Hi Guys,
I have just had a quick look through the forum and I find the different mixtures listed interesting. While I understand the impressive results delivered by sodium hypochlorite based solutions, I think it is worth noting there are some significant downsides to this approach. 1. Sodium Hypochlorite does not kill spores, just discolors them, this is why surfaces cleaned with bleach products return to a green / black / brown color within weeks after cleaning, providing the conditions are right for growth (humidity, temperature, source, etc..) 2. Sodium Hypochlorite causes corrosion, tacks, nails, screws, gutters etc.. damaging the property. (
Click here for info on this, http://www.sosafeusa.com/products-industries-served/technical-bulletins/chlorine-substitute-corrosion-test) 3. The run off of the chemical burns plants, grass etc..., 4. odor - bleach is not good for the nostrils, don't know about you, but I love going home to smell dinner on the table. A couple of years of working with bleach on a regular basis and you won't! 5. Uniforms. Sodium hypochlorite hates colored clothing!
There are other options out there which, mitigate these draw backs of our beloved bleach. And your customers will love you for looking at them!
Regards,
Russell
SoSafeUSA
Good Lord, another bleach vs. mystery product debate again. This debate has sprung up many times over the years and on many of the bbs out there.
I see that you are talking down about the bleach issues while saying that there are other options out there, how can customers love you for looking at them if the reasons you post are not exactly serious issues for most of the professional contractors here and for their customers and with a place to go look at in your signature but no serious info for someone to go look at as the website is not even finished?
Let's have most contractors address your reasons one by one, this will be very interesting to say the least.
1. Sodium Hypochlorite does not kill spores, just discolors them, this is why surfaces cleaned with bleach products return to a green / black / brown color within weeks after cleaning, providing the conditions are right for growth (humidity, temperature, source, etc..)
I live in a climate just like south florida, live on the gulf of mexico right on the water where it is very hot most of the year, very short winter with very few if any freezes per year. I have never had surfaces return to a green / black/ brown color within weeks after cleaning, if I did then I would be out of business because of call-backs for every customer that I work for so this is obviously not true and I know it is not true for many of my contractor friends here on the bbs that live all over the country. Typically the surfaces stay clean for about a year or longer but the roofs stay clean for at least 4 years, some a little bit longer so this is also not true what you are saying about bleach.
2. Sodium Hypochlorite causes corrosion, tacks, nails, screws, gutters etc.. damaging the property. (
Click here for info on how this is not a real-world example of cleaning solutions, it is just a test to show worst-case scenarios and to help sell this product when compared to situations that do not happen in the real world but here you go, http://www.sosafeusa.com/products-industries-served/technical-bulletins/chlorine-substitute-corrosion-test) You should really inform people that nobody on the planet submerges houses, siding, wood decks or anything else to be cleaned into a cleaning solution for 72 hours so how can you honestly say that this is a true test of a product vs. a bleach cleaning solution when the cleaning solution will be on the surface only minutes or less to do the cleaning job, not soaking or submerging the house, roof, deck or any other surface for 72 hours so your little technical bulletin is not only misleading but mis-informing people that visit your website as you are not telling them that the cleaning solutions are only on the surface for minutes or less in most cleaning situations.
3. The run off of the chemical burns plants, grass etc...,
There is a possibility of burning plants and grass if the plants and grass are not watered properly, typically before, during and after the cleaning process so this statement is kind of true. There are times when you are dealing with very delicate plants and sometimes they will get burned but most of the time they recover and are looking good again in a short time.
What you are not telling people is that when washing houses, the cleaning solution is diluted, never straight out of the container and then when it is rinsed off, it is diluted usually more than a hundred times or greater depending on the surface. I can go into greater detail here if the thread needs it but most contractors, reputable vendors and industry experts here know what I am talking about.
Example: You spray a few gallons of cleaning solution on the house to do the cleaning job. When you are spraying the cleaning chemical it is going through an injection system of typically 10:1 to 20:1 so the few gallons is diluted with 10 to 20 times as much water so the 3 gallons is diluted with 30 to 60 gallons of water during the application. After a few minutes of dwell time (not the misleading 72 hours your technical bulletin leads people to believe) the surfaces are rinsed off using typically 5 to 8 or more gallons per minute. So now the 3 gallons of cleaning chemical is diluted even further from the 30 to 60 gallons of water to easily 100 times or even 300 times with water once the rinsing is done, depending on how long the rinsing takes. I can go into more detail if needed but I think that everyone can understand this.
4. odor - bleach is not good for the nostrils, don't know about you, but I love going home to smell dinner on the table. A couple of years of working with bleach on a regular basis and you won't!
I don't think that any cleaning solution is good for the nostrils so why mention this? Nobody is going to submerge their nostrils in the cleaning solution for 72 hours or even moments. When you clean your house, you are breathing cleaning solutions but when you are outside cleaning houses there is a lot more fresh air outside than inside most houses, sometimes even a breeze for even more fresh air.
I have been working around bleach for many years now, not just a couple and I can smell dinner on the table just fine (I don't know how to cook much but food that I eat smells just as delicious as if I had not been out in the fresh air all day) and there are a lot of other contractors around the country that will agree with me, this is not only another misleading sentence but you are making it out to scare people into thinking that they will have serious nostril damage for working around bleach solutions. For those contractors out there that really don't like the smell of bleach there are these things called "Respirators" that will filter the air that they breathe so they will not be breathing the little bit of bleach smell that is outside in the fresh air, especially if this wonderful thing called "Wind" or "Breeze" is blowing thus moving air around so it is even fresher than being inside the house.
5. Uniforms. Sodium hypochlorite hates colored clothing!
There are Cotton/Poly blends that hold up good to using bleach cleaning solutions, I have some T-shirts that are 3 and 4 years old that are still ok, not the cleanest due to stains not resulting from bleach cleaning solutions, just regular work and oil/grease from working on equipment but they are still the same color.
There is this brand of clothing out there called "Dickies" that a lot of fast food companies tell their employees to wear as they hold up good with the bleach cleaning solutions that they use to clean and sanitize the restaurants on a daily basis, some clean the restrooms every couple of hours so even more bleach cleaning solution being used.
I have had only a couple of shirts stained in the past few years from using the bleach cleaning solutions but that is because of spills and accidents, not spraying the cleaning solution onto the surfaces. These are blue and gray colored shirts and blue jean pants.
