Technical Cleaning Question

[XTREME1]

I have made some changes to my company over the last year and I pride myself on being the best. With the wet weather I had a call back the other day it seems Marty left the carpet what he perceived to be dry and it wasn't and it had some browning. No problem I went back and fixed it, it was a basement on a marsh completely closed up, I can see it.
I did notice we had a total of 3 calls for having extended dry times since switching from the 175 prescrub to the original rotovacs and then wand. Here is the question if you had a 3 van company and your people were/are unable to carry a 175 up and down all day and the rotovac was leaving the carpets too wet in the spring is it possible to still be the best and swap prescrub for vacuum and get a kick ass rinse? I am uncomfortable giving the guys the option of just wanding

what do you say

 

[KevinL]

I don't have a 360 yet but it sounds like they need to do more dry strokes. Do you take in blowers?

 

[XTREME1]

no they don't. We have a 360 and it isn't much different

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Turn the pressure down a bit and take an extra 2 or 3 minutes per room on DRY passes.

We just bucket tested all our wands and injection sprayers to make sure how much water we were using. Our objective is to head off any drying problems.

 

[Becker]

Browning?

He had to have left it xtream ly wet!

And he thought it was dry? Was he feeling the carpet with a welders glove on?

Over wet with an out of wack ph.

Marty responsible for all these complaints?

That sucks.

Hire guys that are able to lift a 175.

RVing then wanding?

Turn pressure was down on RV. Then dry stroke the shit out of it with wand.

Besure the guys are not over wetting with prespray.

 

[XTREME1]

no I was responsible for the mssage place and it felt dry to me but it wasup a flight of stairs to a closed room with the front door shut in the rainiest time of the year. Locked up tight they called in the morning I had cleaned it at 10 the night before and it was still damp.

. Can I vac and run an emulsifier and get the same results

hmmm what would be the Ph issue Becker, interesting comment I didn't think of

 

[Ron Werner]

quit cleaning so late at night

what about using Sebos or somethinglike that. Prespray, scrub and rinse.

So they can lift a 360 but not a 175? How much diff in weight is there?

 

[Becker]

It is an unanswerable question.

Because none of us know your current results.

If you are asking if you can brown out a carpet with just the wand. Then yes.

But I don't think that us what you want.

IMO. 90% of carpets don't need scrubbing.
I own a rx20. And only use it when needed.

What do you prescrub stairs with?

I often find them to be the heaviest soiled. Reason clients hat to vac stairs. And the concentrated area of use. But they clean up great for me with no prescrub.

Other rooms that contend. Family rooms.

Otherwise most homes are only lightly soiled.

But that could be just my areas or my demo.

 

[Bob Foster]

Your guys just might be using a high concentration of solution when they are mixing their prespray. Also it seems like overkill to use a 360 or RV and a wand unless they are just using the wand to get at areas they can't with a RV or 360?

How was the HOS for getting into tight areas compared to the 360i?

 

[Becker]

What are you using as a prespray and a rinse?

High alkaline. No acid?

 

[XTREME1]

the wand is grooming and excess moisture

stairs are prescrubbed with a nylon brush attached to a black and decker wall paper sander

 

[Scott Rogers]

You can get very fast dry times with the RV (original twin head model)
1st. make sure there are no obstructions in the vac assembly, lots of areas get crap built up in it especially those small vac hoses and the t-connector

2nd stop using the stupid wheel, remove it or atleast raise it all the way up.

3rd crank up the heat.


Another option get a light prescrub machine such as a GLS

 

[XTREME1]

Thanks scott but none of those apply
tools are inspected
we run our machines high heat
and always direct to carpet

personally I think it was the spring and the conditions in the places we were but I just trying to figure out how to be the best and insure we have no calls for fixes or issues

 

[Bob Foster]

A SEBO works great on stairs and does them fast. I use a Whittaker GLS for regular areas.

I think the browning is a combo of over-wetting and high pH. I would cut the prespray back dilution especially if you are using mechanical agitation. Becker's on the right track.

To hear that you have more than one incident says to me you have a problem with how its being done and not just lack of ventilation. You could use a rinse agent too with added benefits such as a soft hand but again this looks like it's a mix and technique problem

 

[Becker]

What is the complete juice line up?

