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Paul H Coulthard

  • Posts: 254
Best ways to stop the carpet starting to smell
« on: November 06, 2015, 09:23:28 am »
Hello again members I curently use the ashbys enforcer 400psi model last week we had a call back of a customer saying her carpet in bedroom was smelling so went back redone it now has gone ect. I always tell me customers to leave the windows open ect. I'm looking for other ways to stop this happening again I'm just on with buying 2  blowers ect my carpets are always slightly slightly damp any other advice

Paul H Coulthard

  • Posts: 254
Re: Best ways to stop the carpet starting to smell
« Reply #1 on: November 06, 2015, 09:25:24 am »
99% of the time we use a fibre and fresh rinse or a derodrizer  intank to rinse pre sprays out of the carpet ect looking for other ways to improve our service.

Steve Chapman

  • Posts: 1743
Re: Best ways to stop the carpet starting to smell
« Reply #2 on: November 06, 2015, 12:20:53 pm »
Air & heat in equal quantities........

Mike Halliday

  • Posts: 11581
Re: Best ways to stop the carpet starting to smell
« Reply #3 on: November 06, 2015, 07:04:37 pm »
I Can remember only 3 occasions this has happened to me in the last 10ish years, every time it was due to the room not being ventilated  after I had left,  to be honest all we can do is advice the customer to air the room. if they ignore us then it's thier fault. Unfortunately if they do have a problem they will swear blind that they did exactly as we advised ::)roll

Another little point....... every post you make about this you go over the top telling us how dry you left it ( look above you say it was not just ' slightly damp' but 'slightly....slightly damp' ) until you have a built in moisture Meter  fitted into your hand you don't really know how damp you leave a carpet,
 
 different fibres absorb moisture at different levels. a wool carpet will hold more moisture so will feel less wet that a nylon carpet that actually has less water in it.  You can't rely on how it feels
Mike Halliday.  www.henryhalliday.co.uk

Hilton

  • Posts: 5572
Re: Best ways to stop the carpet starting to smell
« Reply #4 on: November 06, 2015, 10:07:02 pm »
In answer to your question you probably need some more training you are doing something wrong, this is not a criticism but you probably should just stop for now until you discover what it is, word of mouth is a killer you don't wont to get a reputation for poor work, it won't take long but almost certainly you are over wetting but you can't recognise it.

Let me tell you in one of my early cleans I ruined a true Berber, very expensive and......... it looked great when I left  ;D

Mike Halliday

  • Posts: 11581
Re: Best ways to stop the carpet starting to smell
« Reply #5 on: November 07, 2015, 07:33:41 am »
I think the only thing he is doing wrong is thinking he can judge how wet a carpet is by how it feels on his hand, and lets be honest don't we all think that! :D

Unless you re doing multiple rooms I don't think airmovers help much on a single room you are not their long enough for them to do thier job.

I have been thinking of sorting out a form for the client to sign when I finish which states everything I have warned them about eg: slip hazard, don't remove protective foils, ventilate the room etc...etc

most of my past problems have been created by the client after I have left the job., They move furniture or put back onto damp carpet........ or the best one I have heard of..........they lay newspaper down the hallway carpet to walk on until it dries :o :o
Mike Halliday.  www.henryhalliday.co.uk

jasonl

  • Posts: 3183
Re: Best ways to stop the carpet starting to smell
« Reply #6 on: November 07, 2015, 08:09:23 am »
Bacteria which feed on moisture are causing odours - less moist conditions are needed
I clean carpets
I dry Buildings

Dennis

  • Posts: 2044
Re: Best ways to stop the carpet starting to smell
« Reply #7 on: November 07, 2015, 11:33:27 am »
What psi do you use? Just because it does 400 doesn't mean you have to run it at max on everything.
I never get why some cc's don't adjust the pressure to suit the carpet, a virtually clean bedroom doesn't need the same pressure as a minging hall.
Not aimed at Paul specifically, just a general observation.

Lewis Newby

  • Posts: 353
Re: Best ways to stop the carpet starting to smell
« Reply #8 on: November 07, 2015, 11:55:16 am »
What psi do you use? Just because it does 400 doesn't mean you have to run it at max on everything.
I never get why some cc's don't adjust the pressure to suit the carpet, a virtually clean bedroom doesn't need the same pressure as a minging hall.

