If you read our post on how to make 5 gallons of kitchen exhaust degreaser, the very next question that hits is: "Okay, so where do I actually get this stuff?"
We get this one a lot. Just recently, a supervisor running a hood cleaning department back east emailed us after trying the recipe and asked straight up how we source our chemicals. Good question — here's the same answer we gave him.
Start With Local Chemical Suppliers
The big ones are Brenntag and Univar — Brenntag has an office in almost every state. But there are also a lot of smaller regional suppliers most guys don't know about. When our customer asked, we did a quick search and found Chemsolv in Roanoke, not far from him at all. Places like that carry everything on the ingredient list.
You can use Google or any AI and look for Chemical Supplier then enter your city and it should give you the ones closest to you.
Here's a pro move: show the supplier the formulation. A lot of these places blend chemicals themselves, so they might have something premade that matches, or they'll point you right at the raw chemicals you need.
Buying local also saves you a boat load on shipping. Caustics are heavy and they're hazmat — freight on a drum shipped across the country can cost more than the chemical itself.
Fallback: Janitorial and Restaurant Supply Stores
When we were first getting into figuring out the right chemicals, we tried everything. We hit up different restaurant and janitorial supply stores and just tried out different degreasers and oven cleaners until we figured out what worked.
If you're going this route, look for the thick oven cleaners or powdered fryer cleaners. Those seem to have the highest concentrations of the good stuff. Thin, watery products are mostly just that — water.
Amazon Is the Last Resort
Yes, everything on the list is technically on Amazon. But you'll end up paying a lot more than you should. Fine in a pinch when a job is tomorrow and you're one ingredient short, but don't build your supply chain on it.
Quick Answers to the Follow-Up Questions We Always Get
"Do I add all three solvents from the recipe, or just one?"
Just one. Butyl Cellosolve, D-Limonene, or Isopropyl Alcohol — pick one. We use Butyl Cellosolve in our mixes. We've never tried adding all three, and that would be a pretty hot mix. Not sure how it would come out, and we don't recommend finding out the hard way.
"Is Brubbles a degreaser by itself?"
No. Brubbles is a foaming agent — a super concentrated surfactant. You either add it to a degreaser to make it foam, or you use it in the mix from the recipe. It makes your chemical stick to the metal instead of running off, and the foam stays active longer than any product we've ever used.
"Can I just run it through a foam cannon?"
We haven't tried it, and here's why: foam cannons water the mix down too much, so you'd really only get away with it on the easiest jobs. We dilute Brubbles about 2–6 oz per 5-gallon mix — one gallon makes over 100 gallons of ready-to-use degreaser.
The Short Version
- Check for a local chemical supplier first — show them the formulation, save on shipping.
- Janitorial or restaurant supply stores work in a pinch — grab the thick oven or fryer cleaners.
- Amazon only if you're desperate.
And if you can't find a supplier near you, reach out to us. Call any time with any questions — always happy to help out. That's literally how this blog post happened.
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