How much floor cleaner concentrate per bucket?

Whatever the label says, and no more. A typical jerrican concentrate is 20–25 ml per 5-litre bucket; with 5 ml capsules it is one capsule per 5–8 litre bucket. More does not clean better: it leaves residue and smears as it dries.

How do I calculate the cost per bucket?

Container price divided by the buckets the container yields, and the buckets are the millilitres in the container divided by the dose per bucket. A 5-litre jerrican at 25 ml per bucket gives 200 buckets.

How many square metres does one bucket cover?

With a microfibre mop and an 8-litre bucket, roughly 150 to 250 m² in normal traffic areas. On heavily soiled floors or rooms full of furniture it drops considerably.

Is a superconcentrate cheaper?

Per square metre, almost always yes — but only if the dose is respected. A badly dosed superconcentrate is the most expensive product you can buy.

Floor cleaner concentrate: dilution and cost per bucket

Comparing floor cleaners on the price of the jerrican is the most expensive mistake in a cleaning purchase. What you pay for is not the container: it is the cost per bucket of mopping water, and that number depends on the dilution, not on the litre.

What the dilution means

Dilution is written as a ratio: 1:200 means one part product to 200 parts water. In practice, 25 ml in a 5-litre bucket. A concentrate that works at 1:1000 (5 ml in 5 litres) goes five times further from the same litre.

Ready to use: no dilution. One bucket per bucket of product. The most expensive per square metre.
Dilutable 1:20 to 1:50: the usual 5-litre jerrican with a dosing cap.
Superconcentrate 1:200 to 1:1000: one litre makes 200 to 1,000 litres of mopping water.

The calculation to run

Dose per bucket in millilitres (it is on the label: for example 5 ml per 5–8 litre bucket).
Buckets per container = millilitres in the container ÷ dose per bucket. A 5-litre jerrican at 25 ml per bucket gives 200 buckets.
Cost per bucket = container price ÷ buckets per container.
Cost per square metre = cost per bucket ÷ square metres one bucket covers. With a microfibre mop, an 8-litre bucket covers roughly 150 to 250 m² in normal traffic areas.

Once you have run it, two products with twice the difference in price per litre can end up costing the same per bucket — or the other way round. It is the only figure that is comparable between quotes.

What the calculation misses, and still costs money

Overdosing. With no dosing cap, the usual error is a free pour: two to four times the dose. That eats any purchasing discount and leaves smears on the floor.
Transport and storage. A 5-litre jerrican weighs 5 kg; the equivalent in 5 ml capsules for 200 buckets weighs a little over a kilo and fits in a drawer.
Plastic and waste. Every jerrican is a container to manage. In public tenders that scores points.
Preparation time, and the risk of decanting concentrate into unlabelled bottles — see which cleaning chemicals must never be mixed.

Fixed dose versus dosing cap

A dosing cap used properly works. The problem is that it depends on the person, the shift and the hurry. With floor cleaner capsules the dose is not a decision: one 5 ml capsule per bucket of 5 to 8 litres, dissolved in the water, nothing to measure. A box of 8 doypacks of 25 capsules is 200 buckets, that is 1,000 to 1,600 litres of mopping water from one litre of product.

Before signing a supply contract

Ask for the cost per bucket, not the price per litre.
Ask for the technical data sheet with the recommended dilution per surface and the pH.
Check whether it needs rinsing: if it does, the real cost includes a second pass.
If you are bidding for a tender, ask for the EU Ecolabel documentation for each reference.

We can send you the price list with the cost per bucket already worked out for your floor area and your sites: ask for the price list and data sheets, or a sample box to try over a real shift. The full range is in EU Ecolabel water-soluble capsules.

Floor cleaner concentrate: dilution, coverage and cost per bucket