Hi,

I just applied my first encap (Releasit)on a commercial carpet and my results were less than desirable as some of the carpet had streaks or areas of white. I applied the product using a duplex machine. The machine experienced some solution dispensing issues but was still able to go through approximately 2.5 gallons for 250 square ft.
Look forward to some helpful info as I am going back to re-do the carpet.

Thanks

Sorry to hear about your frustrating experience. Frustration is NOT the normal deal with encap. A couple of things that factor into encap cleaning are detergent application, and scrubbing method.

If you put the detergent down unevenly it is possible to produce uneven results. Likewise if the scrubbing passes accentuate areas of the carpet more heavily than other areas, again uneven results can occur.

Encap is easy as pie! It all comes down to applying the solution evenly and scrubbing the carpet evenly.

Make sure you are applying the juice at an even rate. You mentioned that your sprayer presented some trouble for you. That could have contributed to your troubles. Also, your usage was heavier than normal - ideally you should be in the neighborhood of about 300 sq ft per gallon of diluted rtu solution.

As a rule, applying the detergent with a sprayer tends to put the detergent down in a way that makes it hard to regulate the flow. Most folks ‘round here favor a machine that can solution-feed the juice, such as the Cimex. Solution-feeding the detergent makes it a lot easier to adjust your flow rate as you're scrubbing the carpet.

I haven't heard too much about the Duplex machine. But I think that machine could also be contributing to the results that you got. Agitation is the section of the cleaning pie that encap focuses on, so you need a machine that can really work the fiber.

Don't give up on encap! Modify your approach a little and get a feel for what you're doing. It's easy to become proficient at encap very quickly. I once trained a new guy who started working for us in about 10 minutes before sending him off to work.

I'd love to spend a little time trying to help you sort this out. If you want to give me a call tomorrow afternoon I'll be happy to see if we can get you rockin.








Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com

also before you reclean vacuum real good.i had one job that looked so so, but after vacuuming it looked a whole lot better. also with that much solution used you might be seeing the dried encap juice. just a thought.either way post vacuuming can make a big difference.

With respect to stever, and with an admission that his advice could be correct for your situation, I would like to caution you to NOT place too much importance on vacuuming on all jobs. I have found it not to be necessary in most situations and the time it adds to the job is often money that can knock you out of the bid running.

Not directly related to your original question, but just related closely enough not the get deleted by Rick, and "off" just enough to maintain my fine posting standards.

maybe i am a vac-a-holic? the wife and i are anal about the pre-vac (never post-vac). maybe i should use better discernment on jobs that may not need it.?.


in regards to the encap problem, sounds like your scrubber is the culprit. even tho you used alotta solution, it wasn't distributed evenly.

when i started encap 4 years ago, i 1st tried doing it with my Host scrubber with less than average results. fortunately, i didn't let that hinder my decision to invest in a Cimex.


thanx --- Derek.

With respect to stever, and with an admission that his advice could be correct for your situation, I would like to caution you to NOT place too much importance on vacuuming on all jobs.



no problem, ive just noticed on some jobs it seems after they vacd a couple times it looked even better.i dont post vac and i dont always pre vac as long as its getting done. some jobs just need it.

Thanks Rick,

The machine has a gravity feed built in, uses cylindrical brushes for agitation. One fellow I talked to said you should have a consistance white on the carpet as you clean, is that correct? Anyway I'm not giving up as I would ike to offer this type of cleaning. What is you contact number?

Thanks again

Welcome! How do you like the performance of the Duplex? Is it a DP340 or 420? Which brushes do you utilize? I guess on carpet you used the yellow brushes? Are/were they aggressive enough for commercial? If not might look at the more aggressive brushes, but be careful. Might be good to thoroughly "precondition" them on concrete prior to running them on carpet. I would suggest with this unit prespraying the encap cleaner with a sprayer instead of running encap through the machine. As mentioned even application and scrubbing should be observed. With these units is the chemical dispensed via gravity feed or under pressure? Is it dispensed into the brushes or to the "side" of the brushes? If under pressure is the jet clogged and is the spray "wide" enough? If it is gravity feed is there clogs there? Does the dispensing allow the cleaner to be "carried" to the width of the brush or just isolated sections? Again, simply prespraying ahead of the machine seems to most easily address these issues. I'd reserve the solution dispensing capabilities of the machine mostly for use on hard surfaces, mainly just running plain water to keep surfaces wet. Look like a nice unit, versatile. I'd really loook at the dispensing system, and try to run the most aggressive brushes possible(without damaging the brush motor or carpet) especially on CGD, and get a sprayer. I had similiar experience with my Karcher/Tornado BR Vario, finally just decided to use solution tanks for tile work. Are you in Canada or US? We have a Nacecare dealer around here but he never has a Duplex in stock, keep telling him he is missing an opportunity. Have you used the Nacecare LL316, looks like it might be an interesting machine for residential or gender/weight sensitive work?

Hi and thanks for the info,

It's a model 420 with a gravity feed and grey brushes. Easy to operate on the carpet. I was considering using a sprayer as a last resort but preferred to have a all inclusive system.
I'm a Canadian cleaner,in the interior of BC.

Welcome Deryk;

Good to see more Canadians in the grove. I'm from Red Deer, AB. myself. Which part of BC are you from? This board is so great to meet other cleaners that are so close and fine tune the many different to skin the cat. If you ever want to chat, feel free to call or email.

Rick Thode
Your Canadian Releasit/Cimex Connection
rick@releasit.ca


Rick Thode
rick@releasit.ca
Your Canadian Source for Releasit/Cimex