Bought some roof leaner for my pun house and the stuff worked wonders on the Algea and moss starting to grow in a shaded area. Mixed with warm water as per the instructions, this stuff works great. My question is …
Damn hit the send button on accident… I want to start using this stuff for soft washing services, if I mix it with warm water in a tank from my house and don’t start at a job site for an hour or two, will it still be as strong?? Or will it have broken down already?? I would do a time trial at home butt have used up my first batch learning on my own house, roof and cedar fence.
From what I understand it does start losing strength as soon as it’s mixed
Sounds like the same product I use, which says it is good for 4 - 6 hours before reverting back to plain water. A a good selling point for eco conscious clients, especially ones with fish ponds or near streams/rivers.
I have found that if I have it in an opaque container (no UV light) it is still active for most of the day. It works best after the initial foam up (when mixing) settles down (10 - 15 minutes), but works fine for soft washing siding, railings, etc for many hours later. Best results for soft wash are if you wash it off before it drys. On non porous surfaces (vinyl/aluminum siding, metal railings/awnings) it only takes 10 - 30 seconds to lift the mold and mildew. Porous surfaces (concrete, stucco, wood, etc.) take just a little longer for it to get in and lift out the organic matter. Basically, when you see the foam die down after spraying it on, it has done its job and is ready to wash off.
If the surface you are cleaning is really hot, the product will evaporate really quickly. You can either put more product on, increasing product consumption, or pre spray the surface with just enough water to cool it down without saturating it, then spray it with the solution. I usually have two guns, one for product and one for washing, so I prefer cooling the surface down with water, as it saves product = money. It also reduces the chance of a miscalculation of product consumption, coming up short, and having to mix more product to complete the job. That can blow 20 - 30 minutes in mixing time and waiting for it to fully activate, before continuing with the job.
I mix it on site first thing after calculating how many gallons I will need. If it is a sunny warm day, I don’t bother with using hot water. By the time I get the rest of the equipment out and setup for spraying and washing, it is ready to go.
If you had an opaque tank, hose reels, pump, etc. then it would make sense to mix before you left home, pull up, spray and wash, spray and wash, etc. Provided you knew ahead of time how much product you need for the day. Which you should know when you do the quote. Sometimes there are surprises though.
One big caution. This product can build up tremendous pressure in hose lines, your pump and storage container, especially if they are sitting in the sun with the trigger turned off (creating a closed system). For example, you spray a section, then stop to switch over to washing the product off before it dries. After I had the aluminum housing of my transfer pump blow out, I installed a pressure relief valve (higher rating than max output pressure of transfer pump, 75 psi in my case) in the line. No problems after that.
Thanks, ck.
