We use the same tumbler ('star wheel' duster in the old days, 'dolap' in Turkish) that Randy Hyde uses; we also have an old Moore 16' flat bed duster with metal beater 'straps'. We put very few rugs through the flatbed, though it's great for old Sarouks and other rugs whose foundations may not be able to take tumbling action. We run nearly everything through the tumbler before wash and, selectively, after. Try putting a flokati through a flat bed duster sometime and you quickly discover one of the many advantages of a tumbler.
Our tumbler has an 8' drum and we find that it works best with a a few rugs at a time; we typically put anywhere from 100-500 square feet of rugs in a load, depending on the relative weight of the rugs and type. I have used tumblers of similar size in Turkey where we regularly loaded 600-800 square feet of rugs at a time. Tumbling after cleaning is great to remove any small amount of residual dust, but also helps 'polish' and soften rugs coming from the drying room (think how jeans feel when first taken from drying on a line in the sun; scrubbing them in your hands softens them). The polishing action is particularly useful with silk and cotton pile rugs. 500 square feet of silk pile carpets can be groomed and softened in 20-30 minutes in a tumbler. Care to guess how long that might take with a hand brush and steamer on the floor?
Randy will be hosting a tour at the ARCS/Portland Or. meeting in May and will certainly be demonstrating his duster. We are in Denver and welcome anyone who wants to visit and see ours in action.
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