How to Clean Stuff Mixing Ratio

Most commercial cleaning solutions suggest a ratio of dilution on the label but how do you actually work out what amount to mix with the water? Mixing the correct ratio will give better cleaning and economy.

The label of your new Spray n Wipe recommends mixing at a ratio of 1:20 for general cleaning.
We will assume you wish to mix enough to fill a trigger sprayer with a 500ml bottle.
Take out your handy pocket calculator and enter 1 divided by 20 = 0.05.
Now multiply that answer x 500mls and you should get a new answer of 25.
So measure 25ml of solution into the trigger bottle and top it up with water and your ready to go.

This is the formula: 1 divided by the Ratio x container size = quantity of chemical to mix with water.

Another example is mixing floor cleaner at a ratio of 1:80 using a 16-litre mop bucket holding only 12 litres of water to avoid spillage .
We use the same formula as above but need to remember that 1 litre is 1000 mls and in this case there are 12 of them so there is an extra multiplier this time.

Enter 1 divided by 80 = 0.0125
Then multiply 0.0125 x 1000 x 12 litres = 150mls of floor cleaner to mix with the water.

In the trigger sprayer example the container size was less than 1 litre so we did not need to multiply by the number of litres whereas the bucket example was more than 1 litre.

Mixing cleaning chemicals correctly can help you clean better with less effort, save you money and help protect your health from over strength solutions.