Guide: Using Black-Off, Glory & Purple Degreasers for Fleet Maintenance

When performing fleet maintenance, the most important oils, road grime, dust, grease, and grime buildup need to be removed using the most effective degreasers. Knowing when to use Black-Off, Glory, or Purple Degreasers in MT Business Technologies’ Franchise Maintenance Division and Fleet Maintenance Services will achieve desired results. This will help eliminate equipment damage and save money. This document is designed to review the strengths of the individual products, their intended uses, and applicable selection criteria.

Evaluating Fleet Maintenance Degreaser Options

Cleaning commercial vehicles and degreasing is a challenge in terms of fleet maintenance, and servicing the vehicle and equipment is no exception. In fleet maintenance, commercial vehicles capture and accumulate engine and transmission hydraulic oils, road film with asphalt and tyre residue, road salts and corroding winter fluids, and fluids from hydraulic gates and power steering systems. In addition, brake dust contains metals, along with other materials used in brake systems.

Temperature extremes create hot grease that gets baked into the carbon. Engine compartments get hot. Undercarriages that are exposed to road spray and winter salt require products.

You’ll need a versatile formulation. Larger surface areas mean you’ll need degreasers that are less aggressive and able to preserve paints and finishes. Painted panels need gentle products. Attention should be provided to engines and chassis that can have aggressive alkaline degreasers. Oxidation and discolouration prevention needs to be aimed at aluminium.

In fleet maintenance, the best degreaser is one that can perform aggressive soil removals but is material safe, is economically effective through proper dilutions, and is workforce safe through minimal adverse conditions.

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Heavy Duty Carbon and Tire Mark Removal Black-Off Degreaser

Black-Off degreaser is on the ultra-high alkalinity spectrum (pH 13.5-14). This formulation is purposely built to tackle the toughest soils that fleet maintenance has to offer, baked-on carbon, tyre marks on garage flooring, and extreme grease build-up that requires high aggression on the chemical front.

Main Uses

Deep Cleaning Engine Compartments.

Black-Off works wonders through its carbon-dissolving chemical makeup. Years of oil leaks and road spray combined to create layers of stubborn contamination that lighter degreasers just smear around. Black Off penetrates these deposits and breaks them down so they can be efficiently removed through pressure washing, doing so without excessive scrubbing that could be detrimental to the soft interior components.

Black Off is used to remove tyre marks, oil drips, and heavy traffic stains on concrete shops. floors. The extreme alkalinity is effective on the rubber and petroleum used in floor coatings, so marks that are resistant to standard floor cleaners will get lifted. The application is to spray the concentrated or lightly diluted product, let it dwell for 5-10 minutes, and then scrub with stiff brushes. Floor washing machines work best for these. After scrubbing, it all just gets rinsed off.

Cleaning of Exhaust Systems

Deals with built-up soot and particulates around diesel engine exhaust system components of diesel generators and vehicles, such as mufflers, tailpipes, and diesel particulate filters. Black-Off works by using active components, including highly alkaline sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide. It would have to be caustic oven-cleaner-type products that generate hazardous fumes that cannot be used in shops.

Safety and Dilution

Fleet cleaning products used in cars and trucks, like Black-Off, are concentrates for economical shipping and storage. The correct mixing ratios will depend on how dirty the job or surface to be cleaned is, with ratios usually or often around 1:10 for very dirty surfaces in the case of industrial degreasing and 1:40 in the case of moderate grease cleaning. The alkaline content is extreme, and as is the case with anything containing caustic on large surfaces, gloves, a full face shield, and protective clothing are required to assist in minimizing the risk of caustic burns to the skin.

Material Compatibility Limits

Black-Off for tough surfaces. It is known that aluminium, painted surfaces, and soft metals can be damaged by prolonged exposure to high alkalinity. Damage can be accommodated by swift and thorough rinsing, but sensitive components are better served by Glory or Purple Degreaser.

