Is SH considered a pesticide?

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So I have a few friends in the landscaping business and they / at the very least there bosses need to have a Pesticide license. Fertilizer, weed and feed or any kind of weed killer plus many more things are considered a pesticide by the EPA. So that got me thinking since we are killing mold and mildew and they are living organisms is SH considered a pesticide? And has anyone ever herd of anyone in this industry needing any license or certificate?

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I’ll let the Cali folks weigh in on this one…if they don’t, then it probably doesn’t exist anywhere.

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Only if you’re shooting it on pesky people.

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Seriously, I think most states require certain licenses for treating mold or mold remediation, reason you’ll rarely see a pressure washer offering that. It’s always mildew or algae. Probably a fine line not to step over.

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So it’s an EPA regulation. So I believe it’s more federal that state. I’ve been trying to read up on it but getting conflicting information. One website said if you were using it to kill algae or mildew you would need it but if you were using it to remove / cleaner stains from algae or mildew you didn’t. I also looked on bottle of Clorox bleach and it doesn’t have any epa numbers on it but I looked at a bottle of 12.5 sh and it said it was a pesticide and had an epa number.

I’m sure it’s over kill but I also want to be compliant if it’s a gray line

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@CaCO3Girl has explained this before somewhere on the forum.

IIRC, it comes down to whether or not you make a “pesticidal claim” in your advertising or customer communication. That means, don’t say you kill the algea and mildew. Say you’re removing the stains from algae and mildew.

It’s a weird technicality. But apparently that’s the only difference between us needing a pest control operator’s license or not. How we communicate it to the public.

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Thanks for the info. I tried to search I didn’t come up with anything you wouldn’t have that post / thread would you?

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Just refer to it as an algicide. Look on any bottle of liquid pool shock and it says it’s an algicide. That’s what I tell my customers. I am applying an algicide and they can draw their own conclusions from that.

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This is not good advice. Any claim you make that causes harm or a barrier to things like algae, mold and mildew IS a pesticide.

Algaecide is making a kill claim and therefor is a pesticidal claim. You can remove stains but you cannot put in writing or advertising that you are using a mildewcide or algaecide or that you can kill mold and or algae.

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There you go!

It all boils down to what are you claiming. Do you “kill mold and remove algae”….or do you remove the stains caused by mold and algae? :wink:

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Thank you Mary. Hope you are well

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Thank you very much for all the info. I’ll definitely check out that thread. Call me crazy, but I actually reached out to my states DEEP (dept of energy and environmental protection) I wrote them an email and i was very specific. I told them i owned a pressure washing company, I asked if I’m hired and being paid by a customer to clean the presents / staining of algae or mildew from a customer houses siding, deck, fence or even staining on their roof, I explained this is done by using a combination of bleach and water and then i asked if bleach is considers a pesticide and if a license was needed. There response was yes bleach is a pesticide but they do not require anyone who cleans or sanitizing to be licensed so no license would be necessary.

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So…funny thing is only certain bleach is a pesticide as defined by the EPA. If it is a pesticide it will have an epa registration number on the bottle and the label will have very specific words.

I once worked for a chemical company that manufactured a pesticide for an ice machine cleaner. We got the sub registration from Stepan who owned the formula, and did all the work to register it with the epa. We were basically borrowing their formula with permission, they make money because we have to buy the key pesticide ingredient from them.

I had a conversation with the sales guy because I was thinking about using the pesticide in another formula that wasn’t an EPA registered pesticide. The sales guy flat out told me they sold the same formula in two ways, one was for use in EPA pesticides and the other was for use when there were no pesticidal claims…and it was half the price of the pesticide one.

Same formula, but only one was used for an actual registered pesticide.

All bleach or SH of a suitable strength will kill mold and mildew so they have pesticidal properties but unless they are registered they aren’t actually pesticides per the epa rules. Welcome to the world of word semantics which is why it’s so complicated.

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Fun…check your paperwork I guess…

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I just checked lol My 6% Clorox isn’t but my 12.5 I got from my pool store says it is and has an epa number lol

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So my state said I didn’t need a license, I’m Not making any pesticidal claims when I speak to my customers. Can I still use my SH from the pool store or no bc it is labeled a pesticide? Or should I try and find sh that isn’t registered?

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I think you are thinking too much

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I guarantee it… it’s unfortunately a bad trait of mine lol

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I just “read” an audiobook on that…I may be over-thinking my over-thinking problem…

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Sheesh, give it a rest. State said you were ok. Don’t make any wild claims and forget about it. You’re not spraying anthrax on the house, you’re basically spraying glorified pool water with some soap in it.

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