Part-Timer Looking to go Bigtime!

Well Gmoney, it looks like I will have to educate you on how the RDM really works. Before I do that point by point however, let me commend you on your decision to use a pile lifter as part of your cleaning program. You will deffinatly be way ahead of the 10% or so that use a vacuum and the other 89% that use none.

First off I want you to know what I tell you about equipment is done from a high degree of understanding about how things work.If I do not understand how something works, I take it apart until I do understand how it works. I studied engineering long before I got into cleaning carpet or selling stuff to carpet cleaners.I do not make self serving statements about products I make working better unless that is a fact. I have studied the RDM extensivly and do know how it works and what it can and can not do.

First off the RDM does not clean deep. It directs it's water horizontally without the use of jets in a sheet-like pattern along the bottom of the tool. This is called cleaning by side shear.No water is directed down into the carpet like an RX20 or a Rotovac or even a wand does. Because of that, only the tips of the carpet are cleaned, not the carpet base or backing. As mentioned earlier, that is where most of the soiling is. It is not possible to get it out of there without the flushing action of the water to act as a carrier and emulsifing agent.

You might wonder how the carpet can still look so clean if this machine does not deep clean it? That is easy to explain if you know how carpet is constructed. The mills design the fibers to hide dirt! Isn't that amazing? They do this by shaping the fibers in such a way that a carpet can have pounds of soil in it and not even show it. Remove soil from the surface or the tips of it, and you cannot see what you are leaving behind. To the eyes it still looks clean.

The main reason that there is so little watter left in the carpet is because of it only contacting the tips. Extracting water from the carpet tips is easy to do because the filiment used to construct the face fibers holds on to very little water.The water is drawn across the bottom of the machine on its way to the 3 vacuum ports that are placed there. The tips of the carpet fibers that go into the horizontal water stream get washed by the water then extracted by the vacuum slot that follows. Very little water is retained by the part of the fiber that was washed. Hence, the fast drying.

Conventional tools clean down to the carpet back, and take longer to dry because at least 80% of the water is held there. Because the vacuum from a machine is only effective extracting water when the vacuum is within a 1/4" of the lips of the machine, a fair amount gets left behind in the deep cleaning process and has to exit the carpet through evaporation.Evaporation then takes hours to do because the carpet has to wick the water out and evaporate it through the fiber tips. that is, the back dries first.

The RDM does NOT form a tight seal with the carpet, just like my glides do NOT form a tight seal with the carpet either to reach fast dry times. To do so would be self defeating. When too tight a seal is formed with the carpet, cfm goes down. Since it is air that carries away the water and soil from a carpet, you want more of it, not less. By forming a less than a tight seal, airflow is increased and more water is carried away, leaving the carpet drier.Increased lift helps, but not if it reduces airflow.

And lastly about your statement about the head designed to cause a cyclone effect; this is simply not true. The RDM is designed to pull the air across the carpet fibers in a laminar flow pattern. This has been shown to produce the greatest drying effect on the carpet tips and move the greatest volume of airflow. To do it any other way would not have produced the rapid drying results they were looking for.

Bottom line here is the machine does what they wanted it to do, which is dry carpet fast and produce a good appearance of the carpet to the residential customer. It was just done with some compromise on the degree of cleaning acheived is all. Some people will be happy accepting that compromise for the delivered results. I happen to be not one of them. The RX20 machine cleans much better(residential and commercial carpeting), and can deliver 1 hour dry times with the ZXR2 skids I developed for it. That is only about 15 minutes longer than the RDM takes on average. More importantly though, if you have an RX20 with my skids on it, you will be able to add the Power-Dri system to it next year when I bring it out. For those of you that don't know what that is, it will allow you to dry the carpet to meter dry in 5 to 10 minutes by attaching it to your Cleanco Truckmount. I currently get $1.00/sq ft for carpet that I clean this way here in Calgary. It will be coming to Toronto soon.

Superglide Ken

Well Superglide I have to differ with you.  It seems like we are going to have a friendly jousting match here.  In my opinion, nothing gets out dirt from a carpet better than a pile lifter.  And I will be investing in one in about 2 weeks to use before I extract or bonnet clean or both.

I can't comment on your glides until I see them but I have used the drimaster at 500 psi with the pump always on (cleaning in any direction I please) and achieving drying times in less than one hour.  Very impressive.  There is no way 500 psi is not cleaning deep unless of course the uplift is not there and most of the water remains in the carpet (which is not the case with the drimaster).

In my opinion the drimaster is so efficient at picking up the water because of the amazingly tight seal it forms with the carpet.  The head is also designed in such a way as to cause a vacuum (cyclone effect) and draw water up into the vacuum slots.

Until they make a wand that is self powered and cleans in all directions you will not convince me that a glide makes a wand as easy and effortless to operate as a drimaster.

Well Ted and Superglide,

I wish I had a drimaster because then I honestly would not be looking into the glides because I would abandon my wand.  Tried out the dry master a few times and was amazed that it could clean in any direction (forward, back, side, to side, diagonal) with the pressure constantly on and still dry in less than an hour.  The amazing thing about that tool is that is does such an efficient job of picking up the water that a dry pass picks up nothing but a few drops.  And no I am not a spokesperson for the company; just appreciate its backsaving ease of operation and efficiency. 

Thanks for the welcome Allen.  I basically plan to focus on a few markets such as residential (immediate money) and small commercial properties (slow month and winter income). 

 My marketing strategy right now is to work my warm market and get referrals from friends and friends of friends; do good work and expand from their.  I have also had some success over the past few months with flyers and small community newspaper ads.  I offer a money back guarantee and a slight percentage discount; this seems to draw them in.  I will admit you get your fair share of bargain hunters but I stick firm with my price and tell them what exceptional work I do.

There is a lot more I have in the works but I have to run to go make some MONEY!

You know Ted, I thought the same thing when I saw that RDM in the picture. But then I thought the shark I have in the picture was not a true likeness of me either, I better proceed on the assuption that Gmoney does not have one. Because if he does have one, the only thing that can leave the carpet drier than one of those is the glides I make, as was demonstrated last October when we were doing the demos in your store.

Superglide Ken

Danmarck: We are the only manufacturer that makes the Superglide style of glides. We have asked Butler(and other manufacturers of wands) to send their wands to us so that we may fit them with glides. Butler chose not to respond, so there is no glides currently available for those wands.

The SSU802 glides that we currently sell will fit more than half of all capet cleaning wands currently in use . It is 12" wide and fits all wands that have a 5/8" lip thickness and use replaceable SS lips. That covers the majority of them out there. We also make the glides for the Prochem Titainium wands and the Prochem 4 jet wands, as well as the glides to fit steamway wands. The Cleanco 2 jet wands do fit the 802 glides BTW, so there are lots of you out there that can use this. Ted tells me that the Century type wands that he sells fit it well too.

Superglide Ken

Great idea, Gmoney. I always do the same or do a demo of the products I buy first before I buy them. That is why I love the Try before you Buy program that Ted offers at Kleen Kuip. You give a deposit on the glides and you take them out and try them for a few days to make sure you like them, before you buy them. As risk free as you can get!I do not want anybody buying them that is not satisfied with them. That is bad for business for everyone concerned. Glides I sell myself all come with a 30 day satisfaction or money back guarantee as well.

Superglide Ken