The Best Liquid Dishsoap For Roof Cleaning

Good thread Chris. Your as passionate today with roofs as I remember you were when I first discovered Powerwashing bulletin boards in the late 90's. If memory serves me correctly you coined the phrase "Love" when discussing Sodium Hypochlorite being used in the roof cleaning mixture. It was guys like you who talked about Chlorine "love" with there cleaning mixtures that I went from using only pressurized water to bleach in my house wash mixtures to trying chlorine and diluting it to whatever strength I need.

There was a time I would even use a chlorine mixture on wood restoration jobs which worked fine. Then I was told to use a neutralizer afterwords because the chlorine does throw the PH of the wood off ever so slightly and it will brighton more so with the neutralizer. Now all wood restoration jobs we use Sodium hydroxide.

I met a cool dude Rick Petry who was at a few Roundtables over the years and also was at my house last year. He is known by some of us as the Bleach Bandit but you are the Chlorine King:)

Few names back then was Rick from Prowash,Les Howerton( might be spelling his name wrong but he was great thru emails helping me along) Lance Winslow(u could write a book about this guy who I exchanged a few emails with as well discussing some of the things he was doing then such as the Carwash guys), Bigboy, Scott Stone who is still here on PWI and of course David Olson who has since passed away. Good memories.

Ok back on track looks like you have a winner with that liquid Ultra Gain mixed in with " the love".
Well, I can take credit for a lot of what is now the "accepted wisdom" for roof cleaning equipment, and methods, but I can't take the credit for the term "The Love", though I have used it. It was coined by a guy named Frank, who posted as "Some Guy Named Frank" on the old Delco Board. He is no longer in Business.
I was unaware Dave Olson is dead, but I sure as hell remember all the others, especially Lance Winslow! It is unfortunate the Old Delco Board was taken down. There was a LOT of old school knowledge there, that is still valid today! Yes, Scott Stone is still with us, as are myself, Ron Musgraves, and Beth and Rod. I thought I saw a post from BigBoy some time ago, somewhere ?
 
Been using laundry detergent for quite awhile bought at Costco . 172 oz "he "formula for front loads whisk ,all ,tide and they all smell and stick great. 13 to 16 dollars
 
Been using laundry detergent for quite awhile bought at Costco . 172 oz "he "formula for front loads whisk ,all ,tide and they all smell and stick great. 13 to 16 dollars
Thanks for your input Jim. If you mix up say 50 gallons or so of roof cleaning mix, and put in "whatever laundry or dishsoap is on sale" that day, as long as you use up all the mix right away, you might be OK. The problem is, not all soaps are compatible with Chlorine Bleach, much less the far stronger Pool Chlorine. Soaps that are not compatible will weaken the mix, and the Chlorine will "un soap the soap"! Also, toxic fumes will be released that can toast your lungs, especially if you do not wear a respirator, not to mention the needless eye irritation. My dedicated roof cleaning trucks are flatbeds, with dual 300 gallon chemical tanks. One is for tile roofs, and one is for shingle. I can not take the chance of adding a non chlorine compatible soap, and have it eat up all 600 gallons of my ****.

