Cimex Brushes

[twayneb]

I picked up a used cimex and it came with white brushes, I'm not sure if they are for carpet or tile. My question is how can I tell I don't see any numbers anywhere on the brushes. Any help is greatly appreciated.

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[encapman]

If the brushes are fairly firm, they're for tile & grout or rigid commercial carpet. If they're very soft, they're for wool rugs or other delicate fiber. 

If you want to use the Cimex for carpet cleaning, you'll want tot get a set of pad drivers. Running FiberPlus pads on the Cimex is the most popular method for carpet. Pads make a world of difference for scrubbing carpet. Here's an explanation of the benefits of pads vs brushes for the Cimex...

Brushes: 
Brush bristles bend over sideways under the weight of the machine. The assumption that the bristles penetrate the fiber in fact isn't the case. Rather you are just scrubbing the carpet with the sides of the bristles. Added to that, the bristles are lubricated with shampoo. So what you're scrubbing with are the sides of slippery bristles. Not much agitation going on there. And agitation is what we're looking for when it comes to encap scrubbing. 

Pads: 
Pads make full contact with the surface of the carpet. As opposed to slippery sides of brush bristles (as described above), they're connecting with the carpet fiber. The pads contain a multitude of fibers - and it's that multitude of fibers that connects with the carpet fiber. Try this - lay a shampoo brush and a Fiberplus pad side by side on the carpet. Now press down on them with each hand and try to slide them across the carpet. This exercise will demonstrate which one "grips" the carpet better. And it's the grip that matters. So what we're actually doing is we're gripping the top of the fiber and MOVING the tuft bundles. As the tuft bundles are being moved they rub against each other, and this aids the cleaning process. It's similar to when you spill a bit of lunch on your shirt, and then you go to the sink and rub the cloth together between your hands to remove the spot. One final way to illustrate the effectiveness of using a pad over a brush is this: If you wanted to scrub a grimy pan in the kitchen, you could use a brush, but most of us would agree that one of those scrubby pads works much better. Why? Same reason - SURFACE CONTACT. It's all about surface contact and the pads just do a better job than a brush for that. 

Fiberplus brand pads: 
Fiberplus pads are designed with a special binder material that helps them to hold up to the rigors of carpet scrubbing. They also have the correct balance for carpet agitation - not too aggressive, but aggressive enough to be efficient. The regular beige pads are the right choice for all types of commercial carpet. These pads will usually last approximately 7,000-10,000 sq ft. The gray Fiberplus Max pads are good for durable commercial carpet (like an olefin loop). They're about 20% more aggressive than the beige FP pads, however they also wear about 20% faster - so there's a trade off. 

Long story short - get some pad drivers and pads for your Cimex for carpet care and you will love the results.


You may also need to clean out the plumbing to get the machine to work at its full potential, since it's a used machine. See video below:

[twayneb]

Sorry for the late reply,but had login issues. Thanks Rick so much for the explanation, duh I didn't think about comparing to other brushes, sometimes I overthink things. I also want to thank Rod for talking on the phone on two separate occasions to help me resolve some technical issues. You guys rock.