One of the things that I learned when I started detailing is that a lot of products come in concentrates that get diluted and put into spray bottles. I made quite a few messes trying to pour from gallon jugs into smaller bottles and looked at various devices to help measure and proportion products, but nothing seemed like a great solution. I came up with some ways of dealing with it that I thought others might find useful. If you have your own tips, I'd love to hear them.
Diluting products
Diluting products scares a lot of people because it requires calculating lots of fractions. Add to that the fact that we in the USA are still stuck with the English measurement system. Here is a way of diluting products that makes computing and measuring water and products much easier.
1. Put the empty bottle on a kitchen scale and use the zero-set function so that you aren't including the weight of the bottle (and funnel) in the reading.
2. Determine the number of grams (don't use ounces; metric is so much easier) your bottle holds at the neck. A 32oz bottle should be close to 907gm; a 16oz bottle is around 454gm. Using this technique, you really know how big the bottle is, not just the advertised size.
For example, a 5:1 dilution in a 822gm bottle would be:
water-gm = ( 822gm * 5 ) / ( 5 + 1 )
water-gm = 4110gm / 6
water-gm = 685gm
4. Use the kitchen scale to find the fill line on the bottle by filling it with distilled water until the readout is 685gm. Being a few grams off isn’t a problem (7gm is only 1/4oz).
5. Mark the bottle with vinyl tape or a marker.
6. Top off the bottle with desired product (see next section). No measuring or proportioning needed!
7. When refilling, just fill up with water to the line, then top off again with the product.
Pouring products from a gallon jug into a bottle
Pouring products into smaller bottles can make a mess if you don’t use the proper technique. Unfortunately, gallon jugs seem to be designed to make it hard, but with the following steps, you’ll see that it’s not difficult to fill small bottles without spilling.
1. Put the jug on the counter in front of you with the handle facing away
and the spout towards you.
2. Hook your right thumb through the handle and grasp it with your fingers
over the top.
3. Lift the jug and let it rest on your bicep. The spout should be directly over
your shoulder.
4. Grab your bottle and place the opening against the spout of the gallon jug.
Tip: Screw on funnels help with this, but with a little practice, you won’t even need those.
5. Carefully tip the jug down and fill the bottle to the neck.
Labeling spray heads
Most bottles are labeled on the side, but if you have them in a rack or on a cart, the labels can be hard to see. Why not put the labels on the spray head instead where you can always see it? Many of the better brands of products use a spray head that has a nice smooth and roomy top on them, just the right size for a label maker label.
1. Get a label maker and labels that are water resistant (not paper).
2. Enter the label text using easy to remember abbreviations. You only get about a dozen characters, but it’s usually enough to get the gist.
3. Stick the label to the top of the sprayer and enjoy!
Question
kesmit
One of the things that I learned when I started detailing is that a lot of products come in concentrates that get diluted and put into spray bottles. I made quite a few messes trying to pour from gallon jugs into smaller bottles and looked at various devices to help measure and proportion products, but nothing seemed like a great solution. I came up with some ways of dealing with it that I thought others might find useful. If you have your own tips, I'd love to hear them.
Diluting products
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