Rick I need you help on two things. First my cimex not only is making the clicking sound when I use it but it is also making a high squeaking sound. Like something is loose or I don;t know what it is. Also I got the ramp for my cimex and van. It works great to get it out of the van but I cant get it back in the van. Its to steep. The cimex is so front heavy the ramp moves. If I try go slow it to heavy to push up the ramp. Can you help me. Thanks a lot. O rick on last thing about encap residential carpets. Should I have the customer vacuum the carpet after I finish and they dry. I tell my customers that when they vacuum after the cleaning more left over residue comes up and helps the carpet stay cleaner. What if my customer doesn't vacuum? I know they say the soil is left in the carpet. Sorry for the long post and being all over the place. I am very tired and need sleep. thanks for your time.

Clicking is usually the early stages of bearing wear (occasionally it is coming from the belt). Clicking is very common. This occurs with all Cimex machines, and I wouldn't worry about it till it becomes terrible. I had an OLD Cimex that had such worn bearings that the ball bearings started falling out as it was running. Now that's extreme. Bottom line, it's probably nothing to worry about at this point.

Squeaking usually comes from the wheels/axle. Spray the wheels and the axle with a lot WD40. It's best to do this outdoors. Roll the machine around. Then dry it up so the WD40 won't drip on carpet. This should fix the squeaking. Squealing may be coming from a loose belt, or possibly bad bearings, but this is far less common.

Using a ramp with a Cimex: It works best if you pul it up the ramp, rather than pushing it up the ramp. Jump up in the truck. lean your butt back. Grab the handle of the Cimex. And then rock your weight backward. This is easy. I once had a skinny young fella working for me. He weighed about 135 pounds, and he had recently recovered from serious cancer and had undergone a lot of chemo. He had no trouble pulling the Cimex up the ramp. Pushing it uo the ramp is another story altogether.

Encap on residential? Don't have a good answer for you. My advice has always been to hot water extract or possibly use OP cleaning on residential. Encap is not ideal for residential IMHO for a number of reasons, including what you mentioned here about possible inadequate vacuuming. If you are going to do encap on residential, you may at least want to run over the carpet with a final post-bonneting, to help pull some additional soil from the carpet. Encap is perfect for commercial where you have SHORT pile, however fluffier residential carpet does best with HWE or OP/bonnet IMHO.













Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com

Rick is right about pulling the cimex rather than pushing...case in point - I have a newer 3/4 ton chevy extended express van, and i'm telling ya, it is MUCH taller than my old 1995 chevy - the ramp is now much steeper than it used to be...that being said, it was impossible to push the cimex up the ramp after I got the new truck. What I do is stand up inside the van, while holding on to the inside of the door frame with my left arm, I reach out and grab the cimex with my right arm and in one quick move, pull it into the van. If i try to pull it in with both arms, I could throw my back out, so this works for me...

Joe

I always push up the ramp. I'll have to try the pull method but I have a small van.

I had 1 ramp that was ok. I sold it and got a new one that is 1' longer and let me tell you that 1' makes a world of a difference on the push

I push it up the ramp, but my van isn't that tall either.

It helps to get as low as possible so that you are pushing directly up the ramp instead of into it.

I don't have a one piece ramp. It's two thick, long pieces of wood with aluminum ends. Works well enough so far.

Pulling does sound easier, but not sure if it is possible with my ramp.

I simply walk backwards up the ramps and pull my Cimex into my trailer.

Make you own luck,

Del Scrivner
Owner/Operator
Cowboy's Carpet Care

I encap residential as much as possible. Never had anyone complain yet. In fact a lady I cleaned for a month ago told my last customer that I made her carpet "Come back to life". Was an old carpet 25 + yrs never was really ever taken that great care of. Her friend that called me said that if you cleaned for Mrs. (whatever), you must be good cause she is really fussy. Cleaned for the friend and before I was out the door she was on the phone bragging how good her upholstery & carpet looked. This lady is 84 & still gets around good & drives. My best customers are from 65 - 89 and they get a 15% Sr. citizen discount and never complain about service or price.

You don't need to tell people about possibly some left over crystalized encapped dirt. Clean the carpet and say "You can vacuum this tomorrow or the next day. People that don't vacuum their house at least once a week belongs to The Three Little Pigs Family.

Of course if residential carpet has urine or any other junk, you can still encap but HWE at the end.

I did a job this moring and did what you said with the ramp and it worked. I just have to try to turn it around in the van. I used the cimex on a house and got a ton of peeling on the carpet. Is that normal. Its not damaging the carpet? I have go some peeling with hwe and racking but nothing like this. I used the fiber pads and my cimex. the carpet was a soxony carpet.

I assume you are referring to shedding of loose fiber. You really need to be using the soft shampoo brushes on soft/delicate stuff like Saxony, Frieze, Woven Rugs, etc.

http://www.excellent-supply.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=6&idproduct=34







Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com

Thanks for the reply but did i damage the carpets. The customer says that her carpet sheds old the time when she vacuums. I used this on saxony before and it never shedded. She was happy with the carpets but she was going to vacuum when it dried.

"did i damage the carpets"

You may have damaged the carpet. It's hard to tell from here. We can't see the carpet. It is easy to distort the pile of Saxony and Frieze. Even normal light foot traffic can degrade the texture of some carpets. Did the surface of the carpet look OK after you cleaned it? Some carpets shed loose fiber more than others. Shedding alone is not necessarily an indication that you've damaged the carpet. And some carpets are not built well. You would have to evaluate what's going on with this customer's carpet by carefully examining the wear and/or distortion pattern. Does the carpet appear damaged? Does it look the same in the low traffic areas as well as the traffic lanes? Do the low traffic areas exhibit distortion, or do they look fine (keeping in mind that the machine scrubbed the entire carpet). Is the customer complaining? All of these questions are things you would need to evaluate.








Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com

rick the carept looked ok but there was just a lot of shedding. They never had had their carpet cleaned in three years and they vacuum everyday. She said the she always gets carpet fibers in her vacuum. I am going to call with a follow up call today. If you could tell me what pads are for what thanks.

Beige FiberPlus pads can be used on everything except delicate fiber (such as Saxony, Frieze, delicate cut pile, and some rugs). For delicate construction use the 4807 brushes.

Gray colored FiberPlus Max pads are only intended for sturdy commercial carpet (such as olefin loop). They are about 20% more aggressive than the standard FiberPlus pads. They do an awesome job! If you use them on cut pile commercial carpet, use extreme care. Keep the machine moving, and avoid standing in one place with the machine running.









Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com

What do you need a ramp for? I just pick the cimex up and put in the back of the Van. Sheeeeesh!

how many  times a day how many days a week?

customer was so happy with carpet and they way they turned out. She is having her friend have me clean her carpets. I am wondering what pads everyone uses because in all the talk about residential cleaning with the cimex no one talks about the pads. Its always about the fiber pads and not the soft brush pads. Just wondering.

I used to do that but I cant risk hurting my back. The 19 cimex is one heavy beast. You better watch out for you back. I was thinking of making some kind of pulley system. Does anyone have any ideas?

Carpet guys always want to make stuff or modify things. Just go buy a good Aluminum loading ramp from Link.

Ken is right. Link ramps are awesome.

http://www.excellent-supply.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=8&idproduct=74








Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com

I just lift mine up as well, carry up some steps too.

Always encap, resi and commercial.
Never use wd40, it dries, use liquid wrench, spray, roll around, wipe up.
I use cimex and padcap and brush systems, all with encap, all situations and all work great. I also do HWE, when I have too