[stuart_clark]

I had 8 squares of Flotex carpet to clean the other day in a childrens nursary approx 3x3 metres full of protein stains,not normally a problem as we encounter this on an everyday bassis but not on Flotex!! I asked advice from a yorkshire based chemical company that shall remain nameless on the cleaning meathod i should addopt as I have never realy had brilliant resullts with this stuff, They recomended I use Enzyme shampoo with either a bonnet or a scrubbing brush with a extraction unit ! well i tried both ways and could not get a satisfactory result, So i tried using enzyme scrubbed in with my chemstractor then rinsing out with chemspec formula 70 then using a bonnet to help with wickback, has anyone tried to bonnet clean Flotex ? its bloody hard work!!  anyway needless to say I got a satisfactory result

[Kinver_Clean]

Flotex told me to mix a bucket of my normal cleaning solution and throw it on the carpet, scrub with a yard broom and extract with plain water rinse. (this was for a garage showroom). Plenty of liquid and vigorous agitation are the secret.
Prblems with extracting are insufficient airflow through the tool. Lifting the leading edge to allow air to pass, sucking the water with it usually helps. I have a modified tool to do the job- its still a pain. Drilling a few hole above the tool lip does not cure the problem.
I charge a hefty premium on Flotex.
Trevor

[david_m]

hi there stuart

Ihave cleaned quite a few of these
the low moisture system that i use is texatherm which has no real problems on flow tex the main reason for this is because it is a gear driven machine this elimanates the problem of belt slipping
thou it dose take a bit of holding some times

with hot water exstraction i just use ms agatated with the rotery machine
i have used a red floor pad for this a couple of times which seemed to work well especailly on really dirty ones

i think the secrate with hwe on flow tex is getting the water down as quick as possibile so if you have an adjustabil pump on your machine i wouldnt be afraid to open it up full and keep you finger on the trigger

i find a lot of these in schools and i still use a portabile machine
to make life easier i fill machine with a hose connected to a water tap
i know this is not  in any cleaning course
but if you get really dirty flow tex over a large area i would also fit a rose
head to the end of hose and spray over the flow tex first it just get the water down quicker befor rinceing out plus you can get across the areas
faster

ps i dont advise this method to any body who hasent cleaned a lot of flow
tex first.  why do i feel that i have just opened a can of worms

  davy

[david_m]

hi there kinver

must of been typing at the same time

 davy

[murky]

I used to do a car showroom that had Flotex on it, (they have now gone to ceramic tiles hey ho).

I used to pad it for years then I was asked to do another showroom and so I looked at the Flotex website (hint hint) and they say HWE.

Padding it is hard work, you have to put down a load of liquid down or its a battle between you and the machine as to who gives in first!

Once I used the HWE way it was much easier and to be honest you can do anything to Flotex and you wont harm it. Remember the ad's on telly  with the Rhino or the one with the kid on the scrambler, well it just about sums it up,

I think it will take more than an idiot of a CC to ruin it.

Just remember you have to dress the pile to make it look nice afterwards or you get line marks in it.

[Mark Stanley]

I have done a Flotex carpet situated in a kitchen, apparently 18 years old (it looked it.) The area wasn't big enough to swing a scrubber of any sort in, so I opted for a strong detergent ( Ultrapac I think ) then a good old fashioned door step scrubbing brush (hand held). I did the area twice. It looked a lot better and the customer was happy but my guess is that I could have continued scrubbing and extracting for half a dozen times.

As you all probably know, they get the pile on these carpets to sit upright and uniform by statically charging them when bonding them to the backing at the manufacturing stage. My guess is, they attract the muck and dirt in the same way and after all said and done they are often put in problem areas.

Bar solvents I guess you can almost through whatever you like at these. 

Mark