Do Chemical expire??

[NJ104]

So reorganized my shelves and came across greeae eraser. It was in the wrong spot, looked at my list sheet of chemicals and realized that it was from a older order. Some where in the range of two years ago. Which brings me to the questions if stored in a cool dry place does our carpet cleaning agents go bad expire for a lack of a better term. I also came across a big basket of sample chemicals like formula 90, oderizer etc from custy appreciate day at Jon Don. So instead of throwing these away I would love to know if any chemical goes bad??

 

[Nate The Great]

I've used Grease Eraser from 1990's to clean in 2010ish I believe... It still worked good, I found it on the chemical shelf in our storage....

What's funny is, I hear of some products on MB and think "Hey, I should try some" but in actuality my pops has tried a lot of products in the past....some still sitting on the shelf... The real kicker is shipping for us now, not like it was before... I do know some products have shelf life like peroxide, stain zone, ect...

 

[encapman]

Nate is right. Many products can last a few years or more. But a safe benchmark is to rotate your products through to use them within a 2 year window. The chemical's age is a factor. Weather is another - summer highs and winter cold can impact chemicals. Light can accelerate the weakening of chemicals too.

Keep in mind that we WANT products to be bio-degradable. We want them to eventually break down, otherwise they 'd still be in our environment for a thousand years. So over the course of time, modern chemicals will naturally break down. Here's a simple example to illustrate what I'm talking about. Fill your kitchen sink with some soapy water. It's bubbly to start with right? Now come back the next morning. The bubbles will be considerably weaker. Even if you splash the water around, the bubbles are just kind of dead. This demonstrates that the process of bio-degradation has already begun.

So a good plan of action is to try to order what you'll need for the next few months. Try to have a plan for keeping your inventory under control. You might consider setting up a reminder to order more products as they're needed. At Excellent Supply - we're now offering a "Auto Ship" option, so our customers can plan to have products automatically sent to them on a routine basis. That should help make the re-order process easier for even the most forgetful among us...

 

[J Scott W]

All good information above.
Powders can last longer than most liquids.
Products that react chemically, mostly oxidizers and reducers, will have a shorter shelf life and are more sensitive to heat and light.
Unopened, sealed products will last longer than opened containers.
Remember that if a product has been on your shlef two years, it may have been on the shelf or even a hot warehouse at your distributor for a while. That time may be only a couple of days or it may have been months. This needs to be considered when deciding what is still fresh product. Keep that in mind if you buy chems in dusty bottles from the discount rack.
In a cool, dry place (Now I have the Wilbury's in my mind) liquids should last 2 years before losing much potency. They may still work for 3 or 4 years but not at the strength they had when new. Powders can last 4 ot 5 years.

 

[Mikey P]

@scottw what about stone and grout sealers, have you tested longevity on them? I found the solvents appear to lose their ability to perform after 6 months or so.



I hope @Larry Cobb tested this in that famous laboratory of his...



Great thread, Thanks Juan!

 

[J Scott W]

@scottw what about stone and grout sealers, have you tested longevity on them? I found the solvents appear to lose their ability to perform after 6 months or so.

Solvents will evaporate. They can even permeate through a closed bottle. Some solvents will evaporate or dissipate faster than others. This certainly throows off the balance of the mixture of raw materials. Some materials that were dissolved in the solventr may come out of solution, separate, settle out. As lqiuids dry up, polymers get more exposure to air and begin to form the links that are meant to form only after they are applied to the floor. So, you may see a "skin' form.

However, solvents are seldom an active ingredient in a sealer. So even if some solvent is gone, the sealer may perform rather well. Lots of different products. Finding time to test our own products is hard. We do not test any competitors solvent sealers.

Persoanlly, I am not a big fan of solvent since as they evaporate they add VOCs to the environment and pose other health and safety risks.

 

[ruff]

Not scientifically researched.
But as someone who hates to be without the products and a recovering over-stocker, I can attest that I've used products (detergents) that were ten years old and they worked great.
Possibly not at their perfect best, but plenty good.

Maybe it is a testimony to the quality of the products maybe to the quality of modern truck mounts. However, by the end results you (I) could not tell the difference.

 

[encapman]

Scott's on target - as usual. Good info.

Yep: Unopened products last longer. When a product is exposed to oxygen bio-degradation accelerates.

I also agree that powders last longer than liquid detergents.

And yes, the products will still work as they age - just not at the full strength they had in their youth. Kinda like me.

 

[ruff]

In that case they should be better.

 

[NJ104]

Your welcome @Mike