Flex ICE

[Mikey P]

Damn but I had a great idea.







I love this stuff, so do my guys.




Flex ICE
Powdered Neutralizing Extraction Rinse
The goal in delivering Flex ICE to the market was to make an extraction compound so complete that no other product would ever be needed. No matter what pre-spray is used, and no matter the carpet or upholstery fiber, Flex ICE leaves the fiber exquisitely clean and at a neutral pH. Since it brings down the pH, and doesn't leave a resoiling residue, the carpet will stay soft to the touch without a soapy residue feel.

With a majority of professional cleaners using the Hydro-Force™ injection sprayer or similar devices, there has been a concern about an acid side pH rinse taking down the cleaning power of an alkaline prespray. Flex ICE has been tested and proven to not diminish the cleaning strength of the prespray when using a Hydro-Force sprayer. In fact, it is reported it actually adds to the cleaning ability.

Flex ICE is actually good for your equipment. Not only will it keep hard water scaling from forming in the solution lines, it has special additives that protects steel, brass and copper. It has been tested over hundreds of hours of use with no deterioration to metals.

Your dream cleaning emulsifier is now here! Flex ICE sets a new standard for best overall value of any rinse products on the market.

• HIGH CLEANING POWER - Flex ICE will surpass all other acidic extraction agents, while rivaling the cleaning effectiveness of the best alkaline formulas, due to its excellent soil suspension and removal capabilities. The result will be reduced cleaning times and very satisfied customers.
• EFFECTIVE NEUTRALIZING RINSE - Designed for free rinsing and cleaning with all pre-sprays, including high pH products like Flex Powder with Citrus Solv. This neutralization improves bonding and performance of protectors and reduces problems associated with browning, bleeding and resoiling.
• HIGHLY VERSATILE - Safe to use on all carpet and fiber types including wool.
• HIGH CONCENTRATE, LOW COST - When compared to other acid rinses, Flex ICE will save money. Flex ICE is a 100% active powdered formulation resulting in more carpets being cleaned at a lower cost than liquid rinses.
• EASY MIXING Dissolves quickly in cold or hot water.
• NON-RESOILING - With the advanced formulation of Flex ICE, any remaining residue will not attract soil.
• EQUIPMENT SAFE Flex ICE has special additives that help limit corrosion and buildup in the extractor or truckmount. It's actually good for your equipment.

 

[Acp]

my one problem with high powered rinses are being in a stairwell cleaning with little ventilation and eating the steam in the face. I kinda want to a least know what I am huffing.

 

[hogjowl]

It's ok.
Nothing special.

 

[BIG WOOD]

Eh



I tried it when it first came out and wasn't impressed.

 

[SteamwayPro]

Flex Ice works great and does everything as advertised.

 

[hogjowl]

Flex Ice works great and does everything as advertised.

How do you know?

 

[Mikey P]

because he used more than a jug and waited for two years of repeats to make his assessment, like we have.


Rinses can't be judged with a case full of jobs, sorry.

 

[Mikey P]

Eh



I tried it when it first came out and wasn't impressed.

goober.

Have you tried all of Rob's 60 pre sprays too?

 

[hogjowl]

Riight

 

[SteamwayPro]

How do you know?

My first post on Mikey's Board was about Flex Ice and how impressed I was with it. It just works

 

[hogjowl]

That's not an answer.

HOW do yo know it works?

Specifically

 

[SteamwayPro]

I'm not here to argue but...........
In my opinion it just works . Never get call backs for wicking or anything. Carpet is soft after using it. No problems with equipment since using it.
I've used it on wool and on trashed poly. Always get good results. It just works

 

[hogjowl]

So does Maxx Ultra Rinse

"It just works"

And Mikey can't claim to have invented it.

 

[Mikey P]

Riight

Tell him Marty...

 

[Johnny]

Use it on 95% of jobs since it came out. Works for me.

 

[Mikey P]

Can't tell you the last time I had a wick back..

 

[Cleanworks]

Good commercial. What did you get paid for that one?

 

[Steve Lawrence]

Good commercial. What did you get paid for that one?

Damn good commercial. I want to try some!