I think he mentioned using around 200psi in his other thread about the problem odour

dutchman

  • Posts: 49
Re: Best ways to stop the carpet starting to smell
« Reply #9 on: November 07, 2015, 01:11:39 pm »
Its down to the carpet taking too long to dry. Normal procedure for me is to hoover, pre spray, agitate and extract. I never extract at over 200 psi. Allowing the heater (magma) time to catch up during extraction.  You can normally tell the carpets that have the potential to dry slowly (no heating in house, poor ventialtion, heavily soiled, thick synthetic, berber) and these ones you have to take a bit more time over with dry passes or airmovers. I usually put my knee on the carpet when im finished and if its damp through my trousers its too wet and I do more dry passes or use a buffer with pads to dry it off. If its only one room then the air movers have little time to work  but if you use 2 or 3 small air pods then they can work well in about 10-15 mins. if its ping down outside then that will mean the carpets will take longer to dry. Warm room with ventilation after done.

Doug Holloway

  • Posts: 3917
Re: Best ways to stop the carpet starting to smell
« Reply #10 on: November 07, 2015, 05:28:51 pm »
Hi Guys

Some things are out of our control such as what a customer does when we have left.

A small amount of a good bactericidal deodoriser such as Clensan or Microsan in the rinse will save any problems.

Autumn is a very high humidity time so drying times will be extended.

Cheers

Doug

Simon Gerrard

  • Posts: 4405
Re: Best ways to stop the carpet starting to smell New
« Reply #11 on: November 08, 2015, 08:48:46 am »
Hello again members I curently use the ashbys enforcer 400psi model last week we had a call back of a customer saying her carpet in bedroom was smelling so went back redone it now has gone ect. I always tell me customers to leave the windows open ect. I'm looking for other ways to stop this happening again I'm just on with buying 2  blowers ect my carpets are always slightly slightly damp any other advice

Hi Paul,
First of all, it's great that you have recognised that you have a problem and are seeking to prevent it happening again. There is a good possibility that this isn't the first time you've had this problem but this is the first time you've been told about it by a customer. Other people don't complain, they just resolve not to use you again and the possibility of that being the case should concern you a lot.
The only time you hear about these problems is when a customer says, ' last time I had my carpet cleaned it was wet for ages and smelled.' That is either because they did it themselves with a rug doctor, or someone else did it and didn't know what they were doing.
You have almost certainly over wet the carpet as it should be dry in a few hours irrespective of what machine you are using. For it not to be and it have started to smell suggests that was not the case. Ambient room temperatures should easily deal with the amount of moisture in a carpet post cleaning, so atmospherics  can only play a part if there was too much moisture for it alone to deal with, or the room was too cold, which prevents the evaporation process that dries the carpet taking place.

So to resolve this you need to look at your entire process.
How much pre-spray are you applying and how long are you leaving it on the carpet before extracting it.
If you are applying a lot and leaving it to dwell for too long then gravity will  take effect and it will sink right through the carpet to the underlay, which isn't good because all of that moisture is then beyond the reach of your machine. Any good chemical will work within a few minutes, especially if you agitate it with a brush.
What pressure is your solution?
You said 200psi, you could try 175 to reduce the amount of water you are applying to the carpet. Also put a set  amount of water in your tank so you can monitor how much you have used.
How many cleaning passes are you making?
If you're using an ineffective prespray and have to make multiple passes to get a result, that will add massively to the amount of water you are putting down.
How many drying strokes are you making and what technique do you use?
I've seen people making lots of fast drying passes thinking that that extracts more moisture, when in fact much slower passes achieve that much better with the wand completely sealed to the carpet so that you hear the machine labouring more, which focuses all of the suction power to the carpet.

You keep repeating that the carpet was only , 'slightly slightly damp.'
Why not clean some of your own carpets and work on the above so that you get drying times of just a couple of hours and monitor dampness levels as you change things.

Some of those little Dripod fans from restormate will certainly help with the drying process, but you can't use them to mask your problem

I've got a competitor who has the exact same problem, he charges very high charges but has a huge issue with drying times, only he doesn't know it, because like I said, most people won't complain. We have had four customers off him in the last month, all saying the same thing, 'it was wet for ages and didn't  look that clean when it finally dried.'  It seems you might have the same problem, but at least you now know about it and have had the balls to so publicly speak of it in an effort to resolve it, which is massively to your credit.

Simon

scott johns

  • Posts: 309
Re: Best ways to stop the carpet starting to smell
« Reply #12 on: November 08, 2015, 09:45:50 am »
excellent advise couldn't have said it any better I also clean at 175psi its more than enough
as this is just rinsing the prespray out which is doing the muscle work.

Lewis Newby

  • Posts: 353
Re: Best ways to stop the carpet starting to smell
« Reply #13 on: November 08, 2015, 04:14:50 pm »
Good post Simon!  Ever considered writing a book?  ;D


neil 47

  • Posts: 1345
Re: Best ways to stop the carpet starting to smell
« Reply #15 on: November 08, 2015, 07:18:01 pm »
Fantastic post Simon
IICRC