I have seen many videos wherein the 'cleaner' is using a OP method for his/her clean. In everyone, the cleaner runs his vacuum over the damp carpet. That provides a really nice look. If I vacuum after using any encap product while the carpet is still damp, do I somehow lesses the effect of the encap?

I know that its possible to get electricuted vacuuming a wet carpet.

Thanks
Your Servant Alex

A sign of the times!

What is wet? I was specific in using the word "d-a-m-p".

Either one of these words can be different things to different people.

One may think his carpet is damp, whilst another may think that it is wet, according to how he dries his carpet.

Whatever.

Whichever word you want to use, remember that they both are holding moisture, however minute.

It is possible for a vacuum cleaner to remove the moisture laden material from the carpet and it can find it's way onto electrical circuits where it could cause damage to both the machine and the operator, even death.

It has happened in the past.

Back to the original question,encapsulation is meant to be left to DRY on the carpet, ENCAPSULATIng the fibres and also any soiling, which can then be vacuumed away WHEN DRY.

To vacuum this damp carpet may make it look nice, but it also lessens the cleaning result in the end.

What's wrong with raking/grooming??

Cheers,

Shorty.

I've seen the light, and changed my ways.

Actually, nothing is wrong with that at all. I simply want the best results possible and was curious if I should risk death by vacuuming

If another product is better for OP residential carpet, I just wanted to know. I am please thus far with the results I am getting and frankly, had forgotten about the good ole rake.

Nothing looks better than a freshly raked or groomed carpet. I've never understood why the OP cleaners love that christmas tree look the vacuuming leaves behind. The carpets shouldn't be vacuumed for at least 24 hours so that the polymers have enough time to dry brittle so that the dirt can be extracted, at least that's always been my understanding...makes sense.

If you have seen the challenger video, or any of the OP videos(other than Ricks), they almost demand that a post/damp vacuum is required. And, I suppose it is if one is not using encap.

But, all i really care about is delivering the absolute best service possible.

I am OP and I was post vacuuming. I guess I'm leaving the
carpet to damp. My belt would start to slip and the beater bar would stall, also dumping a bunch of fibers back on the carpet. Backed off and the prespay, wrung my pads out more and went to the rake because of this.

Of course your meticulous pre-vac is a very important part of the encap procedure. The purpose of vacuuming the damp carpet is not to remove soil but to groom and or remove carpet fuzz hair lint ect. that the vacuum could not dig out during the pre-vac.

I have never needed to post-vac and rarely groom damp commercial carpet. On residential cut pile I use a Grandi Brush or a vacuum. Most of the time only the Grandi Brush. If after cleaning the carpet is difficult to brush out the machine marks or there is excessive (more than a Grandi Brush will remove) debris (carpet fuzz, lint or hair) I get my “disposable” Dirt Devil Dynamite vacuum. This vacuum is used ONLY for grooming/vacuuming damp carpet. I purchased this vacuum for $40.00 knowing that vacuuming damp carpet will ruin it. That was over 2 years ago. The vacuum is plastic, plastic and more plastic so I don’t worry about electrocution. Occasionally I need to clean out the gunk from the vacuum as it can get plugged up with the damp stuff removed from the carpet.

When using the vacuum I don’t think there is any significant moisture being removed to hinder the encapsulation process.

I also dislike the “Christmas Tree” design so it is straight forward and straight back leaving the room look beautiful and uniform.

I have my sights set on a C.R.B.M. for post grooming/debris removal among other uses.

noweare, our good friend Derek has a good idea, If you can adjust the height of your vacuum you might try raising it up so it will not dig in to the carpet. Might help the belt from slipping.


Richard Brooks
Hit The Spot
Exceeding Client Expectations

Yes, raising the level of the carpet will definatly help.
I'm pretty happy with the grandi groomer. Doesnt take much time and no chords. I do like your idea about using a cheapy plastic vacuum for carpet debris though.

I was cleaning a store one evening. The carpet had been vacuumed by their cleaning crew before we got there. But I wanted to do some extra vacuuming so instead of going back out to the truck, we grabbed their janitor's vacuum to do some additional vacuuming in the traffic lane areas. Well we inadvertently ran the Sanitaire Commercial Vacuum across a section of carpet that had already been cleaned with the Cimex. The vacuum let out a weird sound, some smoke came out of the motor and the vacuum died. In the end I left a check with the store manager for $80 so that the janitorial crew could get their vacuum fixed. I felt bad about wrecking their vacuum, and called the janitors the next day to apologize. They were very nice about the damaged vacuum. But I did learn 2 lessons. Don't borrow someone else's vacuum (especially when your vacuum is out in the truck), and never run a vacuum over damp carpet. If you want to run a vacuum on damp carpet, it should be a wet-vac that's designed for wet pick up IMHO.






Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com

Agree 100%
Regular upright vacs are NOT to have any moisture into their vac motors. so post vac at your own risk.

The repair tech will know what you did and void the warranty on the spot.

Ken Jacobs
Cosway Cleaning Supplies
CleaningEquipment.ca

i post-vac all my OP jobs when the carpet is of course damp. serves 2 purposes for me - pulls up the staple fibers and any pilling. and it also sets the pile.

my new Dyson dc17 is the 1st vac i've used for post-vac that pulls in water, which i don't like. my old dc07 was much better for post-OP-vac (less-agressive brush roll i reckon) and never pulled moisture.

thanx --- Derek.

I was unfortunate enough to waste a bunch of money on a Rainbow. not that its a bad vac, just very expensive...anyway I use that if in resi settings and use it to vac after...

I also experience a black mark from the beater bar if I dont wipe it down first.

I also have a Rainbow- earned mine selling them though- FREE.  I honestly use my $79 Bissell Clearview much more often these days as it is alot quicker.

However, If you are going to use your Rainbow- make a point of showing the dirty water off- EXCELLENT marketing tool.

 

Make you own luck,

Del Scrivner
Owner/Operator
Cowboy's Carpet Care

I have a simplex 7 commercial unit. The guy who sold it to me...I asked him about damp vacuuming. his response was, since the motor is bypassed, so long as the carpet is only d-a-m-p there would be no issue. the moisture left behind would dry as a result of the warm air...and no real moisture would collect anywhere inside the unit. he did caution "DAMP" is not "WET". If you hit a wet spot, you might have trouble. Do so at your own risk.

I like the look of freshly vacuumed carpets...but do NOT want to ruin the work of encap.