I know that sh does not work as well in colder Temps but, does it lose strength when it gets below freezing? I just got 50 gallons and we’re expecting upper 20s for the next two nights. I have a roof to clean Tuesday and the temp is supposed to be around 60. Will it lose enough strength to worry about over the next couple of nights
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No, you should be fine. But if you’re super worried, throw an old quilt or something over it, to help hold in heat. But temp dropping into upper 20’s for 5-6 hours at aa time won’t bother it.
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Thanks.
60’s is perfect! Not too cold. Not too hot. I’ve noticed when it hit the 40’s here house wash takes about 20% longer to do it’s thing, but when it hit the 30’s this past week it takes about 50% longer. Only 4 houses left and I’m done with residential this year!
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Doesnt allowing the SH to get hot speed up the degradation? It may be that cooling it slows that down until it reaches a certain temp and then it freezes.
It’ll be fine if you just got it. I had 320 gallons we used on our last to apartments of the season. Had it in the shop but still was down below freezing at night. It was fine…
60 is a little cool for roof cleaning…bump up your mix
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How high, 50%? I haven’t done a lot of roofs but this one is covered with moss lichen and no plants to worry about. The downspouts go to the driveway
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Heat does speed up the degradation of SH. Do you know what happens then??? You get salt and water. Why? Because NaCl is a byproduct of the way SH is made. The freezing point of bleach is below 20F…, so your SH won’t freeze in the 20’s and you will be fine.
Haveing said that…the reaction that SH, and cleaners, have on dirt, grease, oil, mold are all sped up the warmer it is. That means the colder it is they are all slowed down more. The breaking down of dirt and such is a chemical reaction. Reactions happen faster the hotter it is. Lighting a fire in winter takes more energy than lighting a fire in summer because the chemical reaction of burning the wood takes longer when it’s cold. This is also why in the winter your bon fires go out quickly and in the summer you have to pour like 9 gallons of water on a small fire to get it all to go out. The cold will actually take some of the energy away from the reaction.
So when it takes longer to clean in 60 degree weather than 90 degree weather, please don’t think your SH is bad.
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50/50 should be fine… full coat, ten minute dwell hit the bad spots again.
Rinsing or leaving?
That’s good to know, I was wondering what would happen if a customer called for an algae house wash in the 50’s.
Y, house I had today was pretty bad and it was 43 deg when I started. Used 8 gal of SH, 24oz of Elemonator and and about 1 gal of water thru my 8.5 which pulls about 18-1 with the injector I was using. It did the trick in about 5-6 min. But that’s about 25% stronger than I usually go. Also have noticed lately that I’m having to use more Elemonator. Used 3oz per gal and still didn’t have a lot of soap. Wonder if Bob has changed his formula. Been that way for past several months or maybe just got a weak batch.
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Leaving. There’s nothing it can harm. Everything drains to concrete. We’re also cleaning the concrete so we don’t have to worry about it streaking
I’ve noticed that to. We’re at about 3 oz per gallon also. I just tried the apple wash and really like it. I got it from Shaun when we were in Nashville. To me the apple is a better cover scent it suds good and through the 12v it serves as a marking agent. I think I’m going to to continue to use it.
I’ve seen all the stuff on the apple wash. Seems a little gimmicky. How’s the price on it?
Even at 3oz per gal the Elemonater still pretty cheap. Plus how’s the AW for downstreaming?
I think it was like 45 for a gallon. I bought a gallon for my softwash tank and a gallon to Downstream with. I’m going to try it out on a house tomorrow and see how it does instead of just spraying some on the sidewalk. I’ll let you know. I’m going to see how it does at 1oz per gallon
I doubt very well DS. It’s probably fine for direct app at that ratio. But probably like Green Wash, which is still probably my favorite soap but for ds you need about 7-8oz per gal which gets your soap cost up to about $10-$11 for my average hw. For roofs I can go 1-1.5 oz per gal using my 12v.
So for really nice homes I’ll use it, (Green Wash), unless it’s brick or really dirty, then I’ll use the Limonene, but it runs about as much as the GW. But with both of those you can use a little less SH. For the run of the mill vinyl I use the Elemonator. It’s just easy and even using it at 3oz per gal probably less than $5 per wash.
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I see your point. I’m experimenting with it. I mixed one gallon of dragon grip and one gallon of Apple wash. When doing roofs where do you have your soap dial set?
I use Snotmenade on roofs exclusively and usually around 3-3.5 unless really steep then around 4-4.5
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I’ll play with it tomorrow on a customer/friends house. I’ll probably start at around 6 with my soap mix and adjust from there. I’ll let you know how the apple wash does and if it’s worth trying. I’m really trying to support Shaun. I think he’s a genuinely good person. There was a few items on my bill that he could have left on there and I would not have known the difference but he removed them. That said a lot of his business integrity. We need more suppliers like that in this industry.
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He’s a really good guy from everything I’ve heard. If I can ever find a pickup I like he’d be one of the calls I’d make about doing a skid for it.
