Flex Ice on Smart Strand Polyester

Cleanworks

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Ron Marriott
You can send the scum to me and I will look at it in the lab. A couple of other things to check. I would make sure the last step chemical injection is metering properly. Some truckmounts have check valves that prevent backup into the heat exchange system. I would look at that possibility as well. I would also double check my vacuum and psi.

There also can be wicking from backing. Remember that the Triexta fiber does not absorb water so any rinse will go deep into the carpet and backing so extra dry passes are important. I would lower my usual psi for these fibers. Flex Powder is great as breaking up oils so if loom oil is the issue then residuals of the pre-spray or rinse not vacuumed away could be wicking to the surface with some of this oil.

On a technical note clarified by my attendance to the IICRC science conference this summer. I need to point out why cleaning with water only is invalid. The surface tension of water alone is around 70 dynes/cm. The surface energy of triexta is around 40 dyes/cm and for oils it is around 25 dynes/cm. The point is that the fiber is not properly wetting for efficient cleaning until the surface tension of the water is below the surface energy of the surface or soils. Heat helps as the surface tension of boiling water goes to 60 dynes/cm. Alkalinity or acidity do not change the surface tension. Solvents will drop it further but the volume necessary to make an impact is no longer possible under VOC laws. Most surfactants as low as .1% will drop the surface tension of water to a level where all surfaces we clean can be properly wetted. In short, water is incapable of properly wetting triexta fibers, let alone dissolving oils that love to bond to an oil loving fiber. In short, the water only cleaning method can be used (ignorance would be my primary reason) to move responsibility from the manufacturer to the cleaner.
In other words, water is not wet enough.
 

Tom Forsythe

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Yes, water alone is not wet enough for the fibers and soils we routinely clean. Even though wool and nylon absorb water, their surface energy is about the same as triexta. This explains the need for other ingredients to effectively clean (wet) these fibers.

Glass on the other hand has a higher surface energy than water and wets easily resulting in glass cleaners generally having less than 1% of other ingredients. The ingredients they have break down surface oils and the water needs to be deionized to prevent build up from salt or scale.
 

Johnny

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Thanks, Scott and Tom, for your help! I am confident my machine is performing properly. I've done many jobs with no problem since this job. I called customers prior to and after this job to see if there was any problem. There was none.

To what address should I send the scum? (Not intended for human consumption, but I don't think anybody here will condemn your compulsion for adventure.)
 
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steve_64

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I can't imagine Flex Ice or any other rinse, when used properly, leaving enough residue to be seen on a vacuum brush roll. The strongest rinse dilution calls for 1:320. Flex Ice (and many others) is 1:640. After extracting most of the rinse out, there should be a small fraction of a spoonful or less left behind on the carpet.

If the carpet is rather new, a year or so, Steve's comment about loom oils is valid.

Something is probably getting on the carpet from a source totally unrelated to cleaning. Pollution or dust in the air or such or the powders she claims not to use.

Something else I run into occasionally is excessive hairspray.

If I was Jonny I'd check around the bathroom and also the kitchen where I see a lot of oils. She could be tracking oil back onto the carpet and it's getting emulsified into the fibers.
 
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Loren Egland

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You can send the scum to me and I will look at it in the lab. A couple of other things to check. I would make sure the last step chemical injection is metering properly. Some truckmounts have check valves that prevent backup into the heat exchange system. I would look at that possibility as well. I would also double check my vacuum and psi.

There also can be wicking from backing. Remember that the Triexta fiber does not absorb water so any rinse will go deep into the carpet and backing so extra dry passes are important. I would lower my usual psi for these fibers. Flex Powder is great as breaking up oils so if loom oil is the issue then residuals of the pre-spray or rinse not vacuumed away could be wicking to the surface with some of this oil.

On a technical note clarified by my attendance to the IICRC science conference this summer. I need to point out why cleaning with water only is invalid. The surface tension of water alone is around 70 dynes/cm. The surface energy of triexta is around 40 dyes/cm and for oils it is around 25 dynes/cm. The point is that the fiber is not properly wetting for efficient cleaning until the surface tension of the water is below the surface energy of the surface or soils. Heat helps as the surface tension of boiling water goes to 60 dynes/cm. Alkalinity or acidity do not change the surface tension. Solvents will drop it further but the volume necessary to make an impact is no longer possible under VOC laws. Most surfactants as low as .1% will drop the surface tension of water to a level where all surfaces we clean can be properly wetted. In short, water is incapable of properly wetting triexta fibers, let alone dissolving oils that love to bond to an oil loving fiber. In short, the water only cleaning method can be used (ignorance would be my primary reason) to move responsibility from the manufacturer to the cleaner.

I saved this! :)
 
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Loren Egland

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Yes, water alone is not wet enough for the fibers and soils we routinely clean. Even though wool and nylon absorb water, their surface energy is about the same as triexta. This explains the need for other ingredients to effectively clean (wet) these fibers.

Glass on the other hand has a higher surface energy than water and wets easily resulting in glass cleaners generally having less than 1% of other ingredients. The ingredients they have break down surface oils and the water needs to be deionized to prevent build up from salt or scale.

Saved this too.
 
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GeeeAus

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I'm thinking that these SmartStrand carpets need something like Traffic Slam to clean properly. I believe that one contains a cationic surfactants and a hydrotope.

These fibres need more grease cutting guts. Flex doesn't do it.

I believe Magic Wand Co. have a chemical targeted toward this stuff too.
 

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