The RCIA Forum is a dedicated roof cleaning forum. Some years ago, myself and several other roof cleaners pioneered Chlorine Stable Surfactants, and introduced them to the roof cleaning world, by telling several distributors about them. Billy Jensen, of H2o Pressure Washing in New Port Richey Florida found Lauramine Oxide, that is sold under the trade name Ammonyx LO. I found Myristamine Oxide, sold under the name Ammonyx M. Lori from Pressure Washer Products (PWP) here in Florida was told of our research, saw the great marketing opportunity to sell it to roof cleaners, and jumped all over it. She sold the living **** out of both of these products, and initially called Myristamine (Ammonyx M) her "Apple Butter" to convey to customers it was thick, and to "Honor Me" she said.
I never asked for, nor did I receive, anything for my discovery. For reasons unknown to me, she stopped calling it Apple Butter, and renamed it Gription.
Lori was soon copied by some distributors I also told about the RCIA Research into Chlorine stable surfactants, and the Discoveries we made. I did not think it fair to the other distributors to tell Lori, and not tell them.
I also told Lori about the RCIA research into masking the smell of the Chlorine based roof cleaning mix we all use, and even told her what it was, and where to get it. Because Lori and Pressure Washer Products donated money to help pay our Forum Bills, I decided to sort of keep the masking the smell of Chlorine Research, and where to get it from, to myself. Eventually, I also shared that information with a few other distributors.
Now, I am sharing my latest discovery, Ultra Gain Green Original Scent Liquid Dishsoap with every roof cleaner. There is no money to be made by a distributor re selling it anyway. In fact, it is going to put the big Smackdown on resellers of Lauramine based (Ammonyx) Surfactants. Remember, Gain HAS Ammonyx (Lauramine) IN it!
In fact, The Gain is SUPERIOR, for roof cleaning use, to straight Ammonyx based Surfactants, and here is why. Though Non RCIA Members can't see it (Yes, we hide the good stuff), I posted a Surfactant Viscosity Chart that clearly shows HOW to use Chlorine Stable Surfactants together, to get a thicker final product! Gain is a Chlorine Stable Surfactant MIXTURE, thus it will thicken up your mix better then Lauramine (Ammonyx) alone! And, it gets even better (and worse for sellers of Ammonyx), because Gain also has a very strong Masking Agent in it as well! No, it is not QUITE as good as a separate Chlorine Masking agent like the Green Apple fragrance some distributors sell, but if you use enough of the Gain Dishsoap, it is surprisingly effective in covering the Chlorine smell!

It is not my intent to hurt any distributor selling Ammonyx (Lauramine), though some of you, for reasons only YOU know, chose NOT to give ANY credit to me, or the RCIA Guys, for our discoveries we acheived through hard work, personal financial outlays, and chasing many many dead ends, until we found what some of you now sell, and profit from, as IF it is your "Own"..

Well, guess what, the freaking Party is OVER.

The Gain makes Ammonyx obsoete, because it is a lot less money, and works and smells better.
But because I am a nice guy, and I know some of you have invested considerable money in re selling Ammonyx, here is what you should do.
There is an inexpensive chlorine stable surfactant that you can get, and if you combine it with Ammonyx, it will yield a nice and thick (thicker then Gain) surfactant that will be better then Gain, as far a cling goes. However, it will not have the smell masking capabiliies that Gain does.

OR, better yet, sell off your Ammonyx, while you still can, and switch to Myristamine! Mryistamine is MUCH better then Ammonyx. If you are buying drums of Ammonyx LO, then simply ask for Ammonyx M, it is a brand name for Myristamine.

It is 4 times as thick, meaning you can use a lot less.
 
The only gain original scent dish detergent that I could find was ultra gain, which specifically says on the back not to add bleach. Am I looking at the wrong thing? Are you sure it's the dish detergent and not the laundry detergent?
 
Chris, are you still using iso alcohol in your roof mix? I have been trying the Dollar General Gain in the mix the past week, but I've not noticed that it thickens it significantly.... If I am using Iso, could that thin it?
 
Chris, are you still using iso alcohol in your roof mix? I have been trying the Dollar General Gain in the mix the past week, but I've not noticed that it thickens it significantly.... If I am using Iso, could that thin it?
Yes, it can thin it out
 
I will DEF have to try this out on my next job! Thank you Chris Tucker!!
U welcome David. Be careful brother! Those tile roofs we do are dangerous, and if you use any surfactant on them, you can quickly go on a ride, to Tampa General Hospital! On Glazed tile roofs, adding any soap (besides TSP) can cause you to slip off the roof.
 
