[Atlantic Cleaning]

A customer has requested that I dry clean their Carpets. Carpets are not very badly soiled at all. I have never dry cleaned carpets before allways preferred HWE, & Thermadry for lighter soiled Carpet, Customer is set on having them cleaned in this way so who am I to argue. My question is this can I scrub in the sponges using my Rotary Machine? and will I get good results from following this process?- Pre Vac, Lightly pre spray heavy soiled area with a micro splitter, Agitate with the rotry, spread over sponges, Agitate again with rotary, allow to dwell for 20-30mins, Finally vac carpet to remove all soiled sponges.

Duncan

[Mike Halliday]

do they know what dry cleaning is? or don't they want it leaving wet. use the Thermodry and tell them it's dry cleaning the carpet, use airmovers and stay an extra 30mins for a cup of tea and it should be touch dry.

Mike

[Ken Wainwright]

Duncan

You are the professional tradesman. It is your responsibility to select the most appropriate system for the task in hand. It is also your responsibility to execute that system to it's maximum effect.

I always choose the system to suit the job. The customer doesn't have a say in it. It's then up to me to "sell" my expertise and skills in order to assure Sir/Madam that this will best suit their, and their carpets, needs.

Would the same customer tell a mechanic how to service their car? Or herdsman how to milk the cow?

It would appear that Mike's suggestion ticks most of the boxes. You can go with the brand name Thermadry, or generically some refer to LM cleaning as Semi-Dry Cleaning.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

[Joe H]

but Ken, surely as the customer has requested a dry clean that has to be taken into account - rather then the customer has no say in it!!

What happened to the old saying "the customer is always right". (even when they are wrong)

Sure, what the customer wants may not always be the best, and a good tradesman (no matter what trade) should always give best advice and point out the advantages and disadvantages of both what the customer wants and what the tradesman knows to be best.

Duncan has said the carrpets are not all that bad and so the sponges should bring the carpet up well.

Duncan, you question was can you use your rotary to agitate the sponges.
I dont know the answer to that - maybe some one else does.
but you can agitate the sponges using a good stiff carpet brush - now it depends on how big the carpet is as to how tired you will get.

but if you do a good job the the customer may ask you back on a regular basis, or you yourself is pleased with the finished job and then you decide to invest in the proper machine ie Envirodri / Host etc

[JS2]

Duncan

You might have seen the posting I made a few days ago entitled something to the effect: "Basic Dry Clean".  I'm not suggesting that the method I used is a consistently reliable budget technique, but it did appear to work in that particular case - psychologically at least.  Nevertheless, the manual scrubbing action did firmly 'bed' the dry-clean granules into the pile, rather than skin them over the surface which I expect a standard rotary is more likely to do.  I believe the contra-rotating machines, such as the well-acclaimed Envirodri, brush the granules well into the pile.  

Whilst I may not actually be totally answering your enquiry, I hope this information complements the issues involved.

Regards

Pete (JS2)

[Ken Wainwright]

Hi Joe

My view is an opinion, not fact.  But as a tradesman/businessman who has wide experience in the industry, is highly trained, invested considerably in high quality equipment, then I feel that I am in a better position to select the most appropriate cleaning system most appropriate to the situation. I WILL NOT be dictated to by a customer on this issue. If they choose to ignore my advice, then they are free to go elsewhere.

Please take note that I have not said the BEST cleaning system. There are many different considerations apart from cleaning needs. These range from logistics through security to H&S issues.

Using a rotary machine with dry compound is a valid cleaning system in it's own right. Just take the normal precautions and be wary of the potential for pile damage. I have cleaned like  this myself using a white 3M carpet skimming pad. Not so effective as cylindrical brushes, and there can be quite a bit of "fling" from the pad, so be prepared to clean up afterwards

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

[Atlantic Cleaning]

Thanks for all your comments. Im going to have an experiment at home with this, ill let you know the out come. Once again thanks for all your help and usefull advice

Duncan

[Mike Osbourne]

Did you ask the obvious question WHY? :