The age old debate about "where does the dirt go?" has once again been lodged over on the ICS message board. I replied to the question over there. And I thought some of you here may be interested too...



Encap 101
Posted By Rick Gelinas on 6/28/2008 at 6:59 AM

Ah the old question - "where does the dirt go"? I loved Bob Wittkamp's answer "it turns into money" But a little more detail than that will be helpful. So here once again is a description of what actually occurs with a program of good encap cleaning...

Firstly - all encap products are NOT created equal! MANY of the products that are being sold today do not crystallize at all. Others may crystallize, but not very well. If you don't have a good polymer in the mix - you won't have a vehicle to capture soil and you won't have a way to get the soil out of the carpet during the post-vacuuming process. It's kind of surprising to see how many products currently claim to be an encapsulant, yet fail to provide an adequate polymeric base.

Now, assuming that you're cleaning with an encap detergent with a good polymer, we still can't expect to recover a high quantity of soil with a single vacuuming. The polymer (providing that we have a product that contains good polymer) is surrounding the fiber. One single solitary vacuuming is not going to recover all of it.

However during the routine course of normal vacuuming, the polymer/soil content will continue to be extracted from the fiber. Normal foot traffic will also assist the polymer to fracture away from the fiber. The quantity of soil and polymer will continue to be recovered over the next several vacuumings.

The polymer that our product contains will also re-dissolve when it becomes wet again. It will dissolve back into a liquid state. And after it dries again it will crystallize all over again. In other words, there's NO WAY that a polymer build up can occur. Quite the contrary in fact, the more the carpet is cleaned via encap, the more easy it will be to maintain.

Now is encap the only tool in the toolbox? I certainly hope not! Encap is simply anther way to maintain carpet. HWE will always be the most effective way to remove the highest quantity of soil in a single shot. There are times when that is important. And there are other times when effective soil management can be achieved very nicely with "good" ecnap. A good program of encap with a true crystallizing product can keep commercial glue down carpets looking better for a longer period of time. Encap can also completely eliminate the wicking and recurring spills that frequently occur with CGD carpet.

Keep in mind that all these "methods" are simply tools. As a professional, you should recognize how and when to use the tools at you disposal. A professional home builder doesn't plan to build a house with just a hammer. Encap is just one of the tools in the professional cleaner's arsenal. Good encap can be a mighty big hammer!!! Yet there are other tools too. HWE is a also a powerful tool that's important to have at your disposal. Tools are good








Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com

Rick
My concerns about encap or any other method is very simple
It has nothing to do with good or bad products, but more to do with good or bad technicans.
We have all seen great results from encap cleaning, and we will see bad results from encap cleaning [ from using the best products] as is the same from any other method.
The problem is simple encap was developed for the commercial maintenance market and we now see cleaners wanting to do all kinds of residential restoration cleaning with this system.
I have seen you say that most residential cleaning needs to be extracted, and I agree, those of choose to go the encap route only for all residential are only fooling themselves and their clients.
Each method has a place in our market, knowing which one to use in any particular case is the key to succeeding in this business.

I agree with you Don. And in response to your comment I'll copy and paste another recent message that I posted over on the ICS message board just yesterday. It addresses what you're saying pretty well...



Re: Does encapsulation really clean?
Posted By Rick Gelinas on 6/27/2008 at 10:19 PM

When it comes to the performance of encapsulation, a lot has to do with the encap product that you're using. There are a number of wannabe encap products on the market today that simply don't cut the mustard. Some of these marginal products (some from some big names) give encap a black eye. But Mr Mitchell is using a good encap product (i.e. Releasit) that crystallizes properly, so he's doing things right.

However I will also agree with the posts above, that straight encap all by itself is not typically enough for most residential carpets. HWE is the most thorough way to clean residential carpets. Yet there may be situations where encap may be necessary for residential. Here are a couple of examples...

One situation where encap might be helpful for residential might be where a client just doesn't want to pay the money for HWE cleaning (I know none of the cleaners on the ICS board ever service such people - but I've heard that they exist). Another situation where encap is good for residential is on a carpet that loves to wick, like an olefin berber (a good encap product can make that problem disappear).

The comments above in support of periodic HWE are valid too. A routine HWE cleaning to give the carpet a good flushing is advantageous. And then following a good maintenance program with a GOOD encap program can keep a commercial glue down carpet looking its best for an extended period of time, before the need arises to clean with HWE again. Keeping the carpets looking their best, for the longest period of time, in the most cost effective, and profitable manner is what encap cleaning is all about. Used properly, it's a win-win for the client as well as the cleaner.







Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com

Rick
That is what I was saying you just have a better way of saying it!
Thanks

The selfish side of me wants the nay-sayers to keep nay-saying. That way, my primary competition in the commercial environment will continue to be portable hwe-only guys, with all the high-rises I'm trying to acquire.

When I was just starting to learn about encap, the owner of the largest janitorial supply store here told me about the nightmares of encap, and all of the build up they had in a hotel years ago. I hope he keeps telling that story.

As for residential, wouldn't the ultimate clean be HWE+encap chems (Punch)? Kind of hard to argue against that combination. You could even throw in OP to top that off as well.

I don't know if a lot of these guys are anti encap chemicals period, or just anti vlm cleaning.

I used to be believe that low moisture meant low quality cleaning, thanks to Chemdry.

It's nice to realize what opportunities can open up to you when you explore all of your options.

Options, that is the key, you must be in a position to use the proper method for each situation, and that includes the method that the mills want in order to maintain the warranty. All methods work, just pick the one that works the best for each situation. It is that simple