The first cold Monday of the season you mix what you have mixed since June, because why would you mix anything else. You hit the north side of a two story, give it the four minutes you always give it, and when you rinse there is still green sitting down in the lap siding.
Nothing is wrong with the jug. It came off the same pallet you have been working through all summer. But the homeowner is standing in her driveway looking at a wall you just cleaned, and what she is deciding is whether you know what you are doing.
Chemicals work slower in cold weather, so plan on using more chemical and more dwell time. We’ve already coved all cold weather guidlines in the previous article. That is true, and it is also where most of us stop reading. The useful part is what to change first, because it is probably not the ratio.
What cold weather pressure washing chemicals are doing differently
A cleaner works by reacting with whatever is sitting on the surface, and cold slows that reaction down. Nothing about the product has gone weak on you. It is working on a longer clock than you are used to giving it, which makes this a scheduling problem at least as much as a chemistry one.
The thermometer in your truck and the temperature on the wall are different. You want to focus on how cold the wall is, not just the temp outside. A north wall in the shade has been loosing heat all night and it is still getting colder at ten in the morning. The south side of the same house at noon, in sun, can run warm enough that your mix behaves like it is still summer time.
Same house, same tank, two different jobs.
Increase dwell time
Start by giving the same mix longer than it needed in summer. Keep it wet while it sits, because a cleaner that has dried on the siding has quit working whether or not it still looks like it is doing something. On a long dwell that means going back over the panel instead of walking off to coil hose. If the growth is still holding after that, then step the ratio up.
There is a simple tell for whether this is a temperature problem at all. Put a hand flat on the surface before you mix for it. If the wall is cold enough to be unpleasant to touch and damp on top of that, you are not going to get summer behavior out of a summer ratio.
October gives you something back here, which nobody mentions. Nothing dries as fast as it did in June, so the longer dwell you need is also easier to get.
Get soap that clings to the wall
On a wall you only get the dwell your chemical is willing to stay put for, and the cold works against you twice.
A cold wall is usually a damp wall. It has been holding condensation since before you pulled up, and that film is enough to thin your product the moment it lands. You can watch it happen. It hits the siding, it slides, and the dwell you planned for ends up on the walkway.
Foam is a good fix. It holds the cleaner against the surface long enough to do the work you mixed it to do.
R-1400 Super Foaming Booster is the one to know for this. It “increases foam and improves cling on vertical and hard-to-reach surfaces,” and it goes in at 7 ounces per gallon of chemical cleaner, or 35 ounces per 5 gallons. It works with all acid or alkaline cleaners so it combines on top of whatever you already using.
It is worth looking at our detergents category for any other products you might need. Call us before you pair a booster with an acid cleaner on a job you have not run it on.
What happens to the jugs overnight
This one does not cost you a reclean. It costs you the product.
Do not let your chemicals freeze and store them somewhere dry and warm. Liquid chemicals usually separate when they freeze. Our winter spray tips can help you avoid costly repairs and replacements.
Separation is why a frozen jug is not just a cold jug. Shaking it does not reliably put it back together, so what you are left with is a container of useless chemical.
Three things before the first hard freeze night:
- Where the chemicals sleep. Not on the trailer, and not in an unheated box truck.
- What came off the truck at the end of the day. The jug you left in the bed is the one you will reach for first in the morning.
- What you do with a drum that froze anyway. Set it aside rather than guessing.
Change the day, not just the mix
The last adjustment is not in the tank at all. It is on the schedule, and our winter spray tips put real numbers on it.
- Work later and stay out of the shade. Surfaces warm up in sun, so a wall that was hopeless at eight is a different wall by noon.
- For working with acid. Aluminum brightening and acid cleaning do not work well below 60 degrees Fahrenheit. That is a booking decision, not a mixing one.
- So does sealing. A deck wants 12 to 24 hours of drying above 50 degrees before it gets sealed, confirmed with a moisture meter, and decks run warmest from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
- Hot water moves the floor way down. Hot water washing can be done in temperatures as low as 15 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on wind conditions.
Run the east and south faces early, hold the shaded north side for the afternoon, and put anything acid based on the warmest day in the forecast.
What one re-clean can actually cost you
The drive back is free. The chemical and your time is not. Do that twice between now and Thanksgiving and you have handed back more money than a case of booster would have cost you.
We have been family owned since 1973, and the people answering the phone have mixed for cold weather on real jobs.
Call 1-800-433-2113 and we will go through your mix for the temperatures you are working in.
