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Mixing Ratios
Mixing Ratios: House Wash
04
Apr
Apr
There is a lot of information out there on mixing, and some may find that other methods work best. We have compiled some information that beginners and new washers might find useful! Please test everything yourself before trying. We are not responsible for any damage resulting from these instructions.
Take Into Consideration
House wash mix can vary depending on the ratio your downstream injector pulls, and the temperature (climate) you are washing.
Mixing
A typical house wash can be done using 1 or 2, 5 gallon, buckets of mix. Start with a mix ratio of 1:1. This means for every gallon of bleach you use, add 1 gallon of water.
EXAMPLE: in a 5 gallon bucket, mix 2 gallons of bleach, with 2 gallons of water, and typically 4-5oz of surfactant (depending on the surfactant you use)
Red Raider
Red Raider found at southside equipment (sales rep is Russ Johnson on facebook) is an amazing degreaser that can safely be used with house washing. We have started adding this to our house wash mix and we are very happy with results. We typically cut the surfactant use in half and replace it with red raider.
EXAMPLE 4 gallons of House wash mix will get 2 oz of ELEMONATOR (or your surfactant of choice) and then 2 oz of Red Raider. Surfactant measurements are more of a personal preference thing. Some guys like a lot of suds. Personally, too much can be overkill and cause you to spend way too much time rinsing. You have to find your happy place
DO NOT USE DAWN DISH SOAP AS A SURFACTANT. IT IS NOT BLEACH STABLE, AND CAN PRODUCE HAZORDOUS GAS/FUMES TO YOUR HEALTH.
Not Strong Enough?
If you are finding the mix is not strong enough step it up to 2:1. If that is not strong enough, go forward with straight bleach in a 5 gallon bucket with added surfactant. House washing is pretty fool proof. By the time the mixture comes out the end of your hose, the ratio is pretty low and it is rather safe to work with.
Cleaning & Upkeep
ALWAYS make sure to flush your down stream injector with a MINIMUM of 2 gallons of water after each job to ensure long lasting life of injector. We always shoot for 5 gallons.
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It’s also helpful to remember to wear a covering over your nostrils and to test your mixture on a hidden part of your house, to protect you and the home’s brick or siding. Great info, thanks for sharing.
I a using a 100lt tank and a 12v pump
What’s the ratio a 3% mix with 12:5% SH
Remembering I’m using a 12v pump straight from tank to house NOT through downstreaming or xjet
To get a 3% mix, you take your 12.5% SH and divide it by 4 (add 3 gallons). You get a 3% mix (3.125% to be exact). It may be easier to understand if we put it like this. If you have 1 gallon of 12.5 SH and you add 1 gallon of water, you now have 2 gallons of 6.25% SH.
Here’s a quick formula for 12.5% SH:
12.5% (gallon) / Total # of Gallons = Strength
Example: 1 Gallon 12.5% SH + 1 Gallon Water = 2 Gallons of 6.25% SH or
1 Gallon 12.5% SH + 2 Gallons of water = 3 Gallons of 4.1% SH
hey i get everything your saying but how much soap do you add to different percentages can you please explain that.
What would it be by the time come out through the nozzle. Newbie.Ty
take the size mix you want to do and divide by 10 so do 100/10= 10 now take that number and multiply it by what % you want your mix so 10 time 3% = 30 so you’d want 30 gallons of the 12.5 bleach to 70 gallons of water. same this if it was 2.5% or 1% you’d want to use that equation. its nice because you have 100 gallon tank so it could all be pretty much right off the top of your head. it only starts getting tricky when it its weird amount of gallons but the equitation still works
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So I’m still trying to understand the mixing ratios. So can someone please explain the formula. I’m using a xjet and not a downstream injector.
To get a 3% mix, you take your 12.5% SH and divide it by 4 (add 3 gallons). You get a 3% mix (3.125% to be exact). It may be easier to understand if we put it like this. If you have 1 gallon of 12.5 SH and you add 1 gallon of water, you now have 2 gallons of 6.25% SH.
Here’s a quick formula for 12.5% SH:
12.5% (gallon) / Total # of Gallons = Strength
Example: 1 Gallon 12.5% SH + 1 Gallon Water = 2 Gallons of 6.25% SH or
1 Gallon 12.5% SH + 2 Gallons of water = 3 Gallons of 4.1% SH
hey i get everything your saying but how much soap do you add to different percentages can you please explain that.
Can all you smart ppl help me better understand the ratios hitting the surface when using a downstream. Are downstream injectors rated for different dilutions? I am using straight 10% chlorine/SH/bleach (what I can find in my pool stores here in OKC) what is the percentage hitting the surface? What climate changes effect the effectiveness of bleach
If you’re downstreaming out of a 5 gallon bucket, its easy. X-Jet will be similar.
