removing mildew from my tent

I've already posted all the theory I could find on removing mildew.  Now it's time for practical application. The solutions I am ready to try are:

1. vinegar
2. Mould and Mildew Remover
3. Sodium Hypochlorite
4. the pressure washer.

Always read warning labels and wear appropriate protective clothing.

If none of those work I'll try some of the other suggestions.

My expectations are that the vinegar won't do much, the Mould and Mildew remover will be good, but time consuming, Sodium Hypochlorite should be better, but I'm confident the pressure washer will be the most satisfying solution.  Let's see.

I sprayed one mouldy section with vinegar and another with Mould and Mildew Blaster - being extremely careful not to let the two solutions come in contact with each other because there's potential for the resulting chemical reaction to release poisonous gas. 

Then while they worked I used the pressure washer on a third mouldy section of the tent.

The power hose was extremely disappointing. 

 It did absolutely nothing.  If anything it looked worse than when I started!  I tried scrubbing the area, but even that made no difference.  My final conclusion is that the pressure washer, on this occasion, didn't live up to my high expectations.

Vinegar isn't worth the effort

After twenty minutes, Vinegar may possibly have made the mould very slightly lighter in colour, but it's nothing to write home about.  As a solution to remove mould and mildew from the tent it would require a huge effort and gallons of vinegar.

Household Mould removers are amazing.

 Compare that to the household product I tried - Mould and Mildew Blaster.  This solution from Astonish is apparently the UK's number 1 and it's Vegan friendly (while at the same time being hazardous, corrosive and lethal if it comes into contact with fish or wildlife)

After twenty minutes most of the mildew had gone, but the spray dispenser dribbles a bit, so some of what I wanted to spray onto the tent ended up on my gloves.

Industrial Hypochlorite is OK

Given the success of the commercial product whose main ingredient is Sodium Hypochlorite I was keen to try my own NaOCl solution.  Disappointingly, it didn't work half as well as the more dilute Astonish product.  Astonishing.

Further tests with various household mould removers

We also had a bottle of Dettol Mould and Mildew remover in the house.  This removed the mould in exactly the same way as the Astonish, but the spray nozzle provided better coverage and leaked less.  I used the contents of both bottles and went to the shop to buy more.

Cillit Bang Black Mould Remover again has the same effect, but produces more of a foam, which didn't provide even coverage like the Dettol but was excellent for the more stubborn stains, sitting for longer rather than running down the canvas.

I continued treating the whole tent with dettol followed by Cillit Bang to remove stubborn mould deposits.

Warning:

The results of these mildew removing products on the tent are remarkable, but the chemicals are not good for the canvas fabric.  I certainly wouldn't clean the tent like this regularly, but it's worth using them as a one-off treatment to bring this dead tent back to life.  I wore gloves and protective clothing, but suffered later in the day because I should have also protected my airways from the vapour.

one roof section treated with mould remover, the other section untreated