Soap question

For the guys who DS for house washing and use some type of blend/ proportioner system for post treating/ roof cleaning my questions are:

Do you use the same soap for both or have separate soaps? If same, how do you dilute it to keep from making too many suds on the ground? If seperate, how do you keep them separate? Two soap tanks? One tank and a fiver for batch mixing your HW?

For the batch mixers

Are you batch mixing your house/ roof wash in large quantities i.e. 50+ plus gallons? When do you add your soap? How do you keep it from foaming over? How do you agitate it? Ever had the SH and water separate?

Disclaimer: I dont own a business. Im not a professional. Im still reading and trying out ideas i see on here to figure it out. Im at the washing friends and families houses, barns, shops, and sheds point at this time.

Thanks

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Just a tip or you: Bullet points are very helpful when asking more than three questions LOL

For downstreaming house wash I always batch mix in a five gallon bucket and add surfactant as needed to get the optimal amount of suds and cling. I like elemenator but have used Arm & Hammer with Oxi Clean and had great results. I prefer the scent of the A&H. When done with the job just throw the lid on the bucket and roll out.

For roofs, stucco, extremely dirty concrete, etc. I usually mix up 50 gallons in my 65 gallon leg tank. I use Cling On for roofs and concrete but typically use very little or no surfactant for stucco. It just makes rinsing way too time consuming.

I always add SH to water (6th grade science there) and then add surfactant last. I agitate my 5 gallon bucket mix with about a 2’ section of PVC that I also use to keep the injector hose from rising up. I agitate the 65 gallon tank mix with about a 3’ section of PVC that used to hold my 12v pickup hose in the 25 gallon “bucket” that I used before I got the tank.

As far as suds on the ground I have no idea. I’m sure it happens but by the time I rinse I never notice any leftover.

I buy my SH in 55 gallon drums but I also buy 15 gallon drums sometimes and I transfer from the 55 to the 15’s as needed. I usually carry at least 30 gallons at any given time in a couple of the 15’s. I have an 8gpm so I could probably DS straight SH and be okay but I’ve never needed to for most jobs. I have done so for EXTREMELY dirty gutters (like black).

Sorry if that was long winded.

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That was perfect. I asked a lot of questions and expected a lengthy response. Hoping others will chime it in the morning and hope this helps others in the future.

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I don’t use a proportioner. I use Elemonator for house washing and Clingon for roof washing. I also mix in a 5 gallon bucket for house washing but am going to get either a 20 gallon or 35 gallon tank and just mix enough for all jobs that day before I leave in the morning. I believe that’s what most guys do. Mixing in a bucket onsite still might be better on some days depending on what you have to wash that day. Add soap last and it won’t foam over. If you’re running around doing houses you probably won’t need more than 35 gallons a day. Always carry extra SH because there are times you’ll use more depending on the size of buildings you’re washing.

As far as roof mix I always mix at least 50 gallons but sometimes 65 depending on the size of the roof or how dirty it is. I use that same tank for pre and post treating concrete. After a roof job I’ll add more water to it to dilute it down some. You can’t really use your roof mix to down stream. If you’re roof mix is 4% by the time you down stream it’ll likely be too weak. It might be close though so maybe worth giving it a try. It just really depends on your machine and how much your injector is pulling. It doesn’t matter what you’re mixing up always add soap last. I usually make my roof mix before leaving in the morning so it gets mixed up while driving. I do have a 3’ stick of pvc to mix by hand.

Hopefully I made sense being that I’m half asleep. I don’t sleep very good. I always wake up 5 times a night and have to get out of bed for a bit.

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omg, I had 65% battery when I started reading your reply and it died before I got to the end! Hahahaha

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LOL that’s why I keep a charger next to the bed, my chair in the living room, in the truck and in the bathroom!

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That’s just gross…just saying :smirk:

Yeah you’d hate to see where I keep my toothbrush then!

I have one 55 gallon poly drum of house wash that I batch mix. 1oz per gallon ds’d

I have another 55 gallon poly drum of straight SH hooked up to a metering system and a 12v. I have two separate soaps in 5 gallon buckets that are used for either roof and the other is for everything else. I considered using the same surfactant for everything but it’s too easy to switch the drop tube.

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You run around with 110 gallons on the trailer all the time?

I never fill them up. I get delivered sh in 15gal drums so I’ll typically be running with 20-40 in each depending on the weeks work load. I like to fill up once per week. When I’m off I hate having to get off and go back in the trailer.

I gotcha. I’m hoping that next year I’ll have a bigger house and garage and hopefully a shop where I can just get 275 gallon totes and fill out of those.

That would be sweet. Im sure you’ll be there in no time. I like the 15gal for portability purposes. They get delivered to my driveway in a pickup truck. Then I wheel them into the garage and transferred as needed. I can’t see how the 275gal totes would fit into this delivery routine but it would be nice not to have drums all over the garage and empties on side of the house, but it’s free delivery so you won’t hear me complaining a bit.

Dang that free delivery is nice! I have to go get mine because the place I buy from has very strict decontamination regulations. I have to spray my boots with Lysol just to walk in their front office. They sell a lot of chemicals to local chicken farms so I can understand. Nobody wants bird flu.

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Find yourself a local commercial chemical distributor, they should give you a free 500-3500 tank for chemical storage if you use them for your deliveries. We’re at 1.90$/gal for 12% sh @ 1000 gals or more.

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We try to keep it simple. One 65 gal tank. 50:50 mix of 12.5%. We ds this to about 1.5% for house wash and have the soft wash machine plumbed in to spray straight 50:50 for roofs, spot treating, etc. seemed like easiest way. Also keep a few 5 gal sh if need to go stronger.

Thanks for the responses. These are good ideas and food for thought. Like i said, i havent really set my mind on what direction i want to go when i do decide to build my set up. Still reading, searching, and figuring out how this stuff works. Thanks again

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Am I reading this wrong? How in the world do you get 1.5% out of downstreaming a 50/50 mix? Even if that was possible that’s way to hot for vinyl.

To add to what @Max1 asked, what kind of climate are you in that you need 6% for roofs? Usually 4-5% will do the job and maybe bump up to 6% for really bad stuff but it sounds like you use 6% on every job. Is that right?

Just keeping it easy. 1% difference for ease of use and no on site mixing works best for us.

Best Regards,
Phil Morrison

908-361-3447

Pjtmiii@gmail.com