Hot Water Extraction Is The only Way To Clean, period!

[GroovyJon]

I totally agree with you Groovyjon. My way of putting it is each tool is an extension of you. I just have to say for the typical soil I deal with everyday residential or commercial encapsulation does the job IF YOU DO IT RIGHT. I've seen where people give a quick vacuum if at all and then encap. That's not the correct way to get the best results IMO. If all you have is a vacuum you should have a nice commercial vacuum and spend more time vacuuming then encaping. Having a CRB is one of the best tools to have even if you are HWE. It is critical to remove any soil that's not attached  to the fiber before applying treatment. Any method this should be the first and most important step, otherwise your wasting chemical and possibly setting stains. Yes there are times I have to break out my HWE but it's very little unless I'm cleaning upholstery. 

I guess what I'm saying here is you shouldn't have to leave so much encap juice that it needs to be flushed out. Sometimes it's better to clean an area twice with light coats of treatment then it is to soak it with one which usually never works anyway!

Hey Rich, your last paragraph hits allot of interesting points, what im going to tell you comes from my experience. I have used encap for a long (im getting old lol) time on commercial accounts. Back in the day I used a different encap product, it worked somewhat well..for a while anyway, then the carpet started looking poor and extraction was needed.

I switched to Ricks encap product line on the same accounts and never had the issue again. I can only assume that Ricks encap line had a much better polymer that really encapsulated soil and was successfully removed post vacuum. The beauty about a true encapsulate is it is enduring... what I mean is some encapsulate has attached to the fiber allowing for soil to repel after the job has been completed. Eventually this will release from the fiber etc.. It really is a cool system with a longer lasting product in my opinion.

I believe someone posted a video of a guy that put encap on a plate and let dry. He then put pepper on the plate and turned it upright to show how encap can repel soil. Basically too much of anything is bad, but what is left behind done correctly can resist soil after the carpet cleaner has left. Along with proper vacuum maintenance blah blah