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Additions to DDAC biocide?

Pepod

New member
Messages
5
Location
NI
Hi Folks,

Forgive my ignorance with this - I don't do any softwashing but I fancy doing my own property since I have most of the kit to do it. I can get DDAC locally and I am happy enough to mix a solution myself, I just wanted to find out if there was any recommendation on whether or not to add a surfactant to it? I have read both that it is not needed with this and also that it still helps. Will be applied with backpack/wfp and spray nozzle if that makes a difference.

Thanks!

 
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First thing to consider is your health! Spraying biocides etc isn't good for your lungs, eyes let alone making sure you protect the environment.

You really need a mask, goggles and protective clothing to stop it getting on your skin. 

Are you intending spraying paths, walls, or roofs?

 
Thanks for the reply.

Intending to do walls mainly. Cement render with no paint and has been left like that for a nearly 10 years so got a reasonable amount of lichen/algae on them, mainly the red stuff. 

I had a look at the chemicals and saw that they were unpleasant enough, I have a visor/googles and a mask already and would probably grab a disposable tyvek just to be sure. Luckily there are no animals or kids in play and there are no plants etc anywhere where there could be any runoff.

 
If it's walls then you will need a good surfactant. Be aware that you need a surfactant that is suitable for the DDAC you are using. I believe they have to be approved to be added to DDAC! Bonnymans is a good place to find out what surfactant is approved, not sure if they ship to NI. 

As for masks I believe you need an aebk filter as the particles are small and using the proper filter even removes the smell.

 
Cheers, I have the right filters for the mask and I will give Bonnymans a shout tomorrow both to find out what they suggest and also if they ship. Thanks for the help!

 
Cheers, I have the right filters for the mask and I will give Bonnymans a shout tomorrow both to find out what they suggest and also if they ship. Thanks for the help!
That's great to hear. Sounds like you know what you are talking about, I was worried you were a diy person who had watched a few US youtube vids and thought you could just chuck DDAC about ?

Don't be a stranger here.

 
I am essentially a DIY person when it comes to this side of things, but I do try my best to make sure I know what I am getting myself into!

Thanks again.

 
sometimes you have to be a bit carefull when asking for advice on forums @Pepodddac is a surfactant in its own right and you should not be adding other surfactants to it.

also, when you say you can get hold of ddac how strong is it? if its say, 5% then the rest is 95% water so oviousley not very strong, the legal tops/maximum amount is  40% ddac  mixed with isopropanol and water  to make a usable product for softwashing (not going to give the amounts out on here-sorry) ddac also varies in quality too so you have to be carefull that you are buying a high quality product for your use.

in all honesty mate, i'd just buy some benz lightning cleanze as you are in ni it would be so easy to get hold of the 20 litre sample pack is i beleive its around £60 delivered to your door (long time since i bought one of those packs as i buy the larger ones but the price will be there or there abouts) this will sort the red alghi out and the lichens too- red alghi should be gone within the hour and the sample pack is enough to do the walls and maybe to do a bit on the paving or patio if you have one, please please please as a newbie don't try to skimp by saving a few quid on lower quality products and self mix your own potion your health is more important buy quality stuff and the results will speak for themselves, use the benz website for tutorials on their product and follow the insructions and it will turn out better than you thought it would do, hope this helps in your decision making, regards kevin

 
sometimes you have to be a bit carefull when asking for advice on forums @Pepodddac is a surfactant in its own right and you should not be adding other surfactants to it.

also, when you say you can get hold of ddac how strong is it? if its say, 5% then the rest is 95% water so oviousley not very strong, the legal tops/maximum amount is  40% ddac  mixed with isopropanol and water  to make a usable product for softwashing (not going to give the amounts out on here-sorry) ddac also varies in quality too so you have to be carefull that you are buying a high quality product for your use.

in all honesty mate, i'd just buy some benz lightning cleanze as you are in ni it would be so easy to get hold of the 20 litre sample pack is i beleive its around £60 delivered to your door (long time since i bought one of those packs as i buy the larger ones but the price will be there or there abouts) this will sort the red alghi out and the lichens too- red alghi should be gone within the hour and the sample pack is enough to do the walls and maybe to do a bit on the paving or patio if you have one, please please please as a newbie don't try to skimp by saving a few quid on lower quality products and self mix your own potion your health is more important buy quality stuff and the results will speak for themselves, use the benz website for tutorials on their product and follow the insructions and it will turn out better than you thought it would do, hope this helps in your decision making, regards kevin
Hiya Kevin mate.. I was about to say similar but you beat me to it.

