Chlorine -vs- Sodium Hydrox

[Cody]

<FONT COLOR="e87400">Shingle Shield Roof & Deck Cleaner
by Chicago Metallic Corporation (1 800 323 7164)contains Sodium Hydroxide

For what it's worth
Cody</FONT c>

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<FONT COLOR="orange">This Busienss is Great

Hydro-Emulsification Surface Preparation Specialist </FONT c>

 

[Ron Musgraves]

Amen Mike, finally someone who understands pH. This has been the whole point if your going to use this chemical in any other condition than a controlled one, Neutralize it.

The shingle cleaner will either recommend a neutralizing compound. It also is not pure caustic it has been control by a chemical process. This is a completely different avenue. No one here will dispute through out the industry many chemicals contain caustic. It is the base of most chemicals, the pH level is what makes the chemical hotter and violent. We started this talking about taking caustic {sodium hydroxide in pure form} know we want to associate this with soap we use to clean our car. Car wash caustic is made to react safely with the air and water at a safe pH level. The chemist in a lab tested this and prepared a safe formula. You cannot tell me when going on a roof you can mix the stuff from raw form and expect to have a consistence that’s 100% full proof of leaving that site with the chemical having a #7 pH. I’ll bet it won’t be two away from 7. Frankly if is not seven it still working.


Does any one understand the difference?

Maybe someone that owns a swimming pool can explain it clearer.

Caustic chemical make up such as car soap is very different than raw caustic. if we do not understand the difference by now I quit. My last post because we are drifting away from raw caustic {sodium hydroxide) we have not been talking about hand soap witch has sodium in it. Adios bye bye.


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Ron Marshal Phoenix AZ
1-888-fleetwash

 

[Cody]

<FONT COLOR="e87400">OK Ron,,,I have to admit that I don't know squat about "PH" I have been at this biz for 10+ years now and never had to learn about this. When I used to do Residential I had only done a couple of roofs because of this whole discussion. I'm guess my thinking wsa right, I had noticed many homes where the shingles had "curled", thus I assumed that they had had the petroleum base of the shingle attacked and dried out, do you feel this would be a correct assumption??I have always wondered how to do roofs easily & without damaging the roof, in the old day they were a breeze,,but the EPA outlawed that technique (I'm sure you know the one, spray it on and walk away) Now you're either ruining the petreoleum base and/or knocking off half the granular protection.

As far as the cleaners that contain Sodiun Hydroxide,, Well I was reading another post here or maybe at the delco site where someone had stated that instead of buying a Soap or cleaner,to look for the "active" ingreident and just get that, that way you could pick it up cheaper. Myself not being a chemical specialist have done this before not considering the blend of the active ingredient. My bad. However I have only done this with Oxalic acid. SO for my application I think I am safe.

I do need some serious scholin in PH, I hae to admit it. I have always wondered about the things that I here like the "2 step" cleaning methods. I dunno a PH 1 form a PH10. So nexttime you post a class up here break it down so even I can understand

GLENN Does that sodium hydroxide come in liquid from or powder form and at what dilution rate do you mix it. Thanks

Cody</FONT c>

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<FONT COLOR="orange">This Busienss is Great

Hydro-Emulsification Surface Preparation Specialist </FONT c>

 

[American Exteriors]

Cody,

Please help out some of the new guys and tell us what technique the EPA outlawed for roof cleaning - just to make sure we newbees don't make any fatal mistakes. Your experience and help is appreciated.

That brings up another question - maybe best for a new topic all together: On a national level, what is illegal in this profession? I know there are regional, state and local laws governing run-off, storm drains and sanitary sewer etc.. - most of which probobly started at the EPA level - but what is generally considered to be a NO-NO or illegal in ANY part of the country that a power-washer could find himself in violation of?

This would be great information to condense and possibly include on this board as a reference for everyone.

Our aspirations are our possibilities

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[Cody]

<FONT COLOR="e87400">Hey American Exteriors

As far as the old technique that I was reffering to well I really cannot say, gotta keep the honest ppl honest. If some ppl knew of a short cut they may be swayed to do so, the method is cheap and easy & is pretty unfair to the honest businessman. If you run across if you'll know it!

As far as what's illegal, well basically you cannot pee down a storm drain. I'm not speaking for the whole country here, things "might" be different elsewhere but in Florida, commercially I do not believe anything aside from watering your lawn is allowed to enter the storm drain period! Even in washing driveways when using no chemicals. Now, the tricky part here is figuring out what is actually enforced. Enforcement is on a per municapality basis, in-other words some places understand that somethings end up in the rivers no matter what and some places don't know jack so they'll go by the letter of the BOOK. I have yet to hear of anyone gettin popped for something we would consider minor, doesn't mean it won't happen. You do have to use some common sense as an adult you should have some idea of what's bad for the enviroment, washing out a garage bay of a audio installation business and letting it run to a storm runoff would probaly be OK, however washing out the garage bay of an Automotive service station and letting it drain to a storm sewer would be asking for DOOM!!

The best way to stay in complaince is locate and talk to the person in charge of the EPA and or storm water runoff issues of you local municapality. I think that in most cases they would appreciate the fact that you are at least triing to comply and would be willing to work with you to resolve a simple way for you to conduct your business.

GL
Cody</FONT c>

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<FONT COLOR="orange">This Busienss is Great

Hydro-Emulsification Surface Preparation Specialist </FONT c>

 

[MR ALAN]

Great points of mention to all involved in this discussion. I would like to add my 2 cents worth and say that sodium hydroxide is
what we use to strip vinyl tile floor. It is used for the wax and acrylic seals, but also does a great job on the dirt. We used to flood rinse and still got a white haze from leftover chemical and now we rinse once with a citirc acid based neutralizer, with great results. It is extremely corrosive and slippery as snot, especially when emulsifying wax. Use care and do read your MSDS before you start.