Understanding House Wash Detergents

HighTide

HighTide

New member
I am curious enough to ask some of the veterans and distributors about the chemical makeup of their house wash mix and why they choose that particular mix. In order to understand the chemicals in the soap, I am posting the MSDS hazardous materials from 3 of the popular detergents below that are used in the residential cleaning market. The name of each soap and the distributor do not need to be mentioned as these are just 3 of the popular examples.


Soap #1: Sodium Tripolyphosphate <70% in weight


Soap #2: Sodium Metasilicate <70%

Sodium Dodceylbenzene Sulfonate <10%

Sodium Tripolyphosphate <30%

Soap #3: Sodium Tripolyphosphate <70%

NTA Trisodium salt, monohydrate <13%

Ethylene glycol monobutyl ether <7%


For you guys that have tried just about everything in your many years in business, what are the pros and cons of the sample detergents above. All the distributors claim the above soaps to be “bleach stable.” Does the popular “Sodium Tripolyphosphate” have an advantage over the other popular “Sodium Metasilicate?” Is there an advantage or disadvantage to one adding a little butyl into their mix like soap #3? Would one work better on a particular surface while another one is better at not spotting windows? Is one safer for the surrounding plants?


Recently, I had a customer that wanted to know what I was going to spray on her house and asked to see an MSDS—this was a first for me. After that, I wanted to understand what I was using so that I may put clients minds at ease while working on their property—especially regarding any labeled hazardous materials.


As far as I have seen, all the house mixes include either the “base or builder” Sodium Tripolyphosphate or Sodium Metasilicate (with one soap having a combination of both). I have only used one of the soap mix above and it works well for me, but I am sure they all work just fine. I am just curious if I am missing out on any advantages of not using one type “base” over another or having some other ingredient like butyl included. Thanks!
 
I use Simple Cherry from PressureTek and then tried out the Green Wash from AC, still have some of the Green Wash left.

I think that the Simple Cherry has the STPP but not sure what else.

Some of the soaps out there have the Sodium Metasilicate in them but on hot days it will leave a bad film on the windows that will have to be brushed off when wet sometimes.
There are vendors out there selling house wash mixtures but these 2 are the only 2 that have worked so far without problems.

Everyone out there wants to sell a house wash and I can understand that but you don't really need most of those other ingredients that they put in them.

When houses mostly have mold, mildew and algae problems, all these other ingredients are not really necessary.

When a house has a lot of environmental pollution on it then you will need other ingredients to clean them but these are only but a few out of many, many, many houses to be washed.

When you have soot from smoking vehicles you need a different soap for that, not for most of the house washes out there.

I like to stick to what works all the time and that is the Simple Cherry, have been using that for many years and will continue to do so unless I find something better but to work better might cost a lot more which will make it not so desireable. Like I mentioned, I still have some of the green wash from last year that I will use and keep on trying but with the news lately, sounds like the formula has changed or some batches got changed so I will wait to see if they fix the problem or if it will be an ongoing issue.

There are many soaps out there to do the job and this does not have to be really complicated unless you are going to start making your own soap which would involve testing, blending, testing, blending over and over and over until you get a mix that works good for you but when you look at the price of soaps right now, they are not too expensive to do the job right now.

As for the chemical components, what they do, how they react with the others, how they react with the Sh, the emulsifiers, builders, binders, anionic, cationic surfactants, and other components that make a good soap, I would call a chemist and talk to them about it as not everyone here is a chemist but some really know a lot.
 
Chris, you mentioned that Sodium Metasilicate-based soaps aren't as good on windows. I this a widely known fact? This would be a big issue with me. Thanks!
 
David I have been using simple cherry on pretty much all my building and house washes for a long time. It rinses well and usually leaves windows streak free. I would be inclined to stay away from anything that could possibly leave windows streaky. I have always thought sodium metasilicate was used in degreasing chems.
 
Sodium metasilcate is common in alot of house wash products when this product is used sodium tripolyphosphate is almost always used.The long sodium word is basically a water softener that acts as a chelating agent with the other chemicals in the mix.One thing is really interesting is that this stuff is also in the food we eat.
 
HighTide said:
Chris, you mentioned that Sodium Metasilicate-based soaps aren't as good on windows. I this a widely known fact? This would be a big issue with me. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Yep it's a fact, but can be avoided by pre-wetting windows, doing 1 side of the house at a time, and not letting soap dry on the windows.

I agree with Chris, go with what has a proven track record.


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If you ask enough people what they use and what they are happy with using, see the ingredients on that label, chances are it probably will not have the sodium metasilicate in it.

I have tried house wash soaps from several different vendors over the years and and that is why I stick with what I mentioned above.
 
Chris there not gonna put everything on a label duh lol,Just keep using the simple cherry if its working for ya.Its in most of the house washing stuff that you use.How do you know its not in Simple cherry ?
 
If it's a hazardous material I believe you have to put it on the MSDS...don't you? Although the MSDS for Fresh Wash sold by PowerWash.com has the hazardous material listed as "trade secret." See this MSDS here: http://www.powerwash.com/material-safety-datasheet/msds-pdf-powerwash/fresh-wash-msds.pdf Sounds like this leans a little toward the illegal side, or at least seems a little shady. I mean, what do you tell the doctor after some kid injests some of this product and all the doctor reads is trade secret for the hazardous materials???

Chris Chappell, as you are a big Simple Cherry user, do you ever add Bob's F-13 into your house mix to make what he calls "Wild Cherry?" Soap #3 listed in original post is a similar recipe for Wild Cherry with a little butyl in the mix. Thanks!
 
That first word gives it away David when it says clorine booster.Thats gonna be a base product like sodium metisilicate with a good water softer like hampamene 220 or chiliton 100.No biggie sodium metisilicate isnt hazardous so nothing illiegal going on.I i was making stuff for sale to the public you can just tell everyone whats in the brew.The amounts are the key i bet those will not be listed at all.
 
If I'm not mistaken F-13 is sodium metisilicate based. I've added this to Simple Cherry for vinyl but I would be careful with that mix on painted or oxidized siding (Painted or Vinyl) because it will take the oxidation off.

There have been a few new chems introduced lately with some pretty hefty claims, almost too good to be true. I will be ordering both to see if they will live up to their claims. I just don't understand how to justify $125-$135 + shipping for 5 gals of something that costs $25 (Or Less) to make and package, and if I had the time to research could make myself for less.

But I will keep an open mind on these new products and weight the cost benefits of both. Who knows they just might work as claimed.
 
Pressurized said:
what about using bleach mixed with a good soap for vinyl?
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That's what a basic house wash mix is. What David is speaking of is the ingredients in the different soaps available.
 
Pressurized said:
Oh, ok.... But I take it that I dont need to use a mild caustic mix with bleach on vinyl.... idk what the effect of the caustic might do to vinyl
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Noooo don't do that!
Heres an example:
Just a couple weeks ago we were doing a small house wash that had a small deck. My helper accidentally down streamed deck cleaner (which is house wash mix that has caustic in it) on the house and when it dried the siding was chalked all to hell. We had to brush gutter cleaner on it to get the stains out.
 
ouch.... I was using bleach with jomax mixed with greased lightning or purple power then I read that jomax was basically vinegar... idk if there is any truth to this due to its $20 per gallon
 
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