 

[Jimmy L]

Research that Marty I came up with the idea. I even made a post asking why not a powdered acid rinse.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Marty makes a good point regarding the difficulty of testing rinse agents. We do most of our work with presprays, so what we rinse with and what results we see are harder to measure. (Mike's wicking comments are important though, of course)

While I'm loathe to share my comparisons, since I sell Flex Ice and can't be expected to be objective, this is a test that I did myself that might be worth trying.

One of my tenants conspires with her two dogs to pollute her furnishings with a recipe that includes drink spills, dog saliva, and urine (the dogs'...I hope). I offered to clean her microfiber love seat and couch so that I could test how well Flex Ice works.

I cleaned it with Flex Ice only, and did not use any prespray. Even though microfiber cleans easily, it usually needs alkaline detergent to break the oil bonds. What I was looking for was how much oily soil it might remove without the aid of a powerful alkaline prespray.

This is what it looked like before I cleaned it:

This was the result:

To be clear, I don't think I'd have gotten results as good if the fabric had been "shiny black" with oil, as many microfibers are when we get asked to clean them.

I did feel, however, that the results proved that Flex Ice does clean, and is not just another rinse agent.

 

[Steve Lawrence]

I'm confused. Does Flex Ice come in a preconditioner and a rinse as separate products?

 

[Cleanworks]

I have no problem with an acid rinse for corrective cleaning or on delicate fabrics but it seems that some people are using it to neutralize their super potent presprays, 12-13 ph. What makes these presprays work is that they are so caustic, they are burning the soil off the carpet fiber potentially causing damage to the carpet and its dye structures. In the 80's with the advent of stain resist carpet, we were limited to products under 10 ph to avoid stripping out the acid dye blockers. It took the chem manufacturers some time to adjust and modify their formulas to adapt to these changes but one of the benefits was improved safety for the cleaning technician. Using a product that is capable of burning the soil off a carpet, means also that it is also capable of burning the skin off your hands if you expose yourself to it enough. You don't want to be breathing these products either. It seems like we are going back to the bad old days where ph was king and butyls, his queen. You can get fantastic results with milder cleaning agents if used correctly. Prespray enough, agitate enough and rinse enough with a moderate ph extraction detergent and you will be amazed. Save the super power stuff for the rare occasion when nothing else will work.

 

[Lyman]

Jim in your pics. The loveseat is dirty and you show a cleaned couch. Also the color change, because of it being wet.

 

[Tom Forsythe]

Flex Ice was the biggest challenge that we faced of the over 200 formulas developed since 2001. We tested over a dozen different fragrances until we finally found one which covered the unique odor without hardening the texture or turning sour after six months. The product still hardens over time, but a quick drop of the jar on its side breaks it up. Flex Ice has issues with very hard water and high heat which did not show up in our thorough testing. This led us to do more research and the conclusion that hard water impacts all powdered rinses even if sediment does not show up. http://www.cleanfax.com/carpet-care/water-quality-extraction-rinses/ We tried several ways to limit these issues. We failed as the fixes created more issues. We have settled on this formula after 2 years of analysis (thanks Mikey for all of the work you created for me) with its issues.

One factor that makes it unique is that it is an excellent cleaner on the acid side. It is the best acid side cleaner that we have ever developed which is why people use it. It also can be used on all fibers and even restoration cleaning if the pre-spray is up to the task. I also cleaned a microfiber sofa with Flex Ice as a rinse only. My son-in-law had this bright red contemporary microfiber sofa that was badly soiled. Much to my daughter's horror, the cleaning with Flex Ice made the sofa looked new again. It took her 6 months to finally get this sofa replaced with one she wanted. After 2 years more ready to use gallons of Flex Ice are used than all of our other 15 rinses. Thank you for your support.

 

[Mikey P]

Agreed.

When we use Procyon or One Earth we use a soft water rinse
When we use Redline or Saiger Green we use a light ICE rinse
Flex w/ Citrus or Enzall gets a strong ICE rinse.

