[Mr Dvae]

so there you have it!!!
you've got the witches cauldron
the hair dryer!!!
or the good old fashioned bucket and spade
question is are u gullabe or practical, truth is you don't need to spend a fortune, all these systems are dependable on the chemical they use that's how u make your decision.
Happy and profitable cleaning


Dave

[Paul Davidson]

Well still not made any final decision yet but will be over the next week or so.  As mentioned the Dry Fusion and thermadry systems look good.

The Hruby and Challenger are both Oscillating pads and seem to be well thought of, i like the sound of all sides of the carpet fibre being cleaned during the process, it sounds sense that it cