Clean It Up

UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Ian Rochester on January 29, 2008, 09:47:47 pm

Title: Texatherm
Post by: Ian Rochester on January 29, 2008, 09:47:47 pm
Just used my texatherm system for the first time tonight on a regular office contract we have, I must say I am quite impressed with both the speed of the clean and the results.

It has probably shaved at least a third, if not halved the normal time it takes with HWE (portable, too far a run to get the TM in) and the results are as good as, if not better than HWE.

Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: from edge2edge on January 30, 2008, 08:49:56 am
How much does that system cost.
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Joe H on January 30, 2008, 09:46:56 am
I think the start up packs are about the same as Dry Fusion start up packs ie approx £2500 +VAT

I understand texatherm are bringing out some new products soon (or maybe already on the market)
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: from edge2edge on January 30, 2008, 10:14:21 am
Thanks joe i will need top decide between this and a craftex thermodrier which i used to quite good effect on a commercial contract some time ago.
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: spencer davies on January 30, 2008, 12:37:07 pm
I use my Mini Tex regularly, really good bit of kit.   :)


S
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Neil Williams on January 30, 2008, 09:31:09 pm
Nothing wrong with the Texatherm system persay, but after a few years I have badgered it to try and get the running costs down by using MS and charlie pads.
Why?
1. The Tex solutions can be more expensive than a single MS.
2. Putting 24 pads through the washing machine 6 at a time at 90 degrees can be expensive on the household bills.
But!
The results using the pads against charlie pads are better.
So it's a decision up to the individual. Personally I use the charlie pads for large areas of commercial where the end result is good enough without being critical whilst using the cotton pads for domestic.
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Ian Rochester on January 30, 2008, 09:41:15 pm
I bought this system second hand from this site for a fraction of the cost new, we used craftex catalyst with texatherm neutraliser as opposed to the texatherm advanced cleaner as............. we had none!!! ;D

It did a brilliant job, spoke to the client today and they are delighted with the result.  I will probably try it with nemesis next time we do it to see how that performs.  I think the secret is in the heat of the bonnets.

Used 10 pads for 325m2, took 1hr 40 mins
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Joe H on January 30, 2008, 09:49:29 pm
I think you will find Nemesis Super will work absolutly fine.
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Neil Williams on January 30, 2008, 10:03:15 pm
Used 10 pads for 325m2, took 1hr 40 mins

How did you manage that as it's supposed to be 1 pad per 6m? Although om commercial I would push it out to 1 pad per 12m.
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Ian Rochester on January 30, 2008, 10:38:56 pm
Neil,

We did about 15m2 per side then turned it over, on the less soiled areas it covered a greater area before it needed turning.

To be honest the carpets get done every two months anyway so the soiling isn't great, mainly traffic lines
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: stevegunn on January 31, 2008, 08:35:41 am
Ian

Next time use pure clean the results I achieved were fantastic plus its not necessary to use tex neutraliser with catalyst
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Ian Rochester on January 31, 2008, 08:18:55 pm
Steve,

So what are you putting in the tank, just water or a dilution of Catalyst?

I presprayed using the catalyst at 4:1, then bonnet buffed with neutraliser dilution in the heater tank at 75 degrees.

I assume John will sell Pureclean, I'm up there on tuesday morning for a bacon sarnie and a coffee.
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: stevegunn on January 31, 2008, 08:23:17 pm
Don't bother with the tank but you could just use catalyst
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: DavidWright76 on January 31, 2008, 09:10:39 pm
Just used my texatherm system for the first time tonight on a regular office contract we have, I must say I am quite impressed with both the speed of the clean and the results.

It has probably shaved at least a third, if not halved the normal time it takes with HWE (portable, too far a run to get the TM in) and the results are as good as, if not better than HWE.


I thought the Kuzzi 100 HW extractor that i hired gave excellent results & this is the cheapest spray extraction carpet cleaner around. I bet this is mega dear to buy!
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Ian Rochester on February 01, 2008, 07:42:56 pm
A quality machine if ever there was one  ;D

Just used the Tex on a BW today and results were satifactory if not startling
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Ian Rochester on February 01, 2008, 08:45:04 pm
Tex or DF is not as deep a clean as HWE and I would always recommend to the customer to have carpets cleaned using HWE where possible.

