Residentials and driveways

[Adrian 155]

Good Day all. Thank you in advance for any responses. I am curious. I have tried house cleaners and concrete cleaners primarily from Northern and found that they are useful with the proper mix ratio, but can be pretty pricey per gallon. On the same note, through the advice of some veterans out there I have asked, some tell me the only cleaning agent they ever use is standard store bought bleach. I actually have had better results with the bleach. I mix it 1 gal bleach to 2 gal water. I keep a supply of both in case one or the other doesn't work. I am new to the industry and am still learning chemical processes. Each job is different in most cases, but since I am a newbie business owner, finances are pretty much my main concern. Plus bleach is so much cheaper. Any advice on what the best surefire cleaning agent is for any residential and concrete job would be appreciated. I can say that the cost of 12 gal. of bleach (2 cases) is about the same as 1 gal. of house cleaner. Cost right now, is everything to me.

Thanks

AC

[sparklingclean 14]

Well I am by no means a seasoned proffesional but I do have this advice...

I use mostly chlorine but I buy my chlorine from a pool supplier. Its a 12% solution which is double anything you will find in the store. Its also alot cheaper. I pay $1.00 per gallon.

[Adrian 155]

Hey Sparklingclean, thx for the help. I will have to do more research on the use of chlorine. The price is right for sure, but I heard that it is not legal to use straight chlorine in Atlanta, so I have never given it anymore thought. I am always up for inexpensive chems. Alot of the time I am just getting away with just straight pressure and no chems at all. I always try a sample area first to see if that will work before I inject chems (that's because I am so cheap). Plus I only have a cold water unit which makes some jobs necessary to use chems. Thank you.

[PLD 14]

I heard that it is not legal to use straight chlorine in Atlanta.

Not that I am aware of. I'm in Fayetteville about 20mi south of Atlanta and go through about 100gal of 12% a week. Call me an I can give you the name of a distributor. If anyone local to me can do better than $13/5 gal in 5 gal pails please let me know.

[squirtgun 122]

Philip,

Give Sun brite supply a call I think they handle chlorine in 15 gallon containers.1-877-578-7759

[Adrian 155]

Wow.... you guys are great! That's all there is to it! Thanks for the help. I am new to the business (11 months now), with mid grade commercial equip. compared to you Big Company guys, Freak Out during job gaps, just paid taxes for 1st time ever, finally got a small job today to satisfy one of those gaps, didn't think I was going to make it overall when I look down the road, thought I was alone and going to cave in kinda, so I come across 1 really really nice (doing really well) PW guy, he gives some free advice on several topics, 1 of those topics was to register at this site, and boom I find a mess of other great PW guys, and it must be the stars, but my phone has rang more today than all week, and I just found out that Darth is Lukes Father, and that I have been using way too many commas for this reply, but just had to say that you guys are great.

[PLD 14]

Philip,

Give Sun brite supply a call I think they handle chlorine in 15 gallon containers.1-877-578-7759

Pete's got a decent price but it's a haul up there for me. I'd have to buy 300gal at a time to make it worth the time.

[tsutherland 14]

I'm new to this site but just wanted to pass this on. I've been using a product called Barlox (10s) for 6 months now and am very pleased with the results. 4 oz. Barlox per gal of Chlorine, shot through my M-5 Xjet and I am good to go!!

Barlox is a chlorine stabilizer and surfactant so it coats better than just the chlorine, or other detergents I've used with chlorine for that matter. Sure Dawn dishwashing detergent is cheaper and works fine, but I like the way Barlox grabs ahold of the surface.

I pay $27/gal for the Barlox through www.xterior.com but 1 gal makes 32 gal of chlorine mix. (maybe you can find it cheaper elsewhere) I know that isn't a cheap additive, but it works well. I work alone, so anything that saves me time and frustration is worth it to me.

[PressurePros 248]

I'm new to this site but just wanted to pass this on. I've been using a product called Barlox (10s) for 6 months now and am very pleased with the results. 4 oz. Barlox per gal of Chlorine, shot through my M-5 Xjet and I am good to go!!

Barlox is a chlorine stabilizer and surfactant so it coats better than just the chlorine, or other detergents I've used with chlorine for that matter. Sure Dawn dishwashing detergent is cheaper and works fine, but I like the way Barlox grabs ahold of the surface.

I pay $27/gal for the Barlox through www.xterior.com but 1 gal makes 32 gal of chlorine mix. (maybe you can find it cheaper elsewhere) I know that isn't a cheap additive, but it works well. I work alone, so anything that saves me time and frustration is worth it to me.

Everything I have found on this stuff is way over my head. What is it doing for you that a standard surfactant is not? Does it allow you lower your chlorine ratio? That would interest me. I am paranoid about hurting expensive landscaping I come acrossed very often. The xterior link was dead when i tried it.

[squirtgun 122]

http://www.xterior.com/

Try this link.

[tsutherland 14]

Pressure Pros,

To answer your question, Barlox stabilizes the clorine meaning you can save it day to day if you have leftovers(which I usually do). It also coats much better than any detergent I've used.

The good people at Xterior.com say that you can use the beige proportioner in the xjet for about a 10-1 mix but I use the black proportioner for a 5-1 mix. (in reality my trials show the black proportioner rally shoots closer to 3-1 ratio) Using the black proportioner works very well and in using the barlox/chlorine mix for over 6 months now, I've never needed it stronger. (I have to be honest here and say I've never tried to use it at 10-1 because I feel you should have at least 4% chlorine going on the surface to get a good clean). (I live in south Florida and we get alot of Algea/molds here).

Sorry this took so long to post this reply, I've been swamped lately.

[TRichter 14]

What's the shelf life of chlorine?, I thought it was several months.

[tsutherland 14]

It has a good shelf life until you add detergent to it. Then you have just a matter of hours before it starts to degrade it. (or so I'm told).

We have all done it, mixed detergent with chlorine and used it the following day or even days later. You still smell that lovely chlorine smell but how much potentcy is lost???? Think about it though, what is a detergents job? To break the bond of whatever we are shooting it onto, so it made sense to me.

I've never taken the chlorine/detergent mix to a lab the day after mixing it, to have it analized but that would be interesting.

I'll defer to some of the chemical engineers here at the site. I think RyanH in Georgia is one. Maybe he can shed more light on this since my info is second hand.

[tsutherland 14]

Should add that info came from my chloine supplier.