Product Overview
Actichem Fire Fix is a solvent-free, non-caustic restoration cleaner for removing ingrained soils, carbon, soot, fire residues and rubber from hard and semi-porous surfaces.
It is a highly concentrated multi-surface heavy-duty industrial cleaner for floors, walls, carpets, hard surfaces and porous surfaces, across professional cleaning and disaster restoration work. It is also an excellent cleaner for safety flooring.
Benefits
- Fire and smoke restoration — a highly concentrated cleaner built for fire and smoke damage work rather than adapted to it.
- Heavy soiling — removes oil, soot, smoke deposits, particulate and carbon soiling.
- Penetrating action — lifts and suspends soils from smooth and porous surfaces alike.
- Charged soils — very effective on filtration soiling, ventilation dust and olefin carpet cleaning. This is a genuinely useful property: charged soils are electrostatically bound to the fibre and resist ordinary detergents.
- Solvent free, no caustics — a water-based low VOC formulation.
- Free rinsing — designed to rinse out with clear water, which matters on a restoration job where residue means re-soiling.
Which pack size do you need?
This is the 5 litre pack. At 1:50 that makes 250 litres of working solution, so it goes further than it looks. The 20 litre suits restoration contractors working fire jobs regularly.
Where to use it
Suitable for carpeting and hard surfaces affected by smoke damage, soot and heavy soiling.
Important — where not to use it
Do not use on water-sensitive fabrics, unsealed timber, aluminium, or other delicate surfaces.
The aluminium exclusion is the one people forget. Fire Fix is alkaline, and alkaline solutions attack aluminium — window frames, door tracks, kick plates, light fittings, ducting and appliance panels are all commonly aluminium and all commonly adjacent to the surfaces you are cleaning after a fire. Mask them, or accept that you will be replacing them.
Always pre-test in an inconspicuous area before proceeding.
How to Use
Shake well before use. Fire Fix is concentrated enough that it will separate in the container. That is normal — but a drum that has not been shaken will dose inconsistently and give you variable results across a job.
Dilution
| Normal soil | 10–20 ml per litre of warm water (1:100 to 1:50) |
| Heavy soil and restoration | 50 ml per litre of warm water (1:20) |
| Ceiling cleaning | Add 50 ml Oxyboost per 5 litres of Fire Fix solution |
| Pressure washing | 1 part Fire Fix to 4 parts water, metered at the desired setting |
Note the range. Fire Fix runs from 1:100 to 1:20 — a five-fold difference. Starting at the strong end on every job is expensive and increases the risk to sensitive surfaces. Start at the weakest dilution that will do the work and step up only where the soil demands it.
Application
- Apply by sprayer, sponge or floor machine.
- Allow 10 to 15 minutes contact time. This product works on dwell — scrubbing immediately instead of waiting is the most common way to waste it.
- For heavy soil, scrub if needed, then rinse the surface thoroughly with clean water.
- Carpets and fabrics should be extraction rinsed with Actichem Rinse Pro.
- For ceilings, apply the Fire Fix and Oxyboost solution with specialised spray equipment.
- Cover all sensitive furnishings before you start.
⚠ A word about ceiling work
Spraying an alkaline cleaner onto a ceiling means the solution comes back down — onto your face, into your eyes, and onto everything below. Given the H318 classification below, ceiling application is the highest-risk task this product is used for. Chemical goggles are not optional for it, and full head and face protection is sensible. Mask the floor and contents before you start, not after the first pass.
Safety
This listing previously recorded “Safety: Irritant”. That understated it and has been corrected.
Actichem’s safety data sheet for DR986, version 2.1 issued 24 May 2021, classifies Fire Fix as a hazardous chemical with the signal word DANGER.
- H318 — causes serious eye damage (Category 1)
- H315 — causes skin irritation (Skin Corrosion/Irritation Category 2)
- Not a dangerous good. No poisons schedule.
⚠ H318 — serious eye damage
This is the highest eye classification in the GHS system. Damage, not irritation — a splash of the concentrate can cause permanent injury. “Irritant” was the wrong word for it.
The concentrate is pH 11, driven by tetrapotassium pyrophosphate and monoethanolamine. Alkaline eye injuries are characteristically painless at first and progressive, which is why people under-react to them. Chemical goggles whenever the concentrate is decanted or diluted, and whenever solution is sprayed overhead. Flush for 10 to 15 minutes if it happens, and get it looked at.
⚠ Prolonged contact
Restoration work is long. You are in a fire-damaged property for hours with solution running down your arms off overhead surfaces. Cumulative exposure is what causes the skin problems on these jobs, not a single splash. Wear proper protective clothing and change out of anything that gets soaked.
What it reacts with
Actichem’s sheet records incompatible materials as “none known”. We do not think that is complete for an alkaline product at pH 11, and we have raised it with them. As a working rule: do not mix Fire Fix with acids or with any chlorine or hypochlorite product, and do not add anything to it other than Oxyboost as directed above.
First aid
Eyes. Wash out immediately with fresh running water for 10 to 15 minutes, holding the eyelids apart. Seek medical attention.
Skin. Immediately remove contaminated clothing. Flush skin and hair with running water.
Swallowed. Immediately give a glass of water. Seek medical advice.
Specifications
| Product code | DR986.05 |
| Pack size | 5 litres |
| Product type | Alkaline, solvent-free heavy duty restoration cleaner |
| Appearance | Clear yellow liquid |
| Odour | Lemon |
| Dilution | 1:100 to 1:20 depending on soil; 1:4 for pressure washing |
| pH | 11 as concentrate (Actichem SDS). This listing previously stated 9.9–10.4; we have asked Actichem to confirm which figure is current. |
| Key components | Tetrapotassium pyrophosphate (CAS 7320-34-5) 10–30%; EDTA tetrasodium salt (CAS 64-02-8) under 10%; sodium benzoate (CAS 532-32-1) under 10%; monoethanolamine (CAS 141-43-5) under 10%; nonylphenol ethoxylate (CAS 9016-45-9) under 10%; proprietary surfactants under 10% each |
| WHS classification | Hazardous chemical |
| Signal word | DANGER |
| Hazard statements | H315, H318 |
| Dangerous goods | Not regulated for transport |
| Poisons schedule | None applicable |
| Not suitable for | Water-sensitive fabrics, unsealed timber, aluminium, delicate surfaces |
| SDS referenced | Version 2.1, issued 24 May 2021 |
Fire Fix or Fire Restore?
Both are Actichem restoration cleaners and they are not the same product.
- Fire Fix (this product) — pH 11, DANGER with H315 and H318, no poisons schedule. Solvent-free and non-caustic.
- Fire Restore — pH 12.8, DANGER with H314, severe skin burns and eye damage, and Poisons Schedule 6. A materially more aggressive product.
Fire Fix is the one to reach for first. Where it will do the job, it is the lower-hazard product by a clear margin. Step up to Fire Restore when the soil genuinely demands it, not by default.
Related Products
- Actichem Fire Fix 20 litre — the same product in the bulk pack.
- Actichem Fire Restore — the heavier-duty restoration cleaner. Read the comparison above before choosing.
- Actichem Oxyboost Plus — the oxygen booster used with Fire Fix for ceiling work.
- Actichem Rinse Pro — the recommended extraction rinse for carpets and fabrics after Fire Fix.
Safety Data Sheet
Actichem Fire Fix safety data sheet (DR986, version 2.1, 24 May 2021)
SKU: DR986.05
Working a fire job and not sure whether Fire Fix or Fire Restore suits the surfaces in front of you? Tell us what you are dealing with. Getting this choice right saves both chemical cost and the risk of damaging something you then have to replace.