I would mess with the numbers. Like for me with 12.5% if I want a 3% mix, I divide 12.5%/4 gallons of water and it comes out to 3.125.
So if you had 10% bleach and added 4 gallons of water you will get 2.5%.
When you do the math, be sure you do 10.0/# of gallons of water and not 10/# of gallons of water.
You want a 3% mix? If you know you will get 2.5% with 1 gallon of bleach and 4 gallons of water, just put less water.
I appreciate the game! I just want to be sure im understanding. So if I have a 5 gallon jug, I will need to put 1 gallon of 12.5% SH and mix it with 4 gallons of water. And lets say im using an Xjet as well. Will this get me 3%
If you have 1 gal SH and 4 gal water and use an x-jet, it will depend on what x-jet you are using (they have different flow rates). I use a 4GPM (version 13 X-jet 5M), so if I had your setup, the flow coming out of the x-jet with no proportioners would be 1.563%. If you want to get up to 3% minimum out of the 4GPM x-jet (again, no proportioner used), you’d want to mix 1 gallon of SH to every 1.5 gallons of water. That would put you at 3.125%. If you increase the water to 1.75 gallons per 1 gallon of SH, your x-jet result will drop to 2.841%. I do it this way so I don’t have to use any of the colored proportioners. It’s much easier that way.
Typo – I use x-jet M5 (not 5M) at 4GPM
To get 3% / 3% divided by 12.5 % X 100 gallons equals 24. so in 100 gallons u add 24 gallons of SH and 76 gallons of water and ur soap
I’m using a 4gpm machine and an xjet… I’m trying to understand the proportioners. Can you explain the tip ratios when using 12.5% bleach please
If you use an X-Jet M5 version 13 (rated for 4GPM), this produces a 1.6 to 1 ratio of water to mix. I’m going to try and post a chart for this particular x-Jet version 13 to make it easy:
I use Quarts below because it’s easier to understand.
NOTE: 4 Quarts = 1 gallon, so each Quart is .25 gallon.
NOTE: the “makes mix%” column is what you could use if you were using a basic pump sprayer (no pressure washer). That column will come in handy for small jobs that are pump sprayer only. Once you hook up the 4GPM X-Jet M5 (#13), you see the percentages drop further due to the added water stream.
If you use 12.5% SH:
% SH SH (Qts) Water (Qts) x to 1 ratio makes mix % FINAL Output X-Jet M5 #13
12.5 4 1 1.250 10.000 6.250
12.5 4 2 1.500 8.333 5.208
12.5 4 3 1.750 7.143 4.464
12.5 4 4 2.000 6.250 3.906
12.5 4 5 2.250 5.556 3.472
12.5 4 6 2.500 5.000 3.125
12.5 4 7 2.750 4.545 2.841
12.5 4 8 3.000 4.167 2.604
12.5 4 9 3.250 3.846 2.404
12.5 4 10 3.500 3.571 2.232
12.5 4 11 3.750 3.333 2.083
12.5 4 12 4.000 3.125 1.953
12.5 4 13 4.250 2.941 1.838
12.5 4 14 4.500 2.778 1.736
12.5 4 15 4.750 2.632 1.645
12.5 4 16 5.000 2.500 1.563
If you use 10% SH:
% SH SH (Qts) Water (Qts) x to 1 ratio makes mix % FINAL Output X-Jet M5 #13
10 4 1 1.250 8.000 5.000
10 4 2 1.500 6.667 4.167
10 4 3 1.750 5.714 3.571
10 4 4 2.000 5.000 3.125
10 4 5 2.250 4.444 2.778
10 4 6 2.500 4.000 2.500
10 4 7 2.750 3.636 2.273
10 4 8 3.000 3.333 2.083
10 4 9 3.250 3.077 1.923
10 4 10 3.500 2.857 1.786
10 4 11 3.750 2.667 1.667
10 4 12 4.000 2.500 1.563
10 4 13 4.250 2.353 1.471
10 4 14 4.500 2.222 1.389
10 4 15 4.750 2.105 1.316
10 4 16 5.000 2.000 1.250
I apologize for the spacing of those charts, but I had it formatted with spacing, but this forum removes the added spaces. You can copy and paste it into excel or a word document to space out the columns.
Since they all run together, the 6 column headers are as follows:
% SH
SH (Qts)
Water (Qts)
x to 1 ratio
makes mix %
FINAL Output X-Jet M5 #13