[cleanability]

While the question of Ph is being disgussed. How do you actually measure the ph of a carpet. If you have to introduce water yourself in order to get a reading then aren't you introducing a liquid with a ph value which could affect the ph value of the item you are trying to read ?   Or am I confusing myself here LOL !!!!!!   Physically how do you actually get a reading. I have an electronic ph reader as it happens but hardly used.

[woodman]

Hi Guys

Some excellent posts and very informative.

I agree with Doug we as carpet cleaners are not expected to be experts in the chemicals field  (er, unless your a chemist of course ) and most of us only have a very basic understanding of ph and it's associated problems.
As such I believe that this is the very reason why we should carry out a simple ph test when necessary or unsure , but certainly not on every occasion.Testing can point us in the right direction when it comes to cleaning instead of making a situation, that may not of been of our making, worse we can correct it.

Woolsafe carried out there own tests some time ago on the link between alkalinity and colour fastness and made some quite startling discoveries on products designated for the cleaning of wool carpets. 114 products were tested ranging in ph from 2.6 -11.Some with a ph of 10.5 passed other at  6 - 8.5 failed.

This some what changes our often regarded safe working ph rules of between 4.5 - 8.5 (do many use products with a ph higher than 9.5 ?).

The test also showed that most products that were not buffered passed and those that were often failed.
They also wanted to know that of the ones that passed could they actually do the job of cleaning to a high standard.

In the end on this test they passed over hundred that were colourfast,would clean to a good standard and also would not leave soil attracting residue.Many of us are using these today.

The conclusion is use Woolsafe accredited products if you want to operate safely, they have done the work for you.

[Dynafoam]

Cleanability,

The electronic devices, if properly calibrated give an acurate reading, but the bulb does need to be immersed in liquid to obtain this acuracy. It is usefull for checking the pH of a neutralising rinse, or the extracted water.

For testing carpets, I use battery top-up water (pH 7) plus indicator paper. of course I could adjust the pH of tap water useing  addatives, checked by the digital meter, but am not that penny-pinching.

John.

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys,

My experience as an industrial chemist was many years ago now,but was mainly involved in non wovens where both the dispersion water and the binder were pH sensitive.If it was not right particularly with respect to the binder then problems would occur when this product was susequently  coated at high temperaturese.g Flotex,cushion floor,bitumen with potentially catastrophic results!

I make no claims to be any sort of expert on carpet cleaning chemicals but have felt for some time that the agenda is manufacturer driven with one chemical being used to neutralise anothere.g bubbly pre spray leading to anti foam being required.

I feel we could certainly benefit from info / trials on cleaning vs resoiling vs dye stability.

Dave at Cleanmac has carried out trials and I have noted Woodmans helpful comments on Woolsafe.

Cheers,

Doug

[Ken Wainwright]

I think there is an important element that we're all missing out on here. As dedicated, competent professionals, any remaining "nasty" alkaline residues have been softened by our pre-spray, loosened by our agitation and much of it physically removed by the extraction process. Logic to me therefore dictates that there is less product to neutralise when pH balancing a carpet/fabric, lessening the on-going effects of a buffered a high pH solution in the first place.

So in conclusion, a previous cleaner has made a coock-up, I've come along tested and treated accordingly and lessened the risk of any ongoing pH related problems.

Is this theory sound?

Safe and happy cleaning:)
Ken

[Dynafoam]

As a bell, Ken  

John.