We primarily bought the Tex to do office style carpets but I can see advantages in having it in the van with the HWE for Belgians. 

It is just a case of how much can you get in your van to cover all eventualities!

It is a quicker "on site" time for larger areas of office carpets, it is also a LOT quieter, but the chemicals are more expensive and you have to wash the bonnets out and dry them after each job.
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: mark shannon on February 01, 2008, 10:16:24 pm
Dont bother get a cheapy low speed rotary and charley pads £500max. All you will ever need on low profile.  HWE EVERYTHING ELSE ;)
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Ian Rochester on February 02, 2008, 08:05:01 am
Mark,

I would tend to agree with you, but I paid not much more than that for a second hand Texatherm system in excellent condition, including TC170 rotary, heater tank, 10ltr stainless gloria sprayer, 15 charlie pads, 10 ltrs neutrailser and a near new sebo duo.
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Mike Osbourne on February 02, 2008, 08:58:06 am
Are super charlys worth considering for low pro jobs? £120 and a wringer.
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Ian Rochester on February 02, 2008, 09:11:15 am
We've not bothered with a wringer, just wringing them out by hand with some good gloves on seems to be adequate
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Amethyst on February 02, 2008, 09:33:27 am
I used to be of the opinion that HWE was king. But I realise now that there is a place for all of the different methods of carpet cleaning. In addition to the Scorpion I have a med speed rotary (not DF or Text). Went to a job three weeks ago - tiny bungalow with a disabled elderly lady you could not swing a cat literally (she had two by the way) Cream BW throughout. No room for HWE machine let alone hoses and wand, so used Catalyst. I just shove the pad into a bucket of very hot water with the solution. Worked fine. This week just finished three days at a hotel - again BW everywhere. This time used Micro-splitter agitated with the rotary using a soft brush and padded off with a plain water rinse. Owners comments? "That machine of yours must be very good, when you set up I nearly said "you won't get much of a result with that" but I kept my mouth shut because I thought you'd prove me wrong - and you did!".

Its horses for courses in my view - thats what makes this job so much fun!
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: mark shannon on February 02, 2008, 09:43:45 am
Ian great buy   ;)However a second hand rotary could be bought for peanuts and with Charley's is an economical way into commercial carpet tile acreage.
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: robert stubbs on February 02, 2008, 09:45:19 am
I get very good results with a Oscillating pad machine, because of its orbital action it cleans both sides of the carpet fibre and doesn't leave any swirl marks.

  Rob.
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: JS2 on February 02, 2008, 06:58:30 pm
Rob

Would that happen to be the Challenger OP machine or something similar or lighter ?

Pete (JS2)
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: *paul_moss on February 02, 2008, 07:39:39 pm
Im not a fan of Oscillating machines and find a heavy slow rotating buffer produces better results, but as with every thing else its each to its own, Charley pads are very food and particularly with M/S. These days I tend to get best results from my Thermadry and Rotobrite with standard bonnets.
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Neil Williams on February 02, 2008, 07:52:00 pm
Are super charlys worth considering for low pro jobs? £120 and a wringer.

Please don't waste £70 odd on the wringer from the same company as the Charlie pads come from. (that's me never to be allowed on their web site again but tough). With the best will in the world it was not designed to wring out the rather stiff charlie pads, infact I'd go as far as to say it's only a normal mop bucket wringer. The gears keep slipping if you use anything stiffer than a floor mop.
Charlie pads are ok, nowhere near as good as all the hype but satisfactory for commercial. Done the comparison and cotton pads are far supperior.
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Mark Lane-Matthews on February 02, 2008, 07:58:56 pm
Yes my one snapped from solutions,get a decent galvanized wringer its worth paying the extra.

                                                  Mark
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Len Gribble on February 02, 2008, 08:21:10 pm
Charlie work to a point but doesn’t every thing, wringer a total waist of money Builder bucket a lot cheaper got that info from JB before his solutions days.

