Olefin ???

[steamron]

What really causes olefin commercial carpeting to look like hell when cleaning it with a TM?
450psi and 225 temp.

Just wondering what causes it.

Thanks

 

[ruff]

Describe "look like hell".

1. Olefin likes oils, so it is is hard to break the bond between the carpet and oily (oils, asphalt etc.) soils (requires higher PH, solvency and mechanical agitation.)
2. Least absorbent of all fabrics. Therefore needs cleaning with low Psi and less pre-spray and shorter dwell time than nylon, as it does not hold the water. That's why reappearing stains are very common, as the soil is transferred to the bottom possibly to pad and wicks back later. 425 Psi, imho is too high. Good idea to reduce Psi, do more dry passes and a good bonnet pass afterwards may help. Personally I'm not a fan of using an encapsulating product after cleaning.
   
3. Olefin is the least resilient of all fibers, therefore, it mats easily and tend to display side of fiber which does not reflect light as well.
4. Most commercial accounts carpeting does not have a pad, therefore most of the everyday shock of traffic, is absorbed by the fiber, no pad to cushion it. The result being that it wears faster.
5. Many commercial accounts buy cheap carpet (lower stitch count, weight, density etc.) in carpet as well as in cleaning , You Get What You Pay For.
   
6. And then there may be site specific issues.
7. Most commercial places are not vacuumed adequately. Do yourself a favor when you have the time and watch a janitorial company do the vacuuming. Flash Gordon and Speedy Gonzalez, look slow in comparison. As a result all the dry particles that were not removed, have all the time in the world to scratch the fiber.

Oh....but they do have the perfect solution. After all the years of accumulated neglect, they hire us, preferably the lowest bidder, step back and expect.......... perfection.

Anything else, will be uncivilized.

 

[Mikey P]

Incomplete and uneven soil removal
Far too heavily impacted soil load, should be replaced
Not enough grease cutter in your prespray.
Slow drying.
Wand lock down.
Worn out.
No pre scrub
No post pading or encapping.
Hack residue.


Take your pick..

 

[Shawn Forsythe]

Add to Mikey's list...

• Inadequate pre-vacuuming
• Overwetting (i.e., using more water than what good chemistry and technique would otherwise require for HWE)

 

[Doug Cox]

Operator error

 

[hogjowl]

Stop thinking about it and just encap it.

 

[GeneMiller]

Olefin benefits greatly from an oxygen booster. It's tough to clean heavy soiled olefin with a wand it locks down and your aren't extracting well. The bigger the blower the worse the problem. A rotary or The zipper solves the problem of lock down and flushes like mad. Before the zipper we were at about a 5-1 ration of vacuum to water.

Gene

 

[Pat Muller]

One of the biggest problems with olefin is the fact that it is almost waterproof. This combined with 400+ psi. causes the cleaning solution and water to travel all the way through the backing.
This is the number one cause of browning in commercial cleaning.
Lower your pressure and depend on your chemistry and massive agitation like the Versa CRB unit to suspend the soil before your wand ever touches the fiber.
I recommend using Chemspec Fission, boosted with BioSolv and Energizer to help breakdown and emulsify those greasy oils and soils and finish with Optimal rinse to stop any wicking concerns.
If it is the traffic lane gray you are concerned with, this is nothing more than a major change in light reflection (which cannot be corrected completely) due to the matting and crushing that occurs quickly in olefin because of it's lack of resiliency.
I have always said that olefin comes pre matted, pre crushed and pre uglied for you because it takes very little time for it to occur

 

[dealtimeman]

Dry strokes and a good rinse are your good friends on known problem olefins. If in doubt we do, A lot of dry strokes and use a rinse. If we have further concern just post pad it and be done with it.

Also you should be honest with yourself and the he customer on actual soil and oil levels in the carpet. Not all loads of muck are the same and can be broken down and removed in one prespray/cleaning pass.

I can't count the times we have had to two rounds of cleaning in the same areas on the same visit. It happens, when cleaning intervals go to long between and the load is to great for the prespray to contact and breakdown or dissolve all of the oils so you can extract the muck.

 

[Dolly Llama]

Roto scrub first with a semi aggressive VCT type pad, then rinse extract (no need for fire-hose flow that's en vogue these days either)

you'll be amazed

..L.T.A.

 

[encapman]

Olefin?
Simple solution... ENCAP!
That'll do it

 

[The Great Oz]

Dry strokes and a good rinse are your good friends on known problem olefins. If in doubt we do, A lot of dry strokes and use a rinse. If we have further concern just post pad it and be done with it.

First step. Second step

Simple solution... ENCAP!

What to use for the second step.

Go slower when you extract to get as much water recovery as possible. Set air movers. The micro scratches and a certain amount of oil worked into the fiber are never coming out, but an encap application will improve the appearance enough to make the customer happy.


Good thing this stuff is fading in market share eh? Oh wait, it's being replaced with polyester.