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Olefin - no problems

September 23 2009 at 6:19 PM

Stuart  

Here's a snippet from the latest Cleanfax Online...

"Gather a group of cleaning pros together, ask them "Which type of carpet do you hate cleaning?" and the answer will probably be:

Olefin Berbers.

Why? There has to be a good reason.

Since most cleaning today is done via hot water extraction with a traditional floor tool, cleaners find the Berber style (whether wool, nylon or olefin) to make the physical action of cleaning difficult.

When the cleaning tool (wand) skips and jumps over the carpet, overwetting occurs and this leads to a carpet turning ugly a day or two later, in addition to the inevitable recurring spots.

To overcome this challenge, changing your cleaning direction can help, as well as the use of wand glides and using different cleaning tools, such as electric rotary extractors.

Using a bonnet machine with an absorbent pad can help remove more moisture and soils.

An airmover used immediately after cleaning each area dries the carpet faster and leads to less wicking.

Remember: If the Berber you are cleaning is olefin or has high olefin content (many Berbers are olefin blended with nylon), olefin resists water.

This means your cleaning solution may follow the yarn shaft right down to the backing of the carpet, resulting in overwetting and potential wicking of soils and spots.

After determining if a Berber is an olefin Berber, you might consider using less moisture in your cleaning process (perhaps one of the various low moisture cleaning methods)."

Ah - happy days. Low Moisture Days...





Stu

TrueBlueGroup
Revolutionary Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning

 
 
AuthorReply
Rambo

We love Olefin

September 23 2009, 8:18 PM 

We have "Berber Cleaning Experts" on one of our trucks. We also clean 95% of our residential berbers (olefin) with truckmount HWE. I have not experienced the problems you mentioned in your post. I am well aware that 100% olefin only retains 1/10th of 1% of it's weight in moisture, thus making it a real cleaning challenge. I feel it boils down to the efficacy of your cleaning system. There are many HWE units that just can't do a good job. If you are using VLM in residential, make sure you are doing some extraction (like absorbant pads) or even with a portable followed by pads. Once we get a olefin berber cleaning job, we have a customer for life.

 
 
Don Eldred

Re: We love Olefin

September 23 2009, 8:35 PM 

We clean a ton of olefin berbers with our truck units, with no problems. I think the biggest mistake one can make when cleaning olefin is to apply too much prespray, plus allow too much dwell time. Both of these will result in problems you mentioned in your post.

 
 
Carl

Re: We love Olefin

September 24 2009, 7:20 PM 

we clean a fair amount of Berber as well.. Using Judson O2 pre-spray and rinse with encap Punch at 400 psi and hybrid glide seems to work well .. every so often we get a call back on something wicking back but for the most part we just get happy clients and impressive clean carpet.

 
 

Stuart

Results

September 25 2009, 7:25 AM 

Hi Rambo, Don & Carl. Guys don't shoot this messenger. Remember 'its' tabloid copy & paste stuff here...

As a prior HWE company for 15 years; I too can vouch for excellent results with this method on all fibre types.

Guess you'll agree with me on two things.
1) Technician knowledge & experience is paramount.
2) Low Moisture Methods have reduced post cleaning problems.

In Australia many prefer good quality Rotary Machines. To protect the delicate nature of our residential wool installations; Microfibre Bonnets come in to their own. Massive juice penetration & soil removal properties rolled into one, without pile distortion but; you must get your base plates right, or MFB's will struggle.

Enjoying your responses...

[linked image]
[linked image]


Stu

TrueBlueGroup
Revolutionary Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning

 
 
Walt

MFB?

September 25 2009, 8:59 AM 

I'm a newb to this board. What does MFB stand for? And are you just using a standard rotary floor machine with micro fiber pads? Not a OP type machine? Why, why not?

Those pads look pretty dirty!

Thanks in advance,

Walt

 
 
EncapDrew

Re: MFB?

September 25 2009, 9:11 AM 

MBF stands for Micro Fiber Bonnet. It is a lot easier to type MBF happy.gif

 
 
Derek

Re: MFB?

September 25 2009, 1:40 PM 

i hated CC'ing berber with my under-powered portables.

now i love it and get great results when i bonnet clean with my Cimex, or OP it...coupled with great chemistry: Punch and 40 vol.

 
 

Stuart

MFB's, Rotary's

September 25 2009, 6:08 PM 

Hi Walt

OP's & 'Yellas' (as the Shortwun says) have a great technique for fibre cleansing but; in my opinion a single disc rotary is more versatile. (I'm talking residential here). Just the 'standard' rotary will not do. Most if not all, struggle with the right amount of downward applied pressure. Standard machines tend to skip & skate all over the place.
The machine must have a rock solid base plate and: have an assortment of graded brushes to tackle any scrubbing task. Be that synthetic, wool, or T &G, (sorry tile & grout).

Microfibre Bonnets have the unique ability to 'hold & hide' soiling giving longer time on the carpet. They wash up a treat (in cold water) and last a long time.

Cheers


Stu

TrueBlueGroup
Revolutionary Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning

 
 
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