Len
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: mark shannon on February 03, 2008, 01:04:20 pm
Yes i would only use Charley's on low profile and preferable tiles where i have had superb results :)
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Joe H on February 03, 2008, 02:14:18 pm
Please don't waste £70 odd on the wringer from the same company as the Charlie pads come from. (that's me never to be allowed on their web site again but tough). With the best will in the world it was not designed to wring out the rather stiff charlie pads, infact I'd go as far as to say it's only a normal mop bucket wringer. The gears keep slipping if you use anything stiffer than a floor mop.
Charlie pads are ok, nowhere near as good as all the hype but satisfactory for commercial. Done the comparison and cotton pads are far supperior.
I am sure John Bolton even in the last few months has said what you do with Charly pads is squeeze from the edges as much as possible. More so the edges, then centrifugal force keeps the whole pad damp starting from the inside.
I didnt think you can fold a Charley pad so it fits into a wringer.

To the guy who broke his wringer - yes I can see that happening if "excessive" force is used. But, if its a weakness in the product do you blames the selller or the manufacturer?
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Doug Holloway on February 03, 2008, 04:23:37 pm
Hi Guys

Joe , by law it's the sellers responsibility , it's up to him to make sure the product is fit for the job.

If the seller has a problem with quality then it's up to him to take this up with his seller, which  may be the manufacturer.

Otherwise every seller would just pass the buck.

Cheers

Doug
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: stevegunn on February 03, 2008, 06:53:06 pm
Please don't waste £70 odd on the wringer from the same company as the Charlie pads come from. (that's me never to be allowed on their web site again but tough). With the best will in the world it was not designed to wring out the rather stiff charlie pads, infact I'd go as far as to say it's only a normal mop bucket wringer. The gears keep slipping if you use anything stiffer than a floor mop.
Charlie pads are ok, nowhere near as good as all the hype but satisfactory for commercial. Done the comparison and cotton pads are far supperior.
I am sure John Bolton even in the last few months has said what you do with Charly pads is squeeze from the edges as much as possible. More so the edges, then centrifugal force keeps the whole pad damp starting from the inside.
I didnt think you can fold a Charley pad so it fits into a wringer.

To the guy who broke his wringer - yes I can see that happening if "excessive" force is used. But, if its a weakness in the product do you blames the selller or the manufacturer?

Too many have damaged their wringer to say it was heavy handiness due to the fact the winger was not up to it end Of story.Mine broke too >:(
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: carpet guy on February 03, 2008, 08:10:56 pm
It's going against JB's advice, but I ended up using my 14 stone on a board to squeeze out the excess, not perfect, by any means, but I felt it would be less damaging to the pad.

rob

 
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Joe H on February 03, 2008, 08:24:23 pm
Hi Guys
Joe , by law it's the sellers responsibility , it's up to him to make sure the product is fit for the job.
If the seller has a problem with quality then it's up to him to take this up with his seller, which  may be the manufacturer.
Otherwise every seller would just pass the buck.
Cheers Doug
Completly agree with you 100% with what you have said Doug.
But the statement I made was "if its a weakness in the product do you blames the selller or the manufacturer?"
Yes you need to go to the supplier and they take it up with the manufacturer/his supplier, but IMO the fault still is the manufacturers for making a weak product.

Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: carpet guy on February 03, 2008, 08:43:07 pm
Was the product being used as recommended by the manufacturer, or was it being used for something it was never designed to cope with.

Who suggested it would cope with the stresses it was placed under when attempting to something other thn " wring out " cotton or similar mops.

Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Shaun_Ashmore on February 03, 2008, 09:55:57 pm
Robert I'm surprised ther was any moisture left in it when you put your weight on it.

Shaun
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Mark Lane-Matthews on February 03, 2008, 11:25:28 pm
The wringer was not man enough or large enough for the purpose it was bought for, which was to sqeeze out the dirty water from Charley pads ,the buckets and trolley it came with are good though.I now use a heavy duty wringer now which is ideal.
                                                              Mark

Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Mike Osbourne on February 03, 2008, 11:36:24 pm
So are super charlys better than ordinary ones? I realise they can't compete with the likes of texatherm, but as a standard rotary option?
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Ian Rochester on April 03, 2008, 08:05:55 pm
Went and bought some genuine Texatherm Advanced cleaner to see how well the machine performed with the correct chemicals.

