Particle and fiber shedding: Even low-linting swabs can shed if over-scrubbed on sharp edges, used dry, or reused after loading. Technique drives shedding as much as material choice.

If you need published contamination-control metrics (NVR/ions, tighter dimensional tolerances, controlled packaging, documented traceability), consider stepping up to a cleanroom-processed foam swab family intended for controlled environments. Texwipe’s CleanFoam TX706A, for example, is described as cleanroom processed with low levels of NVR and ions, and produced with automated processes for consistency.

Why packaging / traceability matters operationally

Individually sealed foil packaging is not just convenience. It is a control point:

• Concentration stability: Foil packets reduce evaporation drift that occurs when alcohol bottles are left uncapped or when pre-wet swabs sit open.
• Single-use enforcement: One packet encourages one swab, one task, then discard — key to avoiding redeposit.
• Reduced open-solvent behavior: In many facilities, open containers of flammable liquids on benches are a recurring audit and safety concern. CT815 SDS language typically classifies the solution as a flammable liquid and vapor and provides standard ignition-control and PPE cautions.

Traceability is only as good as what you record. If keyboards are in GMP-adjacent areas, capture at minimum: product name, lot/pack identifiers available on the carton, and the SDS revision used to justify handling.

Best-practice use

Treat keyboard cleaning like a controlled process, not a wipe-down.

1) Prep the work area. Power down equipment where practical. If you cannot, at minimum prevent pooled solvent from entering openings. Keep ignition sources controlled; alcohol solutions are flammable.

2) Work cleanest to dirtiest. Start with low-contact keys or outer surfaces, then move to the heavy-use zones (spacebar area, enter keys, numeric pads). This reduces redeposit.

3) Use one-direction strokes. Follow rows. Use parallel, overlapping strokes. Avoid circular scrubbing unless your procedure explicitly requires it — circular motion tends to chase soils into edges.

4) Single-pass discipline. Make a controlled pass, then rotate the swab to present a clean face. Do not keep scrubbing with a loaded foam surface.

5) Wetness control. A damp swab lifts and captures; an over-wet swab spreads and pools. If the swab feels too wet for electronics-adjacent use, lightly touch the foam to a compatible low-linting wipe to reduce free liquid before contacting the keyboard.

6) Do not re-dip, and do not reuse. CT815’s format is designed to prevent the classic failure mode: re-dipping a dirty swab into a solvent reservoir and turning the reservoir into a contamination source.

7) Let it dry, then verify. Dry time depends on alcohol concentration and airflow. After dry-down, verify by touch-free visual inspection under angled light for streaking or pooled residue lines around key edges.

Common failure modes — and how to prevent them

Flooding key wells.
If liquid wicks under keycaps, you can mobilize soils and deposit them deeper.
Prevention: damp-only technique, minimal pressure, no repeated scrubbing.

Cross-contamination from a loaded swab.
The foam head can hold significant debris.
Prevention: rotate frequently; stop once the swab shows visible loading.

Smearing adhesive and label residue.
Alcohol can soften some adhesives and spread them.
Prevention: use short, controlled strokes; consider a two-step method in tougher cases (soil break-up first, then a final pass with a fresh swab).

Surface hazing or legend damage.
Isopropyl alcohol can affect some plastics, coatings, or printed legends over time.
Prevention: test on a representative keyboard/model; follow OEM guidance where available.

Safety drift.
Alcohol solutions remain flammable; ventilation and ignition control matter even for small-format packets.
Prevention: align handling to SDS controls (no ignition sources, appropriate PPE for repeated use).

Closest competitors (named, limited, and relevant)

Texwipe CleanFoam TX706A keyboard swab (closed-cell foam).
If you need a keyboard-focused geometry with stronger contamination-control documentation, TX706A is positioned as a cleanroom-processed foam swab made with automated processes and packaged for controlled environments. Texwipe also uses trademarked light-green handles with “TEXWIPE” embossed on the handle as an authenticity and traceability identifier. From an SOSCleanroom standpoint, this is where relationship reliability shows up: our Texwipe partnership supports continuity of supply, documentation expectations, and consistent product definition for customers who standardize on Texwipe swabs.

Contec CONSTIX SF-3 sealed foam swab.
For users prioritizing adhesive-free construction language and broad solvent compatibility statements, Contec describes SF-3 as a thermally sealed, adhesive-free sealed open-cell foam swab compatible with isopropanol and ethanol, with ketones such as acetone or MEK commonly noted as not recommended for this foam type. This is often a good fit when users want apply-and-remove behavior with controlled bonding claims.

Berkshire Lab-Tips LTC125 (large closed-cell foam over rigid paddle).
For larger flat surfaces or more aggressive scrubbing where durability and support matter, Berkshire positions LTC125 as closed-cell foam over a rigid paddle with thermal bonding and low particles and fibers. It is not a pre-moistened format, so the user must manage solvent purity and wetness control separately.

Where this swab sits in a controlled cleaning program

CT815 is best positioned as a workstation and interface cleaning tool — keyboards, keypads, control surfaces — especially in support areas, labs, tool control stations, and other high-touch points where you want to avoid open alcohol containers. It is not inherently a cleaning validation sampling swab, and users should not assume it is suitable for TOC-sensitive recovery, ionic extractables testing, or regulated residue quantitation without qualification.

If you are operating under FDA expectations, remember what inspectors usually care about in practice: defined procedures, defined acceptance criteria, and evidence the method is reproducible. Cleaning-process inspection guidance emphasizes consistency and science-based demonstration that the system does what it is intended to do. For regulated compounding environments, USP <797> and USP <800> programs add their own monitoring and contamination-control expectations that often include documented sampling approaches for specific risks.

Where do end users send validation samples (when validation is the goal)?
For residue and compliance-driven programs, samples are typically analyzed by internal QC/analytical laboratories, qualified contract testing laboratories that run TOC, HPLC/UPLC, or targeted residue methods, and environmental monitoring and hazardous-drug residue testing services for USP <800>-aligned wipe sampling programs. The operational takeaway is straightforward: match the swab to the method. If the goal is clean the keyboard safely, CT815 can be a practical tool. If the goal is prove cleanliness analytically, use a swab and kit designed, documented, and qualified for sampling recovery.

• [1] SOSCleanroom product page: “CT815 Keyboard WetSwab Alcohol-Saturated Foam Swab” (description, packaging, stated alcohol concentration, foil packet).
• [2] CleanTex/Advantus Safety Data Sheet: “Keyboard WetSwab, CT815” (composition listing, hazards, handling/storage guidance).
• [3] FDA: “Validation of Cleaning Processes (7/93)” (inspection reference framing for cleaning validation expectations).
• [4] USP: General Chapter <797> overview material (compounding program requirements context).
• [5] USP: General Chapter <800> overview material (hazardous drug handling and residue control context).
• [6] Texwipe: “CleanFoam TX706A Medium Head Cleanroom Swab, Non-Sterile” (cleanroom processing claims; ions/NVR positioning; handle identification cues).
• [7] Contec Cleanroom: “CONSTIX Sealed Foam Swabs SF-3” (sealed foam construction and compatibility guidance).
• [8] Berkshire: “Lab-Tips Large Closed-Cell Swabs (LTC125 family)” (closed-cell foam over rigid paddle; thermal bonding; particles/fibers positioning).
• [9] Eurofins and Eagle Analytical public materials on sampling/testing services (illustrative examples of external lab analysis workflows for compliance-driven surface sampling).