I just finished running some more testing on encapsulators. Today I compared our product with a couple of other popular encap products. I am not going to list the names of the products or how they compared in the testing since one of these products is one that we produce. But it’s so easy to perform a simple comparative test like this - I thought I’d share how you can run this basic test for yourself.

It’s interesting to see how different products stack up when you compare them with one another. So here's a step-by-step breakdown of how you can run a comparative test right in your own kitchen.


What you’ll need:

1. A kitchen
2. 3”x3” sections of carpet cut from the same remnant (one section for each product you wish to test)
3. A Sharpie marker
4. 1 teaspoon of butter, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and 4 ounces of water
5. A basting brush
6. Measuring spoon (½ teaspoon)
7. A small handful of bagged potting soil – if it’s damp, dry it in the oven
8. A hair dryer
9. A small bowl, and a coffee cup
10. Separate containers for dilutions of each product you wish to test
11. A soft scrub pad, or a soft bristle brush
12. A dinner fork
13. A vacuum cleaner with a handheld extension


How to perform the test:

1. Cut as many 3”x3” sections of carpet as you would like to test.
2. Carefully measure each product according to the manufacturers directions. Keep each dilution in a separate marked container.
3. Take the Sharpie and label the back of each sample.
4. Mix the butter, sugar and water together in a coffee cup and heat it in the microwave to dissolve the sugar, melt the butter, and get the concoction to come together.
5. With the basting brush paint one even stripe of the concoction across each sample. Be careful to apply the same quantity to each sample.
6. Measure one level ½ teaspoon of dry potting soil and apply it to the stripe of concoction. Hold the sample over the sink and rub the potting soil into the fiber. Tap off any excess dirt into the sink. Repeat this with each sample.
7. With the hair dryer dry each sample.
8. Pour 2 ounces of the diluted detergent into a small bowl in the sink. Fully submerge the scrub pad in the dilution. Scrub each carpet sample with the corresponding detergent. Scrub each sample thoroughly. Be fair; make sure that you apply the same degree of agitation to each sample, even though you may have preconceived ideas or a favorite product. Repeat this with each sample.
9. Blow-dry all of the samples with the hair dryer.
10. Compare the results.


Phase two – resoil testing:

1. Allow the samples to completely cure for 24 hours so that crystallization/encapsulation can occur.
2. Vacuum each sample thoroughly.
3. Apply another level ½ teaspoon of dry potting soil to each sample and gently rake the dirt into the carpet with a fork.
4. Re-vacuum each sample thoroughly.
5. Compare the results.


It’s cool to see the actual results for yourself. Have fun!

Oh, and don’t forget to wear your lab coat for this project too



Rick Gelinas

Once again Rick I'm blown away! It seems you are always testing and looking to improve.
This last week when cleaning carpets in a 14,000 sq.ft hs, I forgot my other jug of Releasit at home. What I did have was a jug of Co**s.
Here is what I seen: Co**s doesn't foam as much so it is harder for a new guy like myself to know how much I'm putting down on res. carpet. I've done enough com. carpet to know.
2nd: When I came back to vac(my wife and I clean this house twice-a-week)The Co**s area was much stiffer. Now this could be that I put down to much or it is just Co**s. I just don't know. Maybe someone else knows.
3rd)It seemed to me, and it could just be lighting, that the Releasit areas were a little brighter.
I say that because the areas we used Co**s was on the 3rd level and the lighting just is not the same.
Talking about the 3rd. level.... thank goodness I have the smaller 15 cimex!! It was about all the wife and I could do hauling that up the narrow stairway!

On to the chairs at the dinner table that she was going to throw out.(Like we would let her throw them into the back of our van!)They cleaned up great using a soft carwash brush to put releasit on, then use drill with brush from hesco. Had one punch stain that lighten up alot. Used CTI red stuff on it 2nd time, it came out.

One problem, when we came back to vac, we seen where the little white ball of hair has been going pee. Guest room, 3rd level. Any sugg? We put down Bridgepoint bio-mod. We'll see how this worked next time we go.

Thanks again Rick for all your help!

Tim,

Larry Cobb is very knowledgable and is a well respected man in the industry.

So I'm going to refrain from commenting about the performance of his "encapsulation" product.

I'll simply say this, Cobbs product and ours are very different in their composition and in the way they're designed to work in the carpet.

However, as I mentioned above... Why not TEST the products to see for yourself how they'll compare in the real world?




Rick Gelinas

You can get pre-cut samples at Lowes. All fiber types most of the time.


Ref