Hello there,
I am rather new to pressure washing and softwashing but have been here a few weeks and trying to learn whatever I can.
One of the biggest things that I have learned is that I should be pre-treating and post-treating concrete. I’ve also learned that it is far better to softwash a home with SH than to hit it with the pressure.
About a week ago, I started looking for potential suppliers of SH at 12% or higher. Unfortunately, my area’s “pool supply stores” are really just pool services companies (sending out people to clean or build pools). Those that sell chemicals are selling powder only. Traditional big box stores, hardware stores, agricultural supplies, and just about any other place that I could think of do not sell liquid bleach higher than 6% save for one which I can get it at 10% if it’s in stock. There is a chemical supply warehouse about 80 miles north of me but I would hate to have to travel that far unless I was buying in bulks of 25+ gallons which I am not there yet.
My question is if it’s possible for me to combine the 6% or 10% with same or other strength SH to get a higher concentration?
I’m sorry if that sounds like a softball question but Chemistry was not my strong suit.
On the off chance this finds someone in the area or some guru with knowledge of chemical suppliers around me, I live in Columbus, GA so if you know of suppliers and are willing to share, I appreciate it.
I don’t think it works that way. Have you tried finding a cleaning company or a chemical manufacturer near you? Alot of places have acess to bleach and will sell you a drum. 55 gallons will go faster than you think. Also ag and farm stores. Not sure how Georgia works but I’m sure they are out there. It’s hard to find sometimes.
If you combine 6% and 10% in equal parts, you’ll get 8% concentration.
I’ve used 10% before in a pinch, it’ll work for downstreaming if your machine is a 4/4 unit and running 100’ of hose or less. By the time it comes out at that length it’ll be around .8%, which is fine for algae on houses.
I tried using it with my 5.5 and 200’ hose and it wasn’t strong enough.
Oh boy have I. I’ve looked for janitorial companies, chemical companies, and just about anywhere that I could think of to have industrial strength bleach. Either no one has anything higher than 6% or they won’t tell me without making an account with them. Since my jobs right now are few and far between as I’m just starting out, I don’t feel it makes much sense to buy in bulk. Anything more than 5-10 gallons right now is probably more than I need for a few weeks at a time and as I’ve read, this stuff has a short shelf life.
That’s really strange a pool supply store doesn’t have liquid chlorine.
Check WalMart, the ones around here carry 10% in the seasonal section.
I think the guys around here are going to the tablets and granules. Leslie’s is probably the name everyone around here knows best that is near me and they definitely don’t have any liquid. What I’ve found so far is that Leslie’s is the only company in my city of 200k that sells chemicals direct to the owner. There are maybe a few guys doing this around me but I don’t know them so I have no clue if they are making the trek to Atlanta to the one distributor I mentioned earlier or if they have some other means to do so.
Call Han Chem in Buford, GA and see if they supply anyone near you who resells it. I get mine from Han, as I only live about 15 mins from them, but they do supply all the other pressure washing supply companies in the metro Atlanta area. They may know of someone down your way.
Hey, you can always ask a local washer where they are getting their SH from, or just call one in a town over so they don’t feel threatened. Just don’t pretend to be a customer or something.
Thanks for the tip! I’ll give them a call in the morning.
The business man in me tells me that would be a bad idea but maybe the guy has too much work and doesn’t mind a small guy doing it for some competition? I’ll definitely look into contacting him. Thanks.
I’ll bet these folks know, if they don’t sell it themselves. https://www.southlandchemical.com/index.php
Just an update. I checked out the Southland Chemical and they just recently closed their doors. The few local pool stores that I hit are selling 10% for like $5-$8/gallon which isn’t terribly helpful for getting that 12.5%. Han Chem was super helpful for what they could do but they don’t have anyone they knew nearby. They did say they could ship be 12.5% but it would come out to $13/gal after shipping which is just too high IMO.
I guess now I’m about to reach out to the competition to see what they are doing. Hopefully they will be nice.
Good luck man, jeez. Keep us posted.
Like I said, try calling a PW business a few towns over, they may be more amenable to divulging their ‘secret’ source of SH.
So as I walked back into my day job office, one of the managers asked where I was. It turns out a coworker of mine has a son who does fleet washing down here and my manager let me know about it. She asked him for me and he is apparently getting 55 gal drum fills from a little obscure chem supplier about 5 miles down the road from my house. 55 gal drum fill for $95.
I’m going to get in contact with them over the weekend. Maybe… Just maybe they will be willing to do some 1-5 gallons for me while I grow until I need that full 55 gal drum or more.
Most around here do 15 gallon minimums. Talk to local car washes because their soap sometimes come in 15 gallon totes and buy one off them or buy a 15 tote off amazon. Either way buy a tank/ drum and buy the minimum. Make it work. You found the source. Ive read SH tanks with a bottom drain can leak over time. I dont know this but ive read it before so take that for what it’s worth. Maybe other more experienced guys can comment on the tanks they use.
Are you sure it’s that cheap? If everyone else in your area is charging the outrageous $5-8 per gallon something is off. I used to buy 5 gal car boys at Leslie’s for $24 until I hooked up with the wholesaler that sells to them. I get 53 gal drums for $116 which is about $2.20 per gallon. That would be at $1.72, which if accurate is a screaming deal. Anyhow for less amounts ask Leslie’s to order car boys for you. Since they sell it here in Cali they should know what it is and have an account to buy some.
I couldn’t imagine $1/gal.
Yet another update.
Visited the chem supplier (friendly bunch) and they just delivered a quote to me.
15 gallon bleach (12.5%) w/container is $100.00. Cost in the future would be $2/gallon so $30 to fill up. I own the container.
Bleach (12.5%) 55 gallon drum is $97.90. That’s $1.78/gallon. I’m not sure how the drum works here as they receive it in the drum themselves.
I haven’t bought any yet so I have no clue how much I’m going to use on a typical surface and house wash to know what to buy. I don’t feel like getting 55 drum is the right way to start as I don’t have enough work lined up to justify wasting the extra if I can’t get it out in 2 months.
Wow I couldn’t imagine paying that for Sh