Glory Degreaser: Ideal For Ordinary Maintenance Of Fleets

Of the cleaners, Glory degreaser is in the middle of the pack and is more potent than general-purpose cleaners. Glory is therefore the most used, in a fleet washing context, for the most common and routine cleaning of vehicles and trucks, where strong cleaning is required but extreme caustics such as Black-Off are too severe for the surface to be cleaned. The formulation is balanced to give Glory a pH of around 12 to 13.

Adaptable Uses

Road film, bug residue, and general grime can be removed externally without the use of aggressive chemicals that speed up paint oxidation. Glory removes diesel soot, exhaust deposits, and traffic film that builds up during normal operations. For regular wash cycles, cost-effective cleaning is achieved by using dilution ratios from 1:20 to 1:50.

Chassis and undercarriage cleaning requires Glory’s power against oil, but in a safer and more efficient manner than using Black-Off. Glory is easily used on a mix of materials, which is safer for everyone and the environment. With Black-Off and Glory, there is no need to issue selective applications based on the component materials, which is a common practice with extreme alkaline cleaners.

Equipment cleaning degreaser applications in fleet shops use Glory for tools, jacks, lifts, and shop equipment, varying in grease and oil build-up. The alkalinity of Glory is at a safe level to effectively remove soils while minimizing the effects on the skin of the mechanics while working with the cleaned tools during their shift.

Cost Effectiveness

Industrial degreaser for fleet vehicles Operations use Glory based on its cost per application, which is low, along with its ability to deliver great cleaning. Glory is a powerful product with a great concentration of the solution. With just one gallon of Glory, operators can get 20-50 gallons of working solution, which is a great value for fleet operators. It exceeds the power of most general commercial cleaners.

Automated dispensing systems efficiently manage Glory’s use by preventing over-concentration and under-dilution issues. Mounted on the walls of the washing bays, the dispensers are able to quickly give the correctly diluted solutions to every vehicle or use case.

From engine compartments to garage floors, we have you covered. Choose the right degreaser for your fleet now! View Product Range

Purple Degreaser Industrial: The Penetrating Power for Tough Soils

The Purple Degreaser Industrial formulations are based on some advanced surfactant technology combined with penetrating agents, which are unlike pure alkalinity. This product excels at embedded grease and any oil-saturated porous surfaces, as well as any cross-situations that need longer contact times for the soil to break down.

Specialized Fleet Applications

Cleaning Transmissions and Differentials.

To work on Purple Degreaser penetrating chemistry, ease of use is often observed where previous attempts using spray-and-rinse degreasers failed on axle seals, mounting points and the gear housing crevices. This specialized system we use undercuts soil adhesion and removes the soil’s complex shapes.

Toda Degreasing of Porous Surfaces.

The cleaning of concrete loading docks and warehouse floor surfaces, as well as outdoor storage area surfaces, is where we use the Purple Degreaser. This penetrant reaches the subsurface layers where grease and oil contamination are locked up due to delayed surface cleaning. Primary floor cleaners and degreasers only remove contamination located at the concrete surface.

Best Chemical Degreasers for Trucks.

Having leaks in hydraulic systems uses Purple Degreaser for complete cleanup. Hydraulic fluid is particularly difficult to clean, but Purple Degreaser has longer penetration times and breaks down residues to nothing.

Application Methodology

To get the maximum effectiveness from Purple Degreaser, you should do extended dwell times. Instead of rinsing immediately, having a contact time of 10 to 20 minutes allows the surfactants to penetrate and lift, then emulsify, and then the oils become deeply embedded. For the extreme cases, leaving it to sit overnight on the drained components should do the trick.

Brush agitation and Purple Degreaser working together are a great combination for effective cleaning. The product softens the soils, and while the brush is being used to get the soils out, the surfactants from the product are preventing soils from immediately redepositing on the surface.

Comparative selection guide for fleet maintenance

When it comes down to picking one of the three out of Black-off, Glory, and Purple Degreaser, it is really down to the type of soils that are being dealt with, the surface materials, and cleaning frequencies.

