[Mark Dee]

I am in the research stage of primarily soft wash type exterior house cleaning but also  using pressure and hot cleaning so I can offer a specialised service to address various hard surface problems.

I am concerned about the effetiveness of SH cleaning when temperatures drop in the colder winter months. As I understand things, SH becomes much more less effective at lower temperatures. How do you allow for this reduction in cleaning power, do you increase the strength of the mix or use a hot water delivery method a combination of the two or something else?

Mark

[Splash & dash]

I am in the research stage of primarily soft wash type exterior house cleaning but also  using pressure and hot cleaning so I can offer a specialised service to address various hard surface problems.

I am concerned about the effetiveness of SH cleaning when temperatures drop in the colder winter months. As I understand things, SH becomes much more less effective at lower temperatures. How do you allow for this reduction in cleaning power, do you increase the strength of the mix or use a hot water delivery method a combination of the two or something else?

Mark

We have used 3 month out of date hypo in -2  and it does  still work but takes longer . Yes you are right we generally use a stronger mix , but softwashing  for us is an add on and we don’t do that much of it during the winter months  as most people arnt worried about the outside of there houses when it’s wet and dark evenings .

[Mark Dee]

I am in the research stage of primarily soft wash type exterior house cleaning but also  using pressure and hot cleaning so I can offer a specialised service to address various hard surface problems.

I am concerned about the effetiveness of SH cleaning when temperatures drop in the colder winter months. As I understand things, SH becomes much more less effective at lower temperatures. How do you allow for this reduction in cleaning power, do you increase the strength of the mix or use a hot water delivery method a combination of the two or something else?

Mark

We have used 3 month out of date hypo in -2  and it does  still work but takes longer . Yes you are right we generally use a stronger mix , but softwashing  for us is an add on and we don’t do that much of it during the winter months  as most people arnt worried about the outside of there houses when it’s wet and dark evenings .

I am thinking more about slip hazzard cleaning for algae and mosses on paving stones, which I assume would be cleaned with pressure (hot) cleaning as well as the SH mix. I am trying to assess the viability of cleaning out of season or at least extending it if I can.  I am trying to work out if I can make soft wash a primary service, obviously the longer the trading season the better but it may be wishfull thinking.

I appreciate the benefit of your experience  BTW, thank you.

[Splash & dash]

I am in the research stage of primarily soft wash type exterior house cleaning but also  using pressure and hot cleaning so I can offer a specialised service to address various hard surface problems.

I am concerned about the effetiveness of SH cleaning when temperatures drop in the colder winter months. As I understand things, SH becomes much more less effective at lower temperatures. How do you allow for this reduction in cleaning power, do you increase the strength of the mix or use a hot water delivery method a combination of the two or something else?

Mark

We have used 3 month out of date hypo in -2  and it does  still work but takes longer . Yes you are right we generally use a stronger mix , but softwashing  for us is an add on and we don’t do that much of it during the winter months  as most people arnt worried about the outside of there houses when it’s wet and dark evenings .

I am thinking more about slip hazzard cleaning for algae and mosses on paving stones, which I assume would be cleaned with pressure (hot) cleaning as well as the SH mix. I am trying to assess the viability of cleaning out of season or at least extending it if I can.  I am trying to work out if I can make soft wash a primary service, obviously the longer the trading season the better but it may be wishfull thinking.

I appreciate the benefit of your experience  BTW, thank you.

Ah ok , if doing paving etc just hypo it and then pressure wash it that will kill the algi , some pressure wash first then hypo and then rinse down .  As I said earlier we do that type of work as an add on I assume with enough marketing you might be able to get enough work all year round but guessing winter months would be a lot harder . We do a lot of paths and fire escapes for nursing homes , sheltered  accommodation and blocks of flats they are usually done before winter , so that the slip /trip slippery surface doesn’t happen, I would target this  type of  building see the maintenance manager and see if you can get a foot in the door . We use cold water pressure washer and hypo never needed hot for this   type of work .

[Smudger]

I think sh is less effective with hot water - but I would have to go back and re research that again to be sure

Darran

[Mark Dee]

I think sh is less effective with hot water - but I would have to go back and re research that again to be sure

Darran

I have had a  google and it appears that mixing SH with hot water reduces the effectiveness of the active  oxidation ingredient.
So heating it up doesnt help, although I also read that using heat in a chemical reaction speeds up the reaction rate, this stuff is beyond my pay grade and Im in danger of confusing myslelf.

[Smudger]

I use it all year round - never had an issue when using in +1 in winter - I don't pressure wash in minus conditions

Darran

[Rob.Hall]

Benz sw say not to use bellow 7°...
And defo not using hot.

[Smudger]

Hasn't Benz got loads of other cr@p in the mix ?

Darran

[Smudger]

A quick check and S/H freezes at -7 degrees C (19 degrees F)

therefore no reason not to use all winter long

Darran

[Mark Dee]

Further research on the subject.

This opinion comes from a research chemist working in the cleaning industry who analyzes the effects various chemicals have in a cleaning environment. Their informed opinion was that a heated water SH solution increased the effectiveness of the SH solution, but only for a short period of time too long an exposure to heat will degrade the SH solution.

A study also showed that a 1% SH solution at 45oC had the same potency as a 5.25% solution at 20oC  however the cost of heating the water cancelled out any cost benefit of using less SH. However being able to clean when its cold out may outweigh the cost of heating the water but I dont have any evidence to support that assumption.

Hope this info is of use.

[Mike Halliday]

Heated water will cool in seconds, you could pour boiling water out of a kettle onto concrete and within seconds you could touch it, this is with the heat loss created by spraying heated solutions,  which will massively cool dependant on the droplet size.

I’ve read lots of info on the effects of heat on cleaning and most rely on the item being cleaned to be immersed in the heated solution for a period of time. spraying hot tends to have an effect on fats/oils and simple carbohydrates only

[Smudger]

Try telling that to some window cleaners 🤪😂

[Splash & dash]

Try telling that to some window cleaners 🤪😂

That’s a bit different as the hot water is in direct contact with the glass and dirt whilst scrubbing , just look at hot pressure washers , steam cleaners and doff, thermatec etc all work very well at removing dirt oil and grease due to heat . 😂😂😂

[Smudger]

thats the point - grease - oil -  algae

hot or cold is the same for dirt.

Darran

[Splash & dash]

thats the point - grease - oil -  algae

hot or cold is the same for dirt.

Darran

I think we will have to agree to disagree but I wouldn’t have spent what I have done if hot  water didn’t clean better and faster , especially on the costal work we do .

[Smudger]

Splash - this is where people ( and I include myself in that ) sometimes need to listen/read  what is said and actually process posts

salt will dissolve faster in warm/hot than cold - it will also dislodge bird strike  quicker

what it won't do it clean a dirty patio quicker than cold

unfortunately too many people think hot water does it all, just like hypo cleans everything, these are just extra tools that work better in certain circumstances - no one thing does it all

Darran

[Mike Halliday]

This is going slightly off track towards the effectiveness of hot water verses cold, where the initial post was about how heat increases the effectiveness of hypo ( a chemical)

It’s a real interesting subject, heat will alway help clean a surface,  either by melting the fats/oils/sugars which hold the dirt onto a surface eg; cleaning a vehicle engine of oil & grease or cleaning a café floor of cooking spills. It also increase the effectiveness of some chemical like those that use enzymes to digest the dirt.

Time is also a factor if you use hot with a WFP you will be constantly apply the hot water to the window as you brush, the water temp will not cool as it constantly getting replaced with more hot water.

It’s also important to differentiate between hot & steam