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Post Info TOPIC: Length of time for Sodium Hypochlorate to lose effectiveness?


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Length of time for Sodium Hypochlorate to lose effectiveness?
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Does anyone know how long it takes for bleech to lose its effectiveness? Here's the scenario: You apply your cleaning solution -- not overdoing it so not much runs off the roof => you only rinsed the plants until you dont see any more coming off the roof. The roof did not get rinsed..... job over and you leave. What if it rains shortly after you leave and dumps enough water to rinse the roof pretty well but not really enough to thoroughly douse the plants. Will the plants be harmed? How long is adequate for the plants to not be affected?

 

I tried to do a search on this but could not find anything.



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Pat Konen
Curb Appeal of the Southeast, LLC
Charleston, South Carolina
29464, 29466
843-324-4003

No Pressure Roof Cleaning Charleston - Mt. Pleasant SC
Pressure Washing Charleston - Mt. Pleasant SC



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This question cannot be answered with certainty.  You should appreciate that sodium hypochlorite solutions are only stable at around 12-13% in water with sodium hydroxide.  Try to concentrate it more than that (say, by evaporation on the roof) and it will decompose rapidly to that concentration.  The rate at which the active chlorine is decomposed or used is also affected by sunlight, temperature, oxidizable soils and organic compounds, transition metal compounds and pH.  So the rate at which the active chlorine (or hypochlorite) is diminished with time depends on a lot of factors.

Sodium hypochlorite is manufactured by bubbling chlorine gas through a solution of sodium hydroxide solution and much of the sodium hydroxide remains behind in the concentrate you purchase from your wholesaler.  I am not a trained roof cleaning contractor and I haven't yet treated even a single roof, but I would think you should rinse all of the cleaning solution off of the roof before you leave.  The residual caustic can cause severe damage to the shingles as well as any plants under the conditions you describe.  

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