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questions about scrubbing pad

when using the green striped pad to scrub stains do you get it wet or leave it dry? and do you use a glider with it? Mark, when you use the releaseit for spotting do you just scrub it and leave it, or do you go over it with the cotton pad? when I first tried the releasit on a stain I just sprayed it and let it set for a while and then as I was doing the normal cleaning I went over the spot with the cotton pad and the spot foamed a bit, the pad didn't seem to pick up very much of the cleaner, but most of the satin was gone. Do I need to dilute the releasit that you sent me or is it already diluted and ready to use? sorry about all the questions, I am on vacation this week and plan to use most of my time getting all my ducks in a row so I can be ready to start up my biss. Thank you.

Re: questions about scrubbing pad

i'm not Mark but i'll answer some in the mean time :

personally i run a DRY green-striped synth bonnet over the carpet after i've already applied pre-spray. but if you feel like it, spray some pre-spray on the bonnet, then place that side on the carpet and pre-scrub...i see no need to tho personally.

i wouldn't use a glider with that bonnet either.

you can scrub and leave the Releasit EncapClean (or Punch) OR you could go over it with cotton pads...either way it will work. it crystalizes as it dries and is vac'ed away in subsequent vacuumings by the client. i like to go over it with the cotton pads during the normal cleaning process myself.

read the dilution directions on the bottle. it is NOT ready to use. it needs to be diluted with water. i dilute Punch and EncapClean at 8oz per/gallon of water.

hope this helps some --- Derek

Re: questions about scrubbing pad

The spray bottle of Releasit that I sent you is pretty highly concentrated - several times the concentrate you would use for normal cleaning. So add some water to it if it seems to be generating to much foam. According to Rick at Excellent-Supply, the foam in the Releasit DS (red label) tends to inhibit the ability of a cotton pad to absorb the liquid. The Releasit Punch product (green label) has little or no foam, and absorbs more easily, as it is intended to do.

Re: questions about scrubbing pad

two more quick questions,1} when useing the scrub pad is it more or less likely to cause carpet damage than the cotton pads? I only tried to use it one time and I went verry fast as I thought it would be more agressive to the carpet, 2} other than the foaming what is the diference between punch and the red lable as far as cleaning ability or in what situation whould one be prefered over the other? Thanks for the help Mark, and Derek, I realy appreciate it!

Re: questions about scrubbing pad

I've never had a problem with the scrubber (green striped) pad on a carpet. If it makes you nervous, use it with a glider. I use it without a glider.
Difference between Releasit DS (red label) and Releasit Punch (green label). The red is more likely to be used in large-scale commercial situations, with a Cimex or similar larger format machine. The green is more likely to be used in smaller-scale residential situations, where you are dealing in a more personal one-on-one situation with the home owner, and you want to remove as much of the carpet soil as you can. I have sometimes use a 50/50 mixture of the two in a large restautant. The foam (from the red label product) helps you see where you've been as you scrub it in. I've then gone back over the heavily soiled areas with OP using cotton pads so as to remove as much soil as possible. In most office situations (low-pile, glue-down type of carpet with normal levels of soil) the restaurant approach might be overkill. Just "scrub & run" with the red label. Owner or maintenance crew will vacuum out the dry residue later, yet the carpet still looks freshly cleaned even before they do this.

Re: questions about scrubbing pad

well said Mark

to add to what Mark said, Punch can also be used through a portable or truckmount HWE machine.

take care --- D.

Re: questions about scrubbing pad

Thanks so much for the info Mark and Derek! I am thinking of getting some punch, how safe is it? I am assuming it isn't an all natural product, I checked it out on the encap site and saw that it is made with tea tree oil but it didn't say it was all natural,

Re: questions about scrubbing pad

You should be able to find the MSDS sheets on on all Excellent Supply products at their web site. With Releasit DS, the only element in the formulation which is required to be shown on its MSDS is isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol, which I have been using a fragrance-free after shave for 20-plus years, and I'm still up and walking around. The Punch formulation is slightly more complex, but is still pretty simple chemistry.

Re: questions about scrubbing pad

Though as far as I know none of the encap products out there are "all natural", there are two companies that have encap carpet products that are closely related to Green Seal Certified products. I plan on switching to organic/all natural products as soon as my challenger arrives in the mail. However, I was doing a double-cleaning method with my Oreck orbiter where I would scrub in with the brush, and then use bonnets to pick up what soil I could. With the orbiter I wasn't able to get great results only doing one or the other.

At any rate, these two products would allow you to marked yourself as being "green", as they are closely related to green seal products, have low to no VOC's, etc. In addition I know that the h2orange2 Carpet Complete expects to receive a green seal for their product as they were in town recently and I asked...

http://www.greenbuildingsupply.com/utility/showProduct/?objectID=741
and www.h2orange2.com (see their carpet complete product). Both of these websites have some documentation about the products that include information about their safety, etc. I've found that the Hydroxi product works well, but I often have to mix it at double strength to get desired results. However I've just been using an oreck orbiter until my challenger arrives, so it's likely that they would work much better/easier with the Challenger or Cimex.

Re: questions about scrubbing pad

Curious as to the names of the 2 encap products of which you speak.

Re: questions about scrubbing pad

The first is H2Orange2: Carpet Complete; the other is Hydroxi Pro Carpet Cleaning Crystal. Both essentially "oxy clean" the carpet but without the bleaching agents. They use hydrogen peroxide, orange oil, surfactants, and a crystallizing polymer.

Re: questions about scrubbing pad

Many people who are trying to evaluate the effectiveness of an encap product allow some of the product to dry in a dish until all of the water has evaporated. Then they determine the residue's ability to "flake" or "crystallize". This will give an idea of how well it will break away from the carpet fiber. Some products which claim to be excellent encappers have not done so well in tests like these. Have you tested either of these products?

Re: questions about scrubbing pad

I did my own home "dish" test and was not impressed by the result. I contacted the company a couple months back to ask why it didn't seem to crystallize and they said that the product does not crystallize well in a dish, but does well in carpet where air is hitting the carpet fiber from all sides. I'm not sure if this is bs or not. I did experiment on several carpet remnants in my basement and did note the carpet to be somewhat hard or crunchy after it dried, and again relatively soft after vacuuming. So they might be right...

A couple of my first, early customers from 2 months ago were good friends so I ask them a lot of questions. They have both noted that their carpets seem to be staying clean. My guess is that there isn't much of a sticky residue there. It may release less fully or over a longer period of time than the better crystallizing products. I haven't had a chance to try Release-It yet, I still have 2 cases of this stuff to use up.