Keep your chemistry happy

Drums and containers of soaps and waxes, either being stored or in use at the carwash, are generally out of view of the customer so it is easy to become complacent about appearance and environmental conditions in these areas.

A clean and tidy plantroom and storeroom leads to a safer work environment as well as optimum performance from your products. It can ultimately save both time and money too.

Important information such as Safety Data Sheets (SDS) should be part of your chemical storage plan. All sites must have a folder with all the relevant and up-to-date SDS in a place that’s easily accessible in an emergency. This folder should also have an index that guides the reader to the relevant document for each particular product. Check out our complete library in our Resource Hub here.

Drums should always be correctly labelled and chemicals should not be decanted to drums that previously held something else and have a different label. Well organised and labelled storage can help with finding the next drum to connect to equipment and also ensures stocktaking and re-ordering is faster and simpler.

Take care not to stack or store liquids above powders as a spill from a liquid container can easily contaminate a powder product, whereas a powder spill will not get into a properly sealed liquid container. It is important that you never store alkali products directly with acidic products.

Pay careful attention to the storage of powder products and remember moisture doesn’t just come in the obvious form of spills or leaks from equipment. There is a lot of moisture in the air around a carwash. Make sure powder products stay sealed until being used and are stored in a dry area not liable to flooding if something leaks. Again, up off the floor is a good idea.

As well as cleanliness and order, considering your environmental conditions is important. Extreme temperatures can be detrimental to the chemistry so try to avoid those as much as possible. In cold areas, in winter for example, raise drums off the cold concrete floor onto timber. Make sure liquids are never allowed to freeze. Products will often become more viscous in extreme cold and therefore dilution ratios in the equipment may fall, affecting performance.

Don’t store products outside in the blazing sun in hot areas. Even keeping the drums as sealed as possible once opened is important as evaporation from the drum or condensation entering can cause issues. A tight-fitting pick-up tube through a fitted lid is better than having the drum sitting open.

Keep your chemistry happy to ensure optimum performance in the wash, a safer work area and minimise your costs.