If you are dealing with tyre marks and carbon deposits, Black-Off is the best option, as it is the most abrasive and dissolving of these types of soils. Ensure you are using this on strong surfaces and have the correct protective equipment; do a thorough rinsing.

When doing regular cleaning of the exteriors of the vehicles and chassis in particular,
Glory is the best option, as it is the most balanced with complete soil removal without added alkalinity, and it does not cause corrosion.

For embedded oils and porous surfaces, Concrete surfaces and oil-soaked pieces are particularly difficult to clean when using alkaline solutions. However, our Purple Degreaser’s deep-penetrating surfactants are able to reach these soils and clean them thoroughly.

For mixed fleets with varied cleaning needs, Glory, Black-Off, and Purple Degreaser have you covered. Glory is the primary product used by a multitude of automotive shop degreasers USA, and Black-Off is their go-to for extremely difficult soils. Purple Degreaser is chosen for the routine cleaning of floors with embedded soils.

Best Practices for Fleet Degreasing Operations

Cost, safety, and productivity are optimized with systematic methods. This remains true regardless of your choice of product.

Pressure Washing Integration

Hot water pressure washers are a powerful tool for overcoming the challenges mentioned above. Their ability to improve soil suspension and accelerate the action of the cleaning products is second to none. When combined with appropriate degreasers, water at 150-180 degrees Fahrenheit can reduce cleaning time by 50-100% when compared to cold water.

Dilution injection systems are a game-changer when using pressure washers. They remove the hassle of manual mixing and ensure the right degreaser concentration is maintained.

Safety and Environmental Compliance

Heavy-duty degreaser USA compliance remains a challenge with these products, especially at commercial vehicle wash facilities. They must ensure that contaminated water does not flow directly into the storm drain by using appropriate containment, oil-water separators, and proper disposal methods.

The level of required PPE is determined by product concentration. For concentrated degreasers, chemical-resistant gloves and some form of eye protection are required. For working solutions that are diluted, depending on strength and exposure duration, just gloves may not be required but are best practice.

Product Storage and Handling

Concentrated Products

Need to be securely stored to avoid unauthorised access and should be protected from freezing, excessive heat exposure, etc., which will degrade the chemistry of the products. Colour-coded labelling will help avoid confusing different degreasers to avoid incorrect application.

Automated Inventory Tracking

It is now possible with smart dispensing systems that keep track of usage and allow you to predict when products need to be reordered, helping you to avoid stockouts that can disrupt your fleet maintenance.

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Cost Analysis: Concentrated vs Ready-To-Use

Economics of fleet shop cleaning supplies

Favours concentrated degreasers over ready-to-use products when its cleaning operation is washing multiple vehicles daily. For example, a $50 gallon of concentrate that can be diluted to make 40 gallons of working solution costs $1.25 per gallon. In comparison, premixed products cost $8-12, providing an 80-90% savings on cleaning supplies.

The cost of labour efficiency is as important. Products that allow for quicker cleaning (i.e., less scrubbing, shorter dwell times, fewer applications, and, in turn, less chemical use) reduce labour costs per vehicle and may save more money than the chemical savings.

Final Thoughts

Operational Navy USA fleet maintenance degreasers need understanding within each product category for finished work detail. The Black-Off degreaser works on the most extreme carbon build-up and retention tyre marks due to the highest levels of alkalinity. Glory degreaser works at an equipoised level due to optimal performance on a maintenance clean of a vehicle and piece of equipment. Purple Industrial Formulated Degreaser penetrates the complex and porous mass of an etched surface and oily embedded residues of an industrial composition. Thoughtful product selection and application, including appropriate ratios, safety procedures, and pressure washing, gets fleets cleaned and the most value and satisfaction within governance.

Suppliers Chemical offers fleet maintenance degreaser products with on-site evaluations to determine the optimal solutions, product selection, and application processes to suit your fleet type, soilage, and operational needs, and the convenience of custom-engineered results for the vehicles you need.

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