Pre-spraying with or without scrubbing???

[Bernd]

I thought a lot about the difference when pre spraying the carpet and giving some dwell time. What is more effective on heavily soiled commercial carpets?

1) Just to spray with a battery or pump up sprayer...let dwell and then clean or

2) Spray with the onboard sprayer of my Orbot while scrubbing with a fiber pad...give some dwell time and then clean with a Microfiber pad or SuperZorb?

What works best for you?

[encapman]

Option 2 is always going to give you better results. Better control of the solution is the reason.

If you were to employ the first option, the solution will simply penetrate down the shaft of fiber. There's no way to really control the solution that way.

It's much better to dispense the solution as you scrub the carpet immediately. So the first step is to speed across the carpet as you're lightly dispensing solution and scrubbing the carpet quickly. The next step is to double back over the carpet and perform a slow scrub over the carpet a second time. That will provide adequate dwell time, and it will enable you to control the solution much better than if you sprayed it on the carpet.

[Bernd]

Option 2 is always going to give you better results. Better control of the solution is the reason.

If you were to employ the first option, the solution will simply penetrate down the shaft of fiber. There's no way to really control the solution that way.

It's much better to dispense the solution as you scrub the carpet immediately. So the first step is to speed across the carpet as you're lightly dispensing solution and scrubbing the carpet quickly. The next step is to double back over the carpet and perform a slow scrub over the carpet a second time. That will provide adequate dwell time, and it will enable you to control the solution much better than if you sprayed it on the carpet.

Thank you Rick for your detailed informations! Very helpful! I have a new big job and want to be very productiv. So it would be the fastest way to scrub and spray. Give then some dwell time and go over the carpet a second time with a microfiber pad. During dwell time i could scrub and spray another part of the office so i won't loose any time.

Do you have any advice how to adjust the spray jets so that i don't waste to much solution? Should i set them directly to spray on the floor or should i set them that the solution hits the carpet for example 15 - 20 cm in front of the machine?

[encapman]

Set it to spray directly in front of the machine.

[Bernd]

Set it to spray directly in front of the machine.

Thanks Rick. So i have to make a real fast first pass while spraying- otherwise the carpet would be overwet. I ask cause i noticed i use more solution then with my pump up sprayer.

[encapman]

Your pump up sprayer is basically worthless.

Yes you may spray out a little more solution using an onboard spray system. But BE CAREFUL. You don't want to over-wet the carpet. If you're putting out too much solution, do one of these three things:

1. Walk faster while spraying.
2. Feather the sprayer, tapping the spray button intermittently as you walk forward.
3. Switch out your spray-jets to smaller sized jets.

Scrubbing over the carpet twice should not leave you with over-wet carpet. You may use a little bit more solution than when using a poor performing pump sprayer. But you should be able to apply a reasonably moderate amount of solution to the carpet by being discreet with how much solution you're applying to the carpet. Remember, when it comes to encap cleaning - "more juice is NOT better". Damp carpet, not wet carpet, is what you're looking for.

[Bernd]

Thanks again. Will try to go faster during the first wet pass. This should work. If not i will change the jet size.

Thanks for your help!