Dwell Time

what's the average dwell time for the pre-spray you are using?

or what  is the range you use? minimum to maximum dwell time?

Dwell time is dependant on two factors. The first is how long the chemical needs to contact the soils to emulsify them properly. That is usually 15 to 20 minutes. The second factor is the evaporation rate which is fairly constant for all water based liquids at a given humidity level and tempurature. Since in a home cleaning enviroment that is fairly constant too, make sure you clean all areas treated within a 20 to 30 minute window for optimum results.

 

 

Ken

Excellant point on the pre-heat point Doug. Do you know for instance that a hot pre-spray and a cold rinse will clean carpet better than a cold pre-spray and boiling hot water? It is true, and I have tested it both ways to prove that point. Cold is a relative term BTW; in both tests the "cold " water was still around 100 degrees faranhiet. The prespray put down hot really speeds up the emulsication process. Once that is acheived, only warm water is required to remove it from the carpet. That is the main reason the inline sprayer is your freind if you use a TM. If you use a portable, an electric sprayer with very hot solution put down by a .05 jet in a 65 degree pattern serves the same purpose.

 

 

 

Ken

Edited by Superglide Ken

Mr. Steamer:  Thats where we differ.  We take the time to do it right.  Your one pass is what you see is what you get.

Mr. Steamer:  The maintaince of the carpet the amount of traffic dictates to uu weather a second pass is necessary. sometime two light passes is better than one heavey one.  I do not believe in all circumstances one pass is sufficient.

But before you do your second 'wet' pass, you'll do a couple of dry passes, right?  Browning isn't an issue if you leve the carpets slightly acidic, but yes, stretching/warping could become a problem if you drop too much water.

(I can hear Superglide Ken inserting a comment about now!)

I too, tend to respray with the spotter hooked onto my belt loop in these circumstances.

Also good is using a white cotton bonnet after you HWE over the traffic areas. This is good when you have mud & sand traffic lanes.   When I first started doing this, I was surprised at the amount of soil transfered.  Mr. Steamer, you mentioned terry cloths for something like this? 

Sometimes, after a slow vac with powerhead, and HWE using the RX, I find that sand has worked it's way up to the surface when they have a sand pit for the kiddies, or live near the beach or just have sandy soil around the home.  The carpet is clean.... heck, even the sand is clean, but now I need to grab that sand out.  One more dry pass.

-Allen

Thorough, thats for sure. Just make sure you charge for it to make it worth your while. Doing the best job for the lowest pay takes the fun out of working.