 

[XTREME1]

I agree Bob a little perspective180 jobs 3 calls

the red flag was when Becker said Ph because we did just switch presprays last month

 

[XTREME1]

those jobs were
Cobbs powermax and jondon matrix rinse

the reason for the question is we are switching rinses to Saphire scientific Versaclean

 

[Royal Man]

Massage parlor at 10 Pm?

Was the redo just an excuse to go back?

Could the browning be "lotion" spots?

I have a 12" Oreck for traffic lane and it is great for steps.

A 175 is overkill unless it has large traffic lanes.

Also, I suggest to never use a tank to prevent over wetting.

 

[XTREME1]

didn't need to go back Dave they asked about drying and I said open a window and called at noon and they were all set

 

[Becker]

Opening windows solved te browning?

Odd.

 

[Royal Man]

If it had no ventilation. No wonder there was still some dampness.

Do you handout an aftercare card to help explain some issues?

 

[Becker]

Close the dump valve.

Just ask Ben.

 

[XTREME1]

the only browning was at the house on the marsh the other calls were extended dry times from what we state

 

[ruff]

Hawk, and I am sure other manufacturers as well, make a smaller fold able floor machine.
It has the smaller motor, which is more than adequate for scrubbing.
It is lighter and will also take less space in the van.

 

[Royal Man]

Hawk, and I am sure other manufacturers as well, make a smaller fold able floor machine.
It has the smaller motor, which is more than adequate for scrubbing.
It is lighter and will also take less space in the van.

Like I said before those little Orecks with a brush are good for traffic areas and great for steps. Light weight and with a pad they are good for wickback spots and encap demos for commercial.

If it weighs less it is more likely to come into more jobs and also prevent back injuries.

 

[ruff]

[quote="Ofer Kolton":3vrccjnk]Hawk, and I am sure other manufacturers as well, make a smaller fold able floor machine.
It has the smaller motor, which is more than adequate for scrubbing.
It is lighter and will also take less space in the van.

Like I said before those little Orecks with a brush are good for traffic areas and great for steps. Light weight and with a pad they are good for wickback spots and encap demos for commercial.

If it weighs less it is more likely to come into more jobs and also prevent back injuries.[/quote:3vrccjnk]

The nice thing about the Hawk is that they are heavier duty than the Oreck and when needed will work very well with a bonnet as well.
Giving one more options.

 

[Brian R]

is it possible to still be the best and swap prescrub for vacuum and get a kick ass rinse? I am uncomfortable giving the guys the option of just wanding

what do you say

To be the best, you need to do what it takes to get it done right.

But to answer the question specifically ....Yes.

I don't see the need to prescrub every job with HWE and a powerful machine.....even semi powerful.

Most browning in my experience is from mixing the prespray and/or rinse to heavy....More is NOT better.

With the TM I had, I never saw the benefit of vacuuming first unless heavy debris. I never saw the point in scrubbing unless totally trashed.

A good prespray, dwell time and wand technique would solve about 98% of my jobs (just a guess Crowley...not hard evidence).



The talent of this industry is being able to look at a job and figure out what it's going to take and THEN make it happen.

 

[Dolly Llama]

several things in play here .

1.) unless something is drastically different in Mass, I suspect you're doing WAY more than you need to on appx 70% of res carpets
BUT.....you'll lose you're USP if you change that

2.) I don't care how big your blower is, how pimped your TM and whether you use FIVE inch vac hose...
There's a saturation point for every fiber .
You can reach saturation point regardless of method(s) used .

"wetting agents"...lots of 'em in most carpet pre-sprays ...
if you're hammering it with pre-spray, it's reached that point (saturation) before you put the first tool on the floor.
Dry times will vary contingent on fiber type and density .
The only way to assure minimal dry times on all of them, is to accelerate the evaporation process

3.) closing up a room in humid conditions does nothing to accelerate the evap process.
even at that, some jobs may necessitate the need to leave airmovers on site for assured decreased dry times


4.) I don't care how dedicated or how tremendous a work ethic , no one is 100% every hour of every day.
I'm not suggesting that is or isn't at issue here, just a reality



..L.T.A.

 

[Dolly Llama]

The talent of this industry is being able to look at a job and figure out what it's going to take and THEN make it happen.

hey!!...you got ONE right!!!


..L.T.A.

 

[ruff]

I don't care how big your blower is, no one is 100% every hour of every day.
I'm not suggesting that is or isn't at issue here, just a reality

..L.T.A.

Oh my..........
Larry,
Would you care to specify?