Do encap products actually encap anything?

[DavidVB]

I keep seeing a strong opinion by some that encapsulation products don't encap anything. I have talked to a formulator before about this and he said that a primary function of any surfactant is to encapsulate soil. That is what their hydrophobic tail and hydrophilic head do. I googled surfactant and here is what I found.

"Many surfactants can also assemble in the bulk solution into aggregates. Examples of such aggregates are vesicles and micelles. The concentration at which surfactants begin to form micelles is known as the critical micelle concentration or CMC. When micelles form in water, their tails form a core that can encapsulate an oil droplet, and their (ionic/polar) heads form an outer shell that maintains favorable contact with water."

It is also my understanding that some surfactants hold the soil more effectivle than others.

 

[Jim Nazarian]

Pro Cleaners network has a audio interview with Steve Smith from Vacaway, my understanding of how his products are designed to work is to attack the oils that bind soil to the fiber, if the oil is encapped then the soil has nothing to stick to, thus it will slowly be vacuumed out.

Hear it for yourself http://procleanersnetwork.com/audioaccess.htm

 

[ACE]

The bottom line is they work. I use them as part of a maintenance program for commercial accounts with GLS machine. Very cost effective and any employee can be trained to run the machine in 5 Min. Surfactants emulsify soil and lower the surface tension of water, the deference is what happens when the water is gone. All water-based detergents leave residue. The better HWE detergents leave a powdery non-sticky residue. The encapsulation product leaves behind a polymer crystal that captures soil. The polymer crystals also work as temporary optical brighteners until they brake down. I tell the customer this is the price to keep the carpets looking consistently clean. Some guys are using an encapsulation rinse with HWE. I think you would have to use allot of encapsulation product to make a deference with HWE (Dilution is usually 1:16). I don’t see the point of that other then making your supplier rich.

 

[TimP]

The encap process does work....but it is very limited. So limited that the last 3 jobs I've done I've had to go back and rinse out the major spots.....since they came back. Very light and minor spots do go away and stay away but it is really hard to say what will stay gone and what wont. I'm starting to shy away from selling the method as 3 of the last 3 times I've had to go back isn't a good record in my opinion.

 

[ACE]

Tim, I don’t use the encap for residential. I would never want to use it for a one-time service. It will take out the spots on commercial if you mix it a little stronger. I sell a monthly of BI-monthly commercial maintenance program. One gallon of concentrate cleans up to 16000 sq. ft. Still very profitable at .02 or .03 per sq ft. It works really well on the super cheep poly or olefin carpet where uneven drying is an issue when HWE is used.

 

[TimP]

I have never encaped residential. I HWE all residential.

And I do mix it strong....6 oz per gallon of releas-it ds or hot knife. And I use a cimex to scrub it in.


I don't care what anyone says. It don't clean near what HWE is capable of. It does make the carpet look better but it's limited to say the least. Like I said the last 3 encap jobs I've done I've had to go back and fix with a flush in spots that came back. If you can encap a job frequently like you said then that's what it's good for. But you have to keep on it. And I'm by no means putting the method down just stating it's limitations.