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Sprayable Encap Products

In a recent response to my "dogs & sprayers" story, Kevin commented that encap products don't seem to spray very effectively. I have found this to be true of only one type - Excellent-Supply's Releasit Encap DS (with the red label) It seems to contain too much foam to work well with a standard 2-gallon pump-up sprayer. I use it only with my Cimex, where it is applied by flowing by gravity out thru the center of the 3 spinning heads. Encap products that I've had no trouble applying via a pump-up sprayer include Releasit Punch (green label), Orbitec's Snap-Encap, and Vacaway's Encap-Green. I've been using Encap-Green on both commercial as well as residential jobs. On jobs with relatively heavy soiling, I may do the first pass with a scrubber-type pad (non-absorbent) followed by a pass with terrycloth pads. Or I may do a single pass with what I consider a semi-absorbent pad, such as those with the green scrubbing stripes on them, or Vacaway's DuraPads. I think the TuWay Thinones are comparable.

Re: Sprayable Encap Products

Thanks Mark. Have you found encap to be more efficient than op? Are you using mostly encap in residential now and then using op to extract really dirty areas? We use Encap Green in commercial and will try to run that through the 2 gal sprayer with the challenger. Does it foam up nicely on the carpet so that you know that you have enough product to do the job? Thanks again for the insight.

Re: Sprayable Encap Products

On commercial jobs, I will usually use Encap-Green with my big Orbitec (cx-20 model) and a green-striped pad. In absortiveness, these pads fall somewhere between the all-fiber pads, such as Excellent-Supply's Fiber-Plus and Fiber-Max pads, and terrycloth
pads. In heavily soiled areas, I may also follow up with terrycloth pads, as doing this does brighten things up quite a bit. I think doing this 2-step method in limited areas also kind of "takes the load off" of the encap crystallizing/post vacuuming process, resulting overall in a more thorough cleaning job. In residential situations, I am more likely to pad-cap, using a terrycloth pad only, or sometimes doing a first step (if warranted by heavy soiling) with a non-absorbent or semi-absorbent scrubber pad.

Re: Sprayable Encap Products

When you say pad-cap, do you mean you are spraying down the encap green as the cleaner (as opposed to Orbit Natural or other solution) and then using the challenger and terry-cloth to extract? We currently use a couple of different solutions, but I never thought about using the encap solution as the cleaner when using a cotton pad to extract.

Re: Sprayable Encap Products

Yes, that is what pad-capping is. The only product I've used that doesn't seem to work well for padcapping is Releasit Encap DS. The foam seems to inhibit the pad's ability to absorb soil. At least it doesn't LOOK like it's absorbing much soil.

Re: Sprayable Encap Products

A note on "taking the load off" of post vac/encap, do you post vac after pad capping, I have been telling my cus**** to wait until it dries totally to vacuum so that it has time to "encap", I was post vac'ing, but my vacuum got clogged up and I figured that I was vacuuming too quick after cleaning.

Re: Sprayable Encap Products

I think it is best to wait, as cleaning products, while still wet or damp, have the ability to keep permeating the soil in the carpet. If you suck this instead up into your vac, you may (possibly) miss out on a little cleaning action. If there is visible post-op carpet "litter", you might want to set your vac on "high" (the brush roller as high as possible above the carpet) so as to just pick up the visible litter.

Re: Sprayable Encap Products

It is important to post vac your OP jobs. You have lifted up a lot of sand, pet hair, etc. that vacuums cannot get out. If you post vac you will remove what you lifted up. If you don't it may fall back down again.

More importantly on nylon carpets the post vac is part of what helps prevent tip bloom. Plus it leaves the carpet presentable and groomed looking, no fuzzies laying around, and other garbage that got kicked out from the baseboards, etc.

Re: Sprayable Encap Products

Post vac in residential is very important for the resons Grant stated, it is also important to have the right kind of vac that can handle it. I don't know of any other OP guys that don't post vac, as it is part of the cleaning process.