What's the difference between Tornado Cleanze and Lightning Cleanze?

What is the difference between Tornado Cleanze and Lightning Cleanze – and why would you choose one over the other?

Both products contain sodium hypochlorite and are designed to tackle biological staining, but they are made for different types of cleaning work.

Lightning Cleanze is a liquid treatment that is easy to apply across larger surface areas. Tornado Cleanze is a thick gel that stays in contact with stubborn staining for longer.

Knowing when to use each one can make a big difference to the speed and effectiveness of a softwash treatment.

What is Tornado Cleanze?

Tornado Cleanze is a thick sodium hypochlorite gel designed for particularly stubborn staining.

Unlike a liquid treatment, the gel clings to the surface and gives the product prolonged contact with the staining.

This makes Tornado Cleanze particularly useful for areas such as:

• Stone and concrete window sills
• Window surrounds and vertical uprights
• Stone and concrete capping stones
• Garden walls
• Badly colonised areas of render
• Stubborn residual staining
• Black spot and black lichen staining on paths and patios

Tornado Cleanze is used neat.

Its thick consistency also makes it useful for controlled spot cleaning where a larger area does not need another complete treatment.

For example, after treating a surface with Lightning Cleanze you may find small areas of stubborn residual staining remain. Tornado Cleanze can then be applied directly to those areas rather than treating the entire surface again.

Allow Tornado Cleanze sufficient contact time to work before rinsing. Depending on the job and conditions, this will normally be within the recommended 15–60 minute working time.

What is Lightning Cleanze?

Lightning Cleanze is a liquid sodium hypochlorite biocide designed for rapid cleaning of biological staining on suitable exterior hard surfaces.

Because it is a liquid, you can dilute it to the required working strength and apply it easily across larger areas using suitable low-pressure softwash equipment or a water-fed pole system.

We often use Lightning Cleanze where biological colonisation is too severe for Bio Cleanze to be the most practical first treatment, or where the customer wants a much faster visible result.

Render is a good example. Heavy red, green or black biological staining can often be rapidly cleaned using the correct working dilution of Lightning Cleanze.

Always choose the dilution and application method to suit the surface, level of colonisation and job conditions.

So when should you use Tornado Cleanze instead of Lightning Cleanze?

The simplest way to think about the difference is:

Use Lightning Cleanze when you need a liquid treatment across a larger area.

Use Tornado Cleanze when you need prolonged contact with stubborn or localised staining.

The products can also work together on the same job.

You may use Lightning Cleanze for the main treatment and then use Tornado Cleanze to target particularly stubborn areas that remain afterwards.

This is especially useful where repeating the entire Lightning Cleanze treatment would be unnecessary.

Why does the gel make a difference?

Contact time is one of the main advantages of Tornado Cleanze.

A liquid naturally begins to run down a vertical surface after application. Tornado Cleanze stays where you put it for longer.

That prolonged contact can make it particularly effective on stubborn staining around window surrounds, capping stones, walls and other vertical or localised areas.

It also allows you to work more precisely when only a small section of a surface needs additional treatment.

What about black spot and black lichen?

Tornado Cleanze is particularly effective for removing stubborn black spot and black lichen staining from paths, patios and other suitable hard surfaces.

These marks can remain visible even after the biological growth has been treated.

The gel allows you to concentrate the treatment directly onto the affected areas and maintain contact with the staining for longer.

Where does Bio Cleanze fit in?

Lightning Cleanze and Tornado Cleanze are primarily used when you need rapid cleaning or when you are dealing with particularly severe or stubborn colonisation.

Bio Cleanze works differently.

Once you have completed the initial clean and removed the heavy biological colonisation, Bio Cleanze can be used as part of an ongoing maintenance programme.

This is the basis of the Benz Clean & Maintain approach.

Clean & Maintain

Offering customers an ongoing Clean & Maintain programme can benefit both the property owner and the contractor.

Rather than waiting until biological colonisation becomes severe again, you can carry out maintenance treatments with Bio Cleanze as required.

This helps maintain the results of the initial clean while giving contractors a source of regular repeat business.

Check the product guidance before starting

The correct product, dilution, application method and contact time will depend on the surface you are cleaning and the severity of the colonisation.

You will find detailed application information on the individual product pages for Tornado Cleanze, Lightning Cleanze and Bio Cleanze.

You can also find further guidance in the Benz Product Documentation.

We hope this information helps you choose the right Benz product for the job and get the best possible results from your soft washing work.

Team Benz

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