[TCS Group]

Hi Guys,

I had a question about upholstery cleaning.  We have cleaned a fair bit of contract upholstery and no matter what we do we just cant get it to come up looking totally clean.  Its 90% better than before but that 10% is the difference between being a good organisation and a great one.

I use prochem fabric restorer (warm), agitate it in and leave for 5 mins and rinse with prochem F&F. 

Its getting that last bit of dirt out that i am finding difficult.  Has anybody got any suggestions please ?

thanks

Daniel

[derek west]

after your initial clean try microsplitter, (i use split-x from cleansmart) agitate with soft brush, leave for 10 mins, water rinse off. if you still haven't got the result you desire then  citrus concentrate (from restoremate) (test first, its volatile stuff) mist on, agitate with soft brush and acid rinse off. nothing else is coming out of that suite.

[peter maybury]

prochem fabric restorer is particually good on cotton printed fabrics but on other fabrics there are better products. As well as chemicals heat is another major factor as is the tool and machine that you extract with.
Peter

[Neil Williams]

Pefection is a beutiful concept, but rarely if ever achieved.

[Jim_77]

What equipment are you extracting with?  That might be another place to look rather than products.

On commercial upholstery that's trashed I often use ultrapac and powerburst, and even with the truckmount very hot still sometimes they don't come up 100%

The most important thing is the customer's expectations have been met, i.e. don't promise the earth but a pleasant surprise when they see how much better the upholstery looks when it's done.

[davep]

Your not leaving it long enough, give it a dwell of 20 mins and you will see a big difference.

[markpowell]

ULTRAPAC RENOVATE PRE-SPRAY EVERY TIME ON CONTRACT UPHOLSTERY JOBS, PUBS, NIGHTCLUBS ETC IKTS THE NUTS
MARK

[Dave_Lee]

The problem with using an acidic or fresh water rinse is that if (as frequently is the case) the pre-spray has not suspended all the soil, then the rinse will not flush it all out. This leads to more applications of pre-spray etc followed by more rinsing.
The benefit of using a detergent rinse following the pre-spray, is that it will, remove the soil that a detergent-less rinse will not.
Of course it all depends on the type and make up of the fabric, but if it is synthetic then you should be okay. Personally I have never had any problems using this on Cottons and other natural fabrics but experience is the key.
Dave.

[robert meldrum]

I'd be very unhappy if I had to leave a product on a fabric suite for a dwell of 20 mins !!!!!!!!!!The suite when completely dry often looks a lot better than when still wet, even slightly.

In the past I got excellent results with One Step presprayed and aggitated immediately followed by extracting with Ultimate Master in the tank.

[davep]

I leave for 20 no Problems on mingers. 

[wayne zabel]

The problem with using an acidic or fresh water rinse is that if (as frequently is the case) the pre-spray has not suspended all the soil, then the rinse will not flush it all out. This leads to more applications of pre-spray etc followed by more rinsing.
The benefit of using a detergent rinse following the pre-spray, is that it will, remove the soil that a detergent-less rinse will not.
Of course it all depends on the type and make up of the fabric, but if it is synthetic then you should be okay. Personally I have never had any problems using this on Cottons and other natural fabrics but experience is the key.
Dave.

Hope this doesnt sound a daft question but,What sort of products are detegent rinses
ie product names ect

[Neil Williams]

The whole thing was lost on me because it souded like use an alkaline pre spray and rinse with alkaline again. This goes against the rules of chemistry here where you want to leave the material in either an acidic state or as close to neutral as possible (hence the freshwater rinse for m/s or acid rinse following alkaline pre spray).

Perhaps Dave omitted post spraying (with an acidic) and leaving the material to dry naturally.

[JandS]

Soon as you get there all cushions off and bat off outside followed by
a pre spray of M Power.
Fill machine sheet down get your kit out etc.
Agitate all cushions then back to first one to fresh water extraction with
Drymaster.
Halfway through cushions pre spray carcase, all 3, finish cushions, agitate.
Quick coffee and do carcase.
Roughly 20 minutes dwell time there.

John

[Carpet Dawg]

Neil, The majority of powdered detergants i.e. ultimate master and Formula90 (what i use) are well buffered which makes them self neutralizing. Thats what i tell myself anyways and i never have any problems and i do over 200+ fabric suite cleans a year.

Wayne, pretty much anything you mix with water that you put into your clean tank is known as a detergent rinse. (apart from acidic rinse's like prochems Fibre & Fabric) Basicly its either water only rinse or acid rinse or detergent boosted rinse.
examples: double clean (prochem), Formula90 (chemspec), ultimate master (who ever makes that old school stuff)

I find if you where to pre-spray both arms (for example) brush then with a good stiff hand brush, then towle them, then exract, towle again to rest the pile/soak up the moisutre you'll get fantastic results!
This gives each section a bit of dwell time but not loads where your letting the mositure soak the fabric too much.

I presonaly use powerburst or enzall as a pre-spray with a detergant rinse 80% of the time everytime   work that one out  Sometimes citra boost or energizer added to the pre-spray if i want to speed things up or its a minger.

And a good upholstery tool is essential! CRF for example.

Tony

[Simon@arenaclean]

Chemspec DFC 105 is a good rinse and so is prochem's pure clean powder. Both are detergent free and can be used in various dilutions as a pre-spray. I used pure clean today on some restaurant chairs with a dash of citrus boost, came up nicely.

[Linds Russell]

You could also consider a good solid pre-spray of Chemspec Heavy Duty Soil Lifter or Chemspec Prekleen and extract with Chemspec Powdered Extraction Upholstery Cleaner. Towelling off as described by Tony works a treat.

Jobs a goodun!

[TCS Group]

appreciate all of the replies.

We were told by prochem that the dwell time for fabric restorer shouldnt be any more than 5 mins as you dont want the detergent to soak into the foam.

I am slightly worried about using ultrapac because of the high ph and although the majority of fabrics are part synthetic and part natural, i am concerned about using such a strong product.

I will test it first and see what happens but its just trying to get rid of that last bit of black on the armrests particularly in the piping etc.

Anyway thanks lads.

Daniel

[brian willis]

powerburst ultrapac renovate as suggested works for me  nothing come near

[Dave_Lee]

I am an NCCA member and IICRC trained along with having done around 20 other traing courses during my 30 years as a CC. I know what the schools teach as per the book. That is how they have to teach. It is like anything else, you get the training and education, then over a period of time, you learn by practice,  how best to do it, to achieve the required result.
This may well not be, absolutely, the way one was taught, but it is the way to get the job done and with the right education it is possible to try things out without risking disaster.
If the item is a real minger, why go round the houses attempting to clean the thing as safe as possible, when all they want, is it, clean. Having said that, if the item was only slightly soiled then a water only rinse may do.
I have only ever had a problem with 2 suites, and they were both Ph sensitive fabrics. They were both of a green coloured fabric, and acid turned them pink/red in places. Imagine what an acidic rinse would have done!
This was a new phenomenon in the trade when it happened the first time, and ended up an insurance claim, as no one knew what had happened. A few years later it was known about and the second suite was easily put right with a spray application of Sodium Bicarbonate.
Dave.

[Terry Guilford]

Neil,

Spelling is a tangible concept occasionally achieved :

Sorry,

Terry