Got a 15 inch Cimex from Excellent supply! Great as always to work with. UPS lost Cimex somehow and Excellent Supply sent me a new one 2 day air!
When I cleaned some carpet the other night at a college dorm, it left lines (see pics) in the carpet that I could not get out. No idea what it was... I used Encap DS, pre vacuumed, used hot water, mixed 5 ounces per gallon, and overlapped 3 inches each pass. I used the white brushes for commercial. Any ideas?
Also, machine is really bogging down on me when I start it. It helps if I lift the head up-is this normal?
IE: Are you going down the first line with solution on, then coming back on the same line with solution off??
Or did you just go down one line, then back up next to it??
Why are there no lines at the base of the pic??
I would be using FiberPlus Pads rather than brushes on this carpet.
How did the carpet look when dry??
Cimex should be started with wet pads and deck held off the carpet.
Short 1
I don't regret my past, I just regret the time I've wasted with the wrong people.
Take me as I am, or watch me as I go.
I'll retire when I can no longer do what I love, or no longer love what I do.
Stop moving, start dying........
12-02-2013, 11:53 AM (This post was last modified: 12-02-2013, 11:54 AM by bonedrycarpet.)
Thanks for the help. I did one wet with the handle held down the whole time till the end of the cord (No extension cord used btw), then I turned it around and did a dry pass over the area I just went over wet. After that I moved over and overlapped about 3 inches and repeated.
Dry it looked about 50 percent better, but the lines were still quite visible. I vacuumed 2 times and it helped me achieve a lightening of the lines, but still there and obvious.
At the base of the pic I went over it with extra wet passes-I held the lever to release liquid at a rate of about double or triple of what I did on the other area. Lots of foam.
Thanks for the help
Will start using the fiber plus pads on different hallway and see what happens. The motor bogs a lot with those though.
To avoid bogging the motor - lift the head of the Cimex slightly when you start off. Squeeze the solution trigger to release a little juice before you begin walking. Then as you step forward - gently ease the head of the machine down onto the carpet as you take your first steps forward. This takes the strain off the motor and the belt. This is a wise course for all Cimex machines, and especially for the 15" machine with its smaller motor.
You may see lines in the carpet from swirl patterns. Swirl patterns are common with some carpets. Not a big deal. These will walk out and vacuum out after a couple days of normal activity on the carpet.
As far as cleaning with a Cimex goes, make a moderately fast wet pass holding the valve open on the whole pass. Then double back and make a dry-ish pass over that same pass. On the dry pass you can feather the trigger a little every couple of steps to keep the pads damp. On the return dry pass you will walk much slower than the initial wet pass. And on the dry pass you should be able to observe a light even whitening on the surface of the carpet. This light foam indicates that you're applying the correct amount of solution. If you see heavier foam occurring - you're using too much juice!
Overlap your passes. If you overlap your passes, as I believe you did from your description, there's no way you can achieve uneven cleaning. However you may see swirl marks, that's fairly common. Swirl marks are nothing more than movement of the pile - just like how a strong commercial vacuum cleaner will leave marks in the carpet after the carpet's been vacuumed. From what I can see your results look OK. My guess is that the lines you're seeing are simply movement of the pile and the lines will disappear in a couple of days.
As you gain experience with your new Cimex all of this will become very second nature to you and things will fall into place as you fall in with your Cimex dance moves. In fact, I think you'll find she's a lovely dance partner! Enjoy your new machine and keep us posted about your progress. All the guys here are ready to help. And my staff and I at Excellent Supply are certainly eager to assist you any way we can. Wishing you success.
One other moot point, if one was to (shudder), hot water extract the carpet with a wand, there would be many triangular lines left on the carpet.
So what do you prefer.
Whichever way one cleans, without raking those lines out they will still disappear as Rick say's in a couple of days.
My apologies for recommending pads, I didn't pick-up on the 15" model.
Short 1
I don't regret my past, I just regret the time I've wasted with the wrong people.
Take me as I am, or watch me as I go.
I'll retire when I can no longer do what I love, or no longer love what I do.
Stop moving, start dying........
let's say you came from HWE, you are used to the pattern left and you assume in your brain that all your Clients see them as you do and have no issue with that pattern (whether you groom or not there is a pattern left on most carpet) - and you'd be correct, rarely does a Client have a problem with HWE patterns. that is of course if you came from HWE.
the same is true with using a Cimex. as you get used to it the pattern left becomes normal and you like it. and you'll assume your Clients think the same thing. and you're right, rarely will they ever say a bad thing about them. in almost 10 years of cleaning millions of sq.ft. of CGD i've not had 1 client comment negatively about them. at 1st i was worried about them, since i came from HWE. that nervousness quickly faded and i grew to accept and then love any pattern the Cimex leaves behind, much like those "triangles" with HWE.
ok love is too strong a word, we are only talking about carpet after all...
Only been in this business for 43 years so I doubt I have experienced clients like most of you seem to have.
This I know marks left by the wand quickly disappear from foot traffic and vacuuming, swirl marks set in a nylon carpet from any rotary machine including Cimex, Swing Machines, and even Rx 20 are not that easy to remove