I thought 40% was the limit and ipa allows you to get it that strong.

Bonnymans states 50% strength on theirs which is weird..

I only use benz for ddac also.. not cheap but you get what you pay for.

Definitely don't be adding surfactant lol.. anionics (soaps etc) and ddac aren't.best of friends and the soap can deactivate the ddac or bac50 etc.

 
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Thanks for the additional input guys. To address a couple of points;

I had looked at using Lightning Cleanze (or other hypo) but it was actually the Benz website that suggested for my intended purpose that it was better to use their DDAC product (Bio Cleanze), that's taken from their article on how best to treat cement render prior to painting. They suggest letting the DDAC work for a few months first due to heavy bio film build up. I could buy their product but due to the quantities they sell in it would work out a decent bit more expensive, when it looks at face value like a fairly straightforward (if nasty) product to use if respected properly.

The DDAC I can get is 50% technical grade. 

During research on this I saw that generally speaking it seemed that a surfactant was not required due to the low surface tensions of the DDAC, but I did read somewhere (not that I can find it again now for the life of me) about adding a small amount of an appropriate surfactant to increase the efficacy.

I will have a think about this again and decide whether it is worth doing myself or whether just to go down the ready packaged (ie Benz) route. I will listen to the advice on here as that's why I asked, you guys know more than me - I had just thought it was definitely do-able as long as proper precautions were taken and proper PPE worn.

 
Hiya Kevin mate.. I was about to say similar but you beat me to it.

I thought 40% was the limit and ipa allows you to get it that strong.

Bonnymans states 50% strength on theirs which is weird..

I only use benz for ddac also.. not cheap but you get what you pay for.

Definitely don't be adding surfactant lol.. anionics (soaps etc) and ddac aren't.best of friends and the soap can deactivate the ddac or bac50 etc.
hi dave, i've quoted you so i could keep track of the comments and sorry i've not replied earlier, i tried to but had too many interuptions- aaahh family life,

i did look at the bonnymans ddac it does have a disclaimer at the end of the listing which, i guess is their get out clause, thats the problem with buying chemicals the second you buy them the responsability for use is yours not theres so theres no come back whatsoever as to what you do with them.

benz quote 40% ddac but it would be the technichal grade so will be purer than the run of the mill stuff hence, it a bit more potent and expensive, i always buy technichal grade of any chemicals when i can as you don't need as much and the results are far better than the cheaper stuff i stopped buying from bonnymans a long while ago, 

moving on to the  10% iso mixed within the benz, the iso will act as a chelating agent when mixed so if its mixed into drums and left for a while- think brownian motion it would, result in a more stronger/even mix than the bonnymans stuff.

 
hi dave, i've quoted you so i could keep track of the comments and sorry i've not replied earlier, i tried to but had too many interuptions- aaahh family life,

i did look at the bonnymans ddac it does have a disclaimer at the end of the listing which, i guess is their get out clause, thats the problem with buying chemicals the second you buy them the responsability for use is yours not theres so theres no come back whatsoever as to what you do with them.

benz quote 40% ddac but it would be the technichal grade so will be purer than the run of the mill stuff hence, it a bit more potent and expensive, i always buy technichal grade of any chemicals when i can as you don't need as much and the results are far better than the cheaper stuff i stopped buying from bonnymans a long while ago, 

moving on to the  10% iso mixed within the benz, the iso will act as a chelating agent when mixed so if its mixed into drums and left for a while- think brownian motion it would, result in a more stronger/even mix than the bonnymans stuff.
Good old brownian motion again lol.

That makes sense to have the ipa in it then.

 

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