Detergents, soaps, added to chlorine= do they weaken the chlorine's abilities?

[POWERMEN INC 14]

I have read here many times, the benefits of using additive soaps and other products to chlorine, yet, my son, who has pressure washed for me now, for 14 years here in Florida, always says that, anything I add to his chlorine, just weakens it's abilities to disintigrate molds and requires more "on target" poressure. He says, that using straight chlorine, through the pressure washer's chemical injector-with no additives- kills and removes the mildews and molds we have here better all by itself?

What say ye?

[PressurePros 248]

I'd say his assumptions are incorrect. You do need to be knowlegable as to what you throw into the mix with chlorine. If you use a synergistic sodium phosphate or metasilicate, you can *lower* the amount of sodium hypochlorite you use and very effectively kill mold without harming vegetation of filming glass.

[plainpainter 217]

I don't know anyone who says that TSP weakens bleach's ability to kill mildew. My experience is that TSP, add a surfactant - and you have a much more potent mildew killer.

[POWERMEN INC 14]

Is there a product name you can give me, that has synergistic sodium phosphate or metasilicate and a surfactant? I still need something I can buy and a place to buy it. :)

[PressurePros 248]

Synergistic just means those chemicals work with each other and compliment each other's abilities to clean and remove mold. It is not a word you will find in the name of the chemical.

Brand name? If you mean Home Depot or local, there is nothing out there. There is a housewash called Citracleen made by a Steve Rowlett. That might be a good starting place for you.

[Travis 14]

Is there a product name you can give me, that has synergistic sodium phosphate or metasilicate and a surfactant? I still need something I can buy and a place to buy it. :)

In my roof cleaning business we add Tri-Sodium Phosphate to our Hypochlorite mix. About a quarter of a cup per gallon or so.

You can find a box that's enough to make 50 gallons of solution at Lowes for about $20. Look for a red box in the painter's supply section. Be sure that you get the real Tri-Sodium Phosphate, and not the similar, but different non-phosphate substitute.

I use so much of the stuff that I'm going to start buying it in 50lb sacks from a chem supply place. Lowes is a good place to get it if you're just testing though.

My experience is only with roofs however. Be careful, if you use too much in your solution it can hurt paint, and mess up screens.

[PLD 14]

The start ofthis thread mentioned chemicals that weakened bleach, and has quickly turned into a discussion of those that boost it's power. Just for clarity, I'd like say one thing about weakening bleach:

The property of mixing/interacting properly with sodium hypochlorite is called "bleach stable" Some chemicals (like laundry detergent, engineered PW soaps) are specifically designed to be bleach stable. Being bleach stable does not mean that it has a positive effect on the mixture. For example, water is bleach stable but serves no purpose except to dilute the bleach.

Other chemicals are not bleach stable, which means they will be oxidized by the bleach. The oxidation consumes the bleach, and the chemical, "weakening" both. In reality, you are destroying both but there is usually much more bleach than soap so you end up with a weakened bleach mix. Not being bleach stable does not mean that the interaction with bleach is a violent one. For example, cotton is not bleach stable.