Cobbs encapsulate cleaner versus Spin Vac I would have to say SV. Cobbs cleans well,smells well but its a little watery for our CS. OP cleaning is fine though....

How does the Cobb product dry in a dish? Place a few drops of the detergent into a juice glass and allow it to dry overnight. Compare it with the Spin Vac. A true encapsulator will dry to a very brittle residue that can release from the fiber. In the testing that I’ve done I’ve seen that the products that dry brittle and release easily perform the best on carpet too.

Larry Cobb says that his encapsulation process is accomplished by encapsulating the fiber with a fluoro chemical that repels the dirt away from the fiber. Larry also recommends following up afterwards with HWE. I know that Larry formulates some GREAT fluoro products. But will adding a fluor chemical to a detergent make it become an "encapsulator"? Test and see.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/48271772/48275404jwgGpf

Rick

Rick is right...

I am a big fan of some of Larry's products such as his POG, Ultra Seal, and Dye Stain Remover, but.....

I think it is VERY misleading for his product to be called an encapsulator. Not all of the product will even dry completely... even after several days. IMO, it should rinsed to prevent the possibility of rapid resoiling problems.

I would agree, the Cobb product is not best suited for the Chemstractor or Cimex. It's not the same type of encapsulator as Spin Vac and Mist & Brush.
The Cobb product will bond to the fiber so soil removal needs to be during the cleaning process such as with hwe, bonneting or padding, If it foamed and the foaming agent didn't cause the product to dry sticky or soft, then it would do well with a Chemstractor.
In the dry test I did, the Cobb product dried hard and slick in a glass dish and it dried completly.
There must be something different about the formulation with the product Steve tested and that which I tested.
I also found the Cobb product to be one of the best bonnet and pad cleaners I have tried.

Btw, I've been playing around with a few encapsulators like the Spin Vac in my Chemstractor with my residential customers and I like the results.

Jeff,

I have experienced the hard, smooth drying that you spoke of…Allow me to explain.

The first time I dried the Cobb product in a dish it dried almost identically the way you described it. I had dried it in the sun and upon examination it was seemed to be dried very hard and slick. I placed the dish, with product, back in my shop. A few days later I checked it again and found that it had softened. So I retested it two ways by placing about ½ inch in the bottom of two dishes.
1. I dried one in an oven at 150 degrees.
2. I dried the other by placing an air mover over it for several days.

The one I dried in the over again turned hard and slick, but a couple of days later softened. The one that I slowly dried never did dry completely… even after a week. In fact it left a goo-like substance behind that was sure to be highly dirt attracting.

I thought something was wrong because Larry had sent me a document that stated that the product would dry brittle. I called Larry and spoke with him about my findings… he seemed to think that they had sent me an old formulation of his bonnet cleaner by mistake. So he sent me a NEW gallon to retest. I retested the new gallon in the same manor that I had previously…. I got the same results as before.

Rick and I discussed this once before via phone and if I recall correctly he reached the same conclusion that I did about the drying qualities of the Cobb product.

I did use the Cobb product on one job… it cleaned well but I didn’t like the strong smell it gives off…. I mostly clean residential and anything with a strong smell won’t cut it for many of my clients.

Cobbs product does clean well, easily as good as anything else I've used, and the smell is strong but far from unpleasant, as for brittle dry....I don't think it's gonna cut it in the encapsualtion application.
Hint: Larry why not try and formulate a M & B,Spin Vac type true encapsulator that sells for $11 a gallon!

by the way the red dye remover rules!

Greenhorn Carpet Commando