Dwell Time
Printed From: Carpet Cleaning Forum
Category: Carpet Cleaners Discussion
Forum Name: Carpet Cleaners Hangout
Forum Description: General discussion on anything related to carpet cleaning
URL: https://www.kleenkuip.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=551
Printed Date: 23/February/2025 at 8:06am
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Topic: Dwell Time
Posted By: splash_$$$_dash
Subject: Dwell Time
Date Posted: 06/September/2004 at 3:29pm
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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? |
Replies:
Posted By: surroundings
Date Posted: 06/September/2004 at 3:56pm
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I think that this would be specific to the product, wouldn't it?
My dwell time for my mainstay product is recommended 15 minutes, but
there is no 'maximum' except "Do Not Allow Product To Dry On Carpet" -Allen |
Posted By: Superglide Ken
Date Posted: 06/September/2004 at 4:32pm
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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 ------------- Inventor of the Teflon Wand Glide and the Turboteck Rotary Air Duct Cleaners for TMs. |
Posted By: doug
Date Posted: 06/September/2004 at 7:47pm
Other things to keep in mind is. Is the pre spray heated. Is the soiling heavey enough more than one application will be necessary. Will it be necessary to use your groomer to agitate the pre spray to increase it's effectivness. In some instances like in front of furniture or bad traffic areas I pre treat agitate and clean. Then reapply pre spray go about cleaning the rest of the area while your not wasteing time waiting for the prespray. That usually works for us. Sort of cleaning in and out on the heavily soiled areas. ------------- Just My opinion |
Posted By: Superglide Ken
Date Posted: 06/September/2004 at 8:43pm
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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 ------------- Inventor of the Teflon Wand Glide and the Turboteck Rotary Air Duct Cleaners for TMs. |
Posted By: MR. STEAMER
Date Posted: 07/September/2004 at 7:28am
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doug wrote:Posted By: doug
Date Posted: 07/September/2004 at 7:31am
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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. ------------- Just My opinion |
Posted By: MR. STEAMER
Date Posted: 07/September/2004 at 7:35am
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but doug most times the second pass doesn't make it any better... maybe if you tried to absorb some of the soiling you'd get the same results.. The areas you are talking about are most likely discolored from the amount of soiling... am I right?? |
Posted By: doug
Date Posted: 07/September/2004 at 7:45am
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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. ------------- Just My opinion |
Posted By: MR. STEAMER
Date Posted: 07/September/2004 at 8:17am
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but sometimes two passes only makes the carpet more wet... and a higher risk of browning... or wraping or strecthing... with no great improvement on results..... What your say is for example... The instructions calls for you to use two onces of cleaning detergent in your hydroforce, but you decided to use four onces. You get best results with two onces four isn't going to make it any better.... I think two passes will work if the second pass is done after the carpet has totally dryed a day later. we all do second passes, but it really just for peace of mind. I do it too.. I won't reconnect my hydro force...I'll spray the area again with my spot bottle that I always keep hooked to my side |
Posted By: surroundings
Date Posted: 08/September/2004 at 12:04am
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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 |
Posted By: Suction
Date Posted: 08/September/2004 at 8:22am
| Wow Allen ... you sure do a lot. It must take you a day and a half to complete one carpet??? |
Posted By: Superglide Ken
Date Posted: 08/September/2004 at 11:10am
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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. ------------- Inventor of the Teflon Wand Glide and the Turboteck Rotary Air Duct Cleaners for TMs. |
Posted By: surroundings
Date Posted: 08/September/2004 at 1:09pm
If it sounds like a lot, it's only the amount required to do the job. This post was specifically because I had just finished a muddy, sandy carpet on a transportable home located on a horse astigment not far away. The respray was just on the entry points, not the whole thing. The sand was concentrated on the traffic lanes, so that area got the treatment needed. Pre-vac on this job took a bit, but there was no need to rake the carpet after as it was a short loop pile in pretty good condition, and as it was an empty caretaker's flat, there was no furniture to move or place plastic do-dads underneath. Post bonnetting the traffic lanes took about 15 minutes for 3 bedrooms and the living room, so that's no big deal. At the end of the day, I get my $4.50 per square metre. 4 small rooms, 2 hours, $200. Then I was able to quote on the main house. If they accept, it'll be worth about $900 to me. -Allen |
Posted By: Superglide Ken
Date Posted: 08/September/2004 at 3:05pm
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Sign your work with excellance I always say. It is your signiture, and you never know who is watching.
Superglide Ken ------------- Inventor of the Teflon Wand Glide and the Turboteck Rotary Air Duct Cleaners for TMs. |
Posted By: MR. STEAMER
Date Posted: 08/September/2004 at 3:50pm
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Yes Allen good job!!!! The terry cloth thing... I stole from Padman.. I through a few down in a really bad area, and use my hands or feet on the terry cloth to help absorb the soiling... works great in hi-traffic areas and on stairs... I don't have a padman machine... but I'm think about one.. I carry in my truck at least 100 pieces of clean terry cloth... I hate to see carpet cleaners carrying one old dirty discolored one.... drop sheets must be white and nice as well.... I do truck laundry at least once per week |
Posted By: Superglide Ken
Date Posted: 08/September/2004 at 4:48pm
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I learned this technique long ago from an instructor named Jim Henry. He learned it at Duraclean. He taught us how to clean an upholstery set with terry cloth towels and detergent and rinse water better than the results most people get with extraction. I applied it to carpet cleaning as well. Still works well.
Superglide Ken ------------- Inventor of the Teflon Wand Glide and the Turboteck Rotary Air Duct Cleaners for TMs. |
Posted By: MR. STEAMER
Date Posted: 08/September/2004 at 6:40pm
yup that works great.... but know one showed me the furniture one I've just been doing it for years trail and erorr thingy yanno
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Posted By: Superglide Ken
Date Posted: 08/September/2004 at 6:50pm
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That trail has my footprints in it too. I try to learn from a combination of listening and the good ol trail and error system these days.
Superglide Ken ------------- Inventor of the Teflon Wand Glide and the Turboteck Rotary Air Duct Cleaners for TMs. |
Posted By: surroundings
Date Posted: 09/September/2004 at 9:48am
Just had this discussion with a friend of mine who is a general cleaner. He said that he never touches stuff in people's homes, because he knows that the Lord in Heaven is looking down on him. I told him that I always pretend that one of those bombastic-kick-the-door-down-interview journalists is secretly videotaping me (in Australia we've got one notorious program called, "A Current Affair" like this). I told him, "God will forgive you for taking the loose change you find, but A Current Affair will not..." I do believe that I have been videotaped on at least one occasion, but I'm not positive. Mr Steamer: Since reading padman's posts, I seem to follow his belief that a plain cotton bonnet does work better then the 'green stripe' one for absorbtion. I keep about 40 white terrycloth towels in the van for various purposes: wipe down the portable wheels, tie around the hot water connection to prevent spray, in my spotting kit, on my beltloop for 'just in case,' but I also try to keep 4 bonnets as well. I've got the bonnet driver head for the RX. cheers, all.... -Allen |
Posted By: MR. STEAMER
Date Posted: 09/September/2004 at 4:28pm
| you need the green for a little agitation...Allen... but everything else you do sounds good to me |