pre-vac'ing is a neccesary step in Encap cleaning. here we thought every1 knew that...

i guess more ppl need to participate on this forum lol, too many lurkers.

thanx --- Derek.

Gee here i thought I was wasten my time Vacuuming..............

Guass I'll keep doin it.

Brian

Derek, you are soooo correct. Vacuuming is the “extraction” part of the cleaning. I am a firm believer that a thorough, meticulous vacuuming is very important. I have found a combination that works very well. I purchased a backpack-vac for cheap based on a post from another board and then a Power Nozzle from Powr-flite. This combination is the best that I have come across. Very good soil removal and I can unplug the power nozzle, stick the extension wand with a crevice tool attached and do a great job edging. The only thing I don’t care for is the small soil capacity of the backpack-vac. The bag fills quickly and suction drops off dramatically. I have to change the bag often but the bags are only about $1.00 each. I typically get about 600 sq. ft. out of one bag.

Happy vacuuming all!

Rich

hiyas Richard, good to heard from you again

yes i believe i have the same BackPack Vac. what i now do is hit the open areas with an 18" Hoover Conquest (with dustcup) then go back and edge everything with my BPV. did a new maintenance / contract account Fri. nite for the 1st time and the employees were amazed how good the carpets looked! all i had done up to that point was pre-vac and edge everything.

then another contract acct. we did Sun. nite is a restaurant....they vac the open areas 3 times daily. we used a small canister vac for everything, basically just crumbs / debris on the surface...3400 sq.ft, didn't have to change the bag once.

i find most jobs need a crazy thorough pre-vac, others do a fair job of vac'ing on a regular basis (a rare occurence in my area).

take care --- Derek.

I bought a Pro-Team backpack a couple of months ago. I didn't get a power nozzle yet. My contact who sold me on the vacuum showed me how to use the carpet tool in such a way that I could cover a pretty large area relatively fast. He told me that the CFM's of the vacuum would make up for not having a power nozzle. Anyway,he let me take a demo to use on a 10,000 s/f job. The carpet was reportedly vacuumed by the janitorial crew before we arrived. I vacuumed ahead of my tech who was using the cimex. Using the salesman's method which is to swing the wand from side to side similar to mopping a floor, it took me about 1 1/2 hrs to vacuum the area which was comprised mainly of hallways, including edging. The new bag was pretty full and I noticed no loss in power.

hiyas Mark

i've heard of the side to side motion but i never tried to see if it's faster. i have a new Sandia SuperRaven on my largest office cleaning acct, has 150 cfm just like the SuperCoach. WOW, are they powerful! great BPV's.

If you do not vac side to side using a back pak you are wasting valuable time and might as well use a uprite

David, I don’t quite agree. From my experience most (not all) establishments do not do a proper vacuuming and there is usually substantial dry soil in the carpet. I am always amazed at what I pull out. From what I normally run across, a quick vacuum job is not adequate if you are there to truly do your best. It normally takes me ¾ of the time to vacuum and edge as it does to encap. I realize that I could vacuum quicker but my clients are expecting me to do the best that I can. I guess I’m borderline anal about vacuuming LOL.

In my opinion a high CFM Back Pack Vac along with a power wand has greater suction than an upright vacuum. I can feel a big difference in the suction to the floor, that coupled with the agitation of the beater bar in the power wand is hard to beat. I feel that it really digs in and removes a lot of soil, more than an upright will do. I think I just need a BPV with a larger capacity because as any vacuum bag fills suction is lost.

Mark, thanks for bringing up the side to side method. Never heard of it. I'll give it a try. Sounds like it would speed up a lightly soiled job.

Just my thoughts,

Richard at Hit The Spot

Richard, i think you are agreeing with David. he offers the same advice : using the BPV in the side-to-side motion as Mark described.

i'd love to use a powerhead with my BPV, i'll have to save for one.

the 10 quart Proteam SuperCoach or Sandia SuperRaven have mucho suction power Richard.

thanx --- Derek.

Richard we are in agreement to be sure.
I use either the wand with no powerhead or use a turbo vac when I do my nightly cleaning in our janitorial accounts and before we clean the carpet no matter what method we use.
Sometimes I use a turbo head attached to my TM or portable with fantastic results

Well then, it has been decided. A thorough vacuuming our clients shall receive. Thanks David.

Derek, although I have not tried any other, I really do recommend the Power Nozzle from Powr-flite. It has worked superbly on both residential and commercial carpet. It really latches on to commercial carpet. Thanks for the recommendation on the BPV’s. I will no doubt upgrade to a larger capacity unit as soon as I can. I cleaned 1000 sq. ft. residential today and changed the bag twice then a 750 sq. ft. residential finishing off a third bag for the day.

Thanks guys.

Richard

Richard, sounds like the resi biz is doing great for you! i hope to diving in soon many thanx for your help in that area.

with my tendinitis i cant really handle the extra weight of a power nozzle on my BPV....wimpy i know but that's the reality of it. til i get over it i'll use my Dyson & Conquest.

spring fever! --- Derek.

Derek, Sorry to hear about your tendonitis. You have a couple great vacuums there; you’ll get the job done just fine.

Good luck with your residential expansion.