Proper Measuring

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outlander

New member
I would like to purchase a few products that require you to measure the proper amount. Say a product requires a 4 to 1 or 3 to 2 dilution rate. How do you accurately measure this amount:help::help:
 
There was a thread recently where Mike Phillips was showing off a new product at Autogeek that does just what you're asking.
 
WHAT! Deprive ourselves of standing in the searing heat with the sun baking our brains, sweat rolling into our eyes, burning while trying to do math in our heads? :eek: What kind of fun is that? :D



Or outlander, you can follow the gentlemen's advice above. ;)
 
Mr. Clean said:
WHAT! Deprive ourselves of standing in the searing heat with the sun baking our brains, sweat rolling into our eyes, burning while trying to do math in our heads? :eek: What kind of fun is that? :D



Or outlander, you can follow the gentlemen's advice above. ;)
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math? whats math?:hmmm::huh:

dont you just dump it till it turns a color you like? :huh:
 
The math is pretty easy and a plastic baby bottle to measure the product and then use the markings on the spray bottle to get the end result.
If your spray bottle doesn't have markings, you could use the baby bottle to measure the water as well.
I also purchased several dispensing bottles from US Plastics that are very similar to the Micro-Restore bottles. I use them a lot as well. I keep my ONR, DP RW&G, QEW, APC, APC+, Glass Cleaner Concentrate, Car Shampoo in those.

FWIW, I have a Pro-Blend device that I have never used. :)
 
Just to add to the confusion, you can use any small container as a measuring device, as long as you use it for both the water and concentrate. For example, you could put 4 bottle caps of water to 1 cap of concentrate. This would give you your 4:1 ratio. You could use the cap off of a spray paint can. As long as your holding container (likely a spray bottle) can hold all the fluid, you're set. You don't have to choose ounces, milliliters, cups, gallons, or anything specific.

If you are the sort that prefers to know you have X ounces of product, then you can get a dedicated measuring cup (likely shouldn't re-use it for cooking after measuring out solvents) at dollar stores.

And, for those that like dealing with no math whatsoever, I've seen spray bottles that are pre-labeled with a line to fill with water and a "top up" line to add the concentrate to. (Obviously made to be used with a specific product.)

As I mentioned in another thread about measuring, you don't need to make up full bottles of product every time. Mix what you'll use in a reasonable amount of time. This may mean mixing up less than 6 ounces at a time. Some chemicals degrade/change over time, once mixed with water, so you shouldn't mix up a decade worth of product at once.
 
I get Ace spray bottles for my degreasers and APCs. These have a handy little graph on the side that shows you the ounce amount. My CG Grime Reaper is mixed 10:1 in a 40-oz. bottle....4 oz. of GR and fill the rest with water. The Meg's APC is mixed 4:1 and it's just as easy; 10 oz. of APC, fill the rest with water.
 
If your bottle holds only 40 oz, you are actually mixing it a bit strong. 10:1 with 4oz, being the 1 would mean you need 40oz. water, but in reality you are adding only 36oz, which means you are actually mixing a 9:1 solution.

At your 4:1 example, you are actually mixing 30oz water and 10 oz. APC, which is 3:1.

Another point to consider is to add your concentrate after you add your water, as this will reduce the chance of backspray/overflow as well as the likelihood of foaming the solution to the point that you have an even stronger solution, since you won't have added as much water as you were going to due to the foam produced in the bottle.
 
Big Leegr said:
If your bottle holds only 40 oz, you are actually mixing it a bit strong. 10:1 with 4oz, being the 1 would mean you need 40oz. water, but in reality you are adding only 36oz, which means you are actually mixing a 9:1 solution.

At your 4:1 example, you are actually mixing 30oz water and 10 oz. APC, which is 3:1.

Another point to consider is to add your concentrate after you add your water, as this will reduce the chance of backspray/overflow as well as the likelihood of foaming the solution to the point that you have an even stronger solution, since you won't have added as much water as you were going to due to the foam produced in the bottle.
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:bigups:bigups

I agree with BL i always try to add the product im mixing to the water foam is such a pain..

I guess it goes back to chemistry class my teacher used to say "Do as you outta add acid to watta" :rofl
 
I have those pro blend bottle proportioners and i'm actually looking for something else. The shaft that threads into the apparatus that raises and lowers in the cup strips too easily. (I've stripped two now in the past 2 days).

I want something that isn't glass, so if I should drop it it does not break.
 
Here's a link to the measuring bottle Charles was mentioning:
HDPE Dispensing Bottles | U.S. Plastic Corp.
(At least I think this would be the one he mentioned eariler in the thread.)
It works nicely and they aren't too expensive, so you could get a few and have a specific bottle for each product you dilute. Fairly simple design and not much likelihood of stripping anything on them.
 
Big Leegr said:
Here's a link to the measuring bottle Charles was mentioning:
HDPE Dispensing Bottles | U.S. Plastic Corp.
(At least I think this would be the one he mentioned eariler in the thread.)
It works nicely and they aren't too expensive, so you could get a few and have a specific bottle for each product you dilute. Fairly simple design and not much likelihood of stripping anything on them.
Click to expand...

yeah those are kind of cool, but i don't want to decant my gallon container into that just to measure out a couple ounces and then dump what's rest back into the gallon :p (nor buy several of these for each gallon of stuff I have)
 
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