The only gain original scent dish detergent that I could find was ultra gain, which specifically says on the back not to add bleach. Am I looking at the wrong thing? Are you sure it's the dish detergent and not the laundry detergent?
Yes, it is the Ultra Gain Green Original Scent Liquid Dish Soap. And I saw that too, not to add to bleach. However, Proctor and Gamble (the makers of Gain) list all the ingredients, and I checked every one for Chlorine Compatability that was listed in the MSDS. There are 2 surfactants in Ultra Gain, and both are absolutely chlorine compatable. In fact, one surfactant in Gain is Lauramine (Ammonyx).
However, the fragrance is not listed in the MSDS by name, and it may not have 100 percent chlorine compatability. In an inside the house condition, it could possibly add some fumes. However, used outside, like we do, it would not be a probem. And, even if it was not chlorine compatible, the very very small amount of it will quickly be ate up by all that Chlorine in our tanks, and not weaken the mix.
Or, there could also be another chemical in Gain that is not Chlorine compatable, in an absolute sense, not listed in the MSDS, because it is in there, in such a small amount, it is not required to be listed.

In todays lawsuit happy world Josh, all manufacturers try to cover their asses. That is most likely why we see that warning on there.
Myself, and several other roof cleaners are using it everyday, with zero problems. Those old folks up in the Villages will love it! I clean a lot of the elderly in Sun City Center, and when it rains, it makes a lot of good smelling suds that come off the roof. Grandma and Grandpa love it!
 
So you do not use iso anymore?
Very seldom anymore Bob. Prices for roof cleaning here in Tampa have been chopped so bad, they are lucky to even get any soap in the mix.
I just was forced to do a tile roof I cleaned for 1200 2 years ago for 550.00 last week, because thats how bad prices have fallen here in Tampa lately. The roof cleaning business here is full of newcomers, mostly pressure washers, who don't realize we are in the season right now. They are still quoting summer prices, IN THE SEASON! Now is the time all of us must make some money.
 
LOL, my brother, whoo works for me, added 3 of the big 44 oz bottles to one 300 gallon tank. But the dumb fuk put it in with the 115 gallons of pure chlorine BEFORE he added the water. he will never do that again. When he tried to add the water, the chit looked like a bubble bath Russ, suds coming out the top of the tank! Hey, he is new, and still learning!

Hahahaha I did that today!!!! I guess I was a little scatter brained when I realized the way I set up my new system in my truck the exhaust from the pressure washer burned a hole in my tank. Can't fill past 65 gallons currently. Opps. Time to get back to the drawing board I guess
 
When I owned Mallard Systems we developed our own surfactant we called Duck Sauce. Generation one was back in 1992 and the last generation was in 2003. In 2010 I developed Green Wash that was much the same except we added a scent that covers bleach, a catylist that makes bleach clean better at a lower concentration as well as made it semi foaming and COMPLETELY biodegradable. These type of products gave me the ability to give a 5 Year Warranty on all types of roofs. In 20 years we cleaned in excess of 50,000 roofs and now with SoftWash Systems complete product line in use by a few companies we are reaching upwards to 70,000 roofs cleaned with our chemicals.

AC
 
Kool Thanks for the info guys. We have been using JOY for years. Its almost $7 a bottle.
I think you will like the Ultra Gain Original Scent much better then Joy. I remember buying some Joy Liquid Dish Soap years ago, then dumping some into a glass of bleach in my Kitchen. AS soon as the Joy hit the Bleach, it started giving off fumes! This indicates there is something in the Joy that bleach don't like! When fumes appear, it means the soap and bleach are "fighting each other".
Of course, the bleach will eventually win, because there is more of it. However, it will be weakened, something you do NOT want.

I pioneered chlorine stable surfactants years ago, with the help of several RCIA Members. My friend, and fellow RCIA Member Billy Jensen, of H2o Pressure Washing and Roof Cleaning, out of New Port Richey Florida, found Ammonyx. I found Myristamine.
Both are chlorine friendly soaps, equal in surfactant power, but Myristamine is much thicker, and gives more cling.