Got to say the results were pretty impressive, used it on a large area, 400m2 of carpet tiles last night and even the client was suitably impressed with the result, especially in the high traffic areas and the foot shuffle areas.
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Mike Osbourne on April 03, 2008, 09:28:23 pm
Have you tried Catalyst from Craftex before?
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Ian Rochester on April 03, 2008, 10:03:04 pm
Mike,

That's what I used when I first bought the Texatherm system second hand and had no Advanced Cleaner.

It did ok, but in my opinion is not a patch on the genuine Texatherm Advanced cleaner and neutraliser.
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Mike Osbourne on April 03, 2008, 10:17:24 pm
Bought my rotary second hand off a guy in Bristol and he swore by the texatherm system and chems. And I think they are literaly up the road from me.

Did a job last night with catalyst then changed to microsplit prespray and just the bonnets in catalyst and it was a lot quicker and easier. Thanks to whoever said they did that on here a while ago. :)

Must try some advance.
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: ianharper on April 04, 2008, 06:14:03 am
did you read woodmans post about his method? I use his method and it works well for me
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: mark_roberts on April 04, 2008, 02:04:59 pm
Ian - go on then tell us about it.

Ive charlie pads but never got on with them.  How do you use them without the wringer bucket.

Used Texatherm advanced cleaner today on a minging polypropolene carpet with HWE.  Cleaned up a treat but yes it is expensive compared to others.

Mark
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Mike Osbourne on April 04, 2008, 03:46:41 pm
I read it Ian but have forgotten the details. I remember about how he moved sofas once. Came in handy today ;D

Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: carpet guy on April 05, 2008, 12:06:10 am
Such a tease  :-* :-*
Title: Re: Texatherm
Post by: Chris_Thomas on April 06, 2008, 11:05:40 pm
As previously posted by Ian

the "woodman method"

After a lot of practise and re-jigging methods of use I think I have cracked how to really use M-Power to its best effect, of course you might disagree

I find that once agitated in a light mist again over the top and leave while you do other things helps.

If used in conjunction with another system the end results can be quite outstanding.

Any way my M-Power procedure is as follows;

1) Vacuum,(a lot), pull out furniture,beds etc, vacuum everywhere.

2) Spot clean procedures as normal if required.

3) Apply M-Power and agitate across carpet using roto and pad,finish off around edges with sebo,

4) Place furniture back in postion You do not need to move the furniture again No further cleaning in these areas is necessary.

5) Leave dwelling for 10-15 miinutes longer is ok if needed.

6) Spray mist Tex (or whatever system you use so long as its non residual and wool safe etc) roto over/extract exposed areas only.

7) Inspect, post spot and dress pile.

 Ask client to walk though with you,collect payment.

Why use two systems I hear you ask ?

Because its the most effective way I have found of using it, with fantastic end results, its beats Texatherm on its own and it beats M-Power on its own.You can do the same method by following the early procedure then extract clean exposed areas only, with M-Power in the tank or another non-residual.I have done both and both work.

On some occasions the second procedure has not seemed necessary as the carpet looks fine but I do it any way as it makes me feel better,sad I know

The beauty of the system and M-Power is that it will self neutralise after you have gone, the carpet carries on cleaning its self in effect and of course the drying times are very low.

Because furniture does not need moving again you can move pretty quickly from room to room once the prep-work has been done.

I like to pull out as much furniture as possible and vac behind and M-Power clean, thats TV's,double beds, units, pianos whatever, unless directly instructed by the client to leave it, it gets moved.

I can safely move on then to the main exposed areas and concentrate on them using the two system method above.

At the end your client would have had a low moisture, environmentally friendly carpet clean with no soil attracting residue left behind and all the nasties destroyed in the process.

Test it,try it, I would like to know how you get on.