 

[Mikey P]

Flex Ice was the biggest challenge that we faced of the over 200 formulas developed since 2001. We tested over a dozen different fragrances until we finally found one which covered the unique odor without hardening the texture or turning sour after six months. The product still hardens over time, but a quick drop of the jar on its side breaks it up. Flex Ice has issues with very hard water and high heat which did not show up in our thorough testing. This led us to do more research and the conclusion that hard water impacts all powdered rinses even if sediment does not show up. http://www.cleanfax.com/carpet-care/water-quality-extraction-rinses/ We tried several ways to limit these issues. We failed as the fixes created more issues. We have settled on this formula after 2 years of analysis (thanks Mikey for all of the work you created for me) with its issues.

One factor that makes it unique is that it is an excellent cleaner on the acid side. It is the best acid side cleaner that we have ever developed which is why people use it. It also can be used on all fibers and even restoration cleaning if the pre-spray is up to the task. I also cleaned a microfiber sofa with Flex Ice as a rinse only. My son-in-law had this bright red contemporary microfiber sofa that was badly soiled. Much to my daughter's horror, the cleaning with Flex Ice made the sofa looked new again. It took her 6 months to finally get this sofa replaced with one she wanted. After 2 years more ready to use gallons of Flex Ice are used than all of our other 15 rinses. Thank you for your support.

A strongly metered ICE rinse and a Rotary Extractor is the best cure for Kirby, Franchise and Rug Doctor residue IMO.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Jim in your pics. The loveseat is dirty and you show a cleaned couch. Also the color change, because of it being wet.

I just saw what I did. I test products better than I post pictures it seems.

When I have some time I'll get those fixed.

In the meantime, yes the "after" pics are wet. I should have taken dry ones, but I was already in that place too long. Had I stayed much longer I would have wanted to evict her and her dogs with her.

 

[Mikey P]

I'm not here to argue but...........
In my opinion it just works . Never get call backs for wicking or anything. Carpet is soft after using it. No problems with equipment since using it.
I've used it on wool and on trashed poly. Always get good results. It just works

On our $17K wool/silk rug job last week we setteld on "just" a ICE rinse (802 bridgeless glided wands/VATS) as the very best method for cleaning their $900 a yard floor art.

Their very astute house management team agreed that it was providing the best/safest results.

Other methods tried: Square Scrub/Argosheen OP from the prior goober, Procyon Prespray and Zipper rinse, Compound/CRB, Bonnet/Releasit, Neutral prespray and ICE rinse...

 

[Loren Egland]

I recently ran out of Steam Way Fiber Refresh acid rinse detergent (pH 4.0-5.0) so I picked up a gallon of Clearwater Rinse (pH 2.7-3.3) which also contains encapsulating polymers. I didn't notice Flex Ice containing encapsulating ingredients.

I have not tried it yet. I don't use acid detergent rinse often. I rinse a lot to remove not only the soils but the prespray and have not caused myself any issues some have claimed with their experiences. If you remove the prespray it follows that you should not need to neutralize it. I don't use super high pH tlc often.

From the comments here it seems clear that it is hard to beat the cleaning performance of a well formulated alkaline product compared to an acid side cleaner. Of course there is more to cleaning performance than the pH of a product.

If the pH reading on the fiber after cleaning is a little alkaline there is usually nothing to worry about on synthetic carpet. (some tap water can be quite high in alkalinity) It's more important to me that the product does not contribute to resoiling, something an alkaline or acid product may or may not do.

I have been bucking the board trend by using a liquid prespray and a powder rinse detergent. It seems most use a powder tlc and liquid rinse.

The recent Cleanfax article by Tom Forsythe was interesting. If I remember correctly one of the advantages of powders for cleaners was that it might be more cost effective, but not sure if that equated with cleaning better than a liquid. (I should go re-read it)

At any rate, I will try Flex Ice when I get to a distributor that carries it. Sadly, Cleanquest in Concord, CA doesn't seem to carry Bridgepoint.

 

[Tom Forsythe]

Flex Ice (use with soft water) does not have any encapsulants, but it rinses freely and at a dilution of 1 to 640 does not cause re-soiling. Encapsulants have yet to be incorporated into powdered products. Maybe that will be my next two year project.