Several distributors "jumped on our bandwagon", all fine and good really, since the RCIA is not in the business of selling chemicals, nor am I.
Some distributors at least credited us, for our research, and discoveries.

We wish our roof cleaning forum to not read like one big Informercial, for questionable and unnecessary products we make and sell.

Because we are all working roof cleaners at RCIA, we are always trying to save our members money, by seeking out the very best roof cleaning pumps and equipment, as well as surfactants.
Since we make and sell no equipment or chemicals, our advice remains untainted.

This is the reason our discovery of Ultra Gain Original Scent Liquid Dishsoap got us so excited!
For the very first time, any working roof cleaner, in any part of the USA, can simply head for their nearest Dollar Store or WalMart, and buy, off the shelf, a truly Chlorine Compatible Soap ( It has Ammonyx in it) with a fragrance in it as well!
And, it is cheap!

Because the RCIA is made up of working roof cleaners, we are concerned only about our own bottom line, and those we teach, not selling our roof cleaning contraptions, or questionable chemicals.

If I had chemical companies make unsold chemicals for me I put a TON of mark up on, the Last thing I would want you to know is about cheap, widely available, and effective things like Ultra Gain Original Scent Liquid Dishsoap, that probably work as well as, or even better, then the expensive stuff I sell.

As soon as the weather warms up James, try some Gain, I think you will like it a lot. Ignore the low price, and the fact that it is widely available, Expensive don't always mean good.
 
Hahahaha I did that today!!!! I guess I was a little scatter brained when I realized the way I set up my new system in my truck the exhaust from the pressure washer burned a hole in my tank. Can't fill past 65 gallons currently. Opps. Time to get back to the drawing board I guess

Jason, get some of this and patch the tank and it will work fine. Had the muffler actually fall onto my tank and I patched it. this was last year some time and it still works great.

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...&subdeptNum=50219&classNum=50223#.UO7bkW8zMrU

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I just cleared the shelf a few days ago of 12 (44oz.) bottles. The stock boy hates me .. haha

I was going to do a compatability test to see how long a mix would stay hot with the Gain in it, but I forgot the jar with a mini roof mix in on the work bench for over a month. I'll give it another try and try to remember to test it daily and get back with some results for compatability. I usually make up my mix for what I'm going to use for the day but still curious to see if it will stay hot after a week. I used to use the "blue" dish soap but have switched over to the Gain. As for the masking of the SH, it is not as good as the Green Apple by Floromask that sells for almost $100 a gallon but it does a descent job.
 
I just cleared the shelf a few days ago of 12 (44oz.) bottles. The stock boy hates me .. haha

I was going to do a compatability test to see how long a mix would stay hot with the Gain in it, but I forgot the jar with a mini roof mix in on the work bench for over a month. I'll give it another try and try to remember to test it daily and get back with some results for compatability. I usually make up my mix for what I'm going to use for the day but still curious to see if it will stay hot after a week. I used to use the "blue" dish soap but have switched over to the Gain. As for the masking of the SH, it is not as good as the Green Apple by Floromask that sells for almost $100 a gallon but it does a descent job.

Lol. For $100 a gallon, I think I'll just let it smell like bleach.

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+1 on that Josh! The Gain takes the edge off the smell so your getting a masking agent and surfactant in one, for a descent price.
Plus, it is as close as your nearest Dollar store or Wal Mart!
Ready, when you need it, all with change back from a 10 spot!
 
I hate shopping or stopping at stores. I'm STICKING w Roof Snot, delivered to my door, and all the FREE advice I can get from Russ Johnson when I need it. I doubt the Dollar Store Manager can help me out at 11:00 at night on an equipment issue...LOL

I did try the Gain and your right Chris, stuff works great, and I keep some for emergencies, but I still say Roof Snot STICKS better.
 
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