Actichem Performance Plus 20 ltr

Product Overview

Actichem Performance Plus is a prespray detergent that brings together three things that have historically pulled against each other: soil suspension power, anti-resoiling polymer technology, and the formulation requirements for safe wool cleaning.

The tension is real. Presprays that clean hard have traditionally been alkaline, and alkali damages wool. Performance Plus is built to clean at a wool-safe pH, which is why it has become the reference product in this category.

Performance Plus is a direct replacement for PowerClean Performance Plus.

Which pack size do you need?

This is the 20 litre bulk pack, for contractors running wool work regularly. At 1:32 it makes around 660 litres of prespray solution. The 5 litre suits lower volumes.

Certifications

• WoolSafe approved. Performance Plus exceeds the requirements for the safe cleaning of wool carpeting.

If you clean wool and you quote for it, this is worth naming to the customer and worth having on file. A wool carpet claim is one of the more expensive things that can go wrong on a job, and using a certified product is a meaningful part of your defence.

Benefits

• Soil suspension — penetrates and breaks down grime, oils and soils.
• Polymer anti-resoiling technology — enhances suspended soil removal and leaves the fibre resisting resoiling. On a commercial contract this is what determines how the carpet looks in week six, not week one.
• Wool friendly — exceeds the requirements for safe wool cleaning, and engineered to work on synthetics too.
• Safe on fifth-generation nylon.
• Ultra-low VOC profile — no unpleasant vapours even when heated. This is a genuine and useful property; see the note on sensitive areas below.
• Easy to apply through pump-up or Hydroforce sprayers, with a fresh lemon fragrance.

Application areas and surface suitability

High-performance cleaning across domestic, commercial and institutional applications.

Sensitive areas — what we can and cannot claim

This listing has long recommended Performance Plus for hospitals, aged care facilities, childcare centres and homes with asthma sufferers, on the basis of its “excellent safety profile”. We want to be careful and accurate about that, because the two halves of it are not the same claim.

What holds up: the ultra-low VOC profile and low odour are real and are exactly the properties that matter in those settings. Fragrance and solvent vapour are what trigger complaints and symptoms in asthma sufferers and in aged care, and a low-VOC prespray is genuinely a better choice there than a solvent-boosted one.

What does not: low VOC is not the same as non-hazardous. Performance Plus is a classified hazardous chemical — see the safety section below. The concentrate needs handling with care regardless of where you are using it.

The practical position: it remains a sound choice for sensitive environments, and you should still dilute it away from occupants and wear eye protection while doing so.

How to Use

Always pre-test in an inconspicuous location for substrate sensitivity.

Dilution — pump-up sprayer

• 15–30 ml per litre of water (1:64 to 1:32) depending on soil.
• Heavy soil: up to 50 ml per litre without causing resoiling or fibre damage.

Dilution — Hydroforce

• 1:9 tip (yellow): add 750 ml to 1.4 L into a 5 L Hydroforce container and fill with water.
• 1:32 tip (brown): dilute 1:1 with water, or add directly into the container.

Application

1. Vacuum the area thoroughly. This is not a formality — dry soil left in the pile turns into mud when you prespray it, and then has to be extracted rather than vacuumed.
2. Prespray the solution onto the carpet. Do not allow it to dry.
3. Agitate and allow 5 to 15 minutes dwell time.
4. For synthetic carpets, extract using Emulsifier Plus or Extracta Pro.
5. For wool carpets, extract using Rinse Pro. This is the important one. Rinsing wool with an alkaline product undoes the reason you chose a wool-safe prespray in the first place.
6. Assist drying with air movers if conditions are humid.

Safety

This listing previously recorded “Safety: Non-Hazardous” and described “outstanding low toxicity and OH&S ratings”. That was wrong and has been corrected.

Actichem’s safety data sheet for AP452, version 2.4 issued 11 August 2025, classifies Performance Plus as a hazardous chemical.

• H318 — causes serious eye damage (Serious Eye Damage Category 1)
• H315 — causes skin irritation (Skin Corrosion/Irritation Category 2)
• Not a dangerous good. No poisons schedule. pH 7.5 — neutral.

⚠ H318 — serious eye damage

The highest eye classification in the GHS system. Damage, not irritation.

Note that this product is neutral at pH 7.5, which is a useful reminder: pH is not a proxy for hazard. A neutral product can still carry the most serious eye classification, because surfactants damage the eye by a different mechanism than acids and alkalis do. Technicians who judge risk by pH alone will get this one wrong.

Chemical goggles when decanting, diluting or filling a sprayer. Those are the moments the concentrate is in the air and at chest height. The working solution at 1:32 to 1:64 is a very different proposition — but people are injured by concentrates, not by working solutions.

A note on the manufacturer’s documentation

Actichem’s sheet assigns H318 and Serious Eye Damage Category 1, but gives the signal word as WARNING. Under GHS, a Category 1 eye classification normally carries DANGER. We have raised the discrepancy with Actichem.

Until they clarify it, we advise you to work to the stricter reading and treat the concentrate as a serious eye hazard. We would rather tell you this plainly than quietly pick whichever answer is more convenient.

What it reacts with

Avoid strong acids and oxidising agents. In practice that means: do not mix Performance Plus with an acid rinse in the same tank — rinse as a separate step, which is the method anyway.

First aid

Eyes. Wash out immediately with water and seek medical attention.

Skin. Flush with water. Seek medical advice if irritation occurs.

Swallowed. Do not induce vomiting. Give water and contact a Poisons Information Centre.

Specifications

Related Products

• Actichem Performance Plus 5 litre — the same product in the smaller pack.
• Actichem Rinse Pro — the WoolSafe-approved acid rinse. The correct rinse partner on wool.
• Actichem Emulsifier Plus — the rinse for synthetic carpet.
• Actichem Fibre Shield — carpet protector, applied after an acid rinse.

Safety Data Sheet

Actichem Performance Plus safety data sheet (AP452, version 2.4, 11 August 2025)

SKU: AP452.20

Setting up a wool cleaning process, or quoting work in a hospital, aged care or childcare setting? Talk to us. We can help you put together a prespray and rinse combination that is right for the fibre and defensible if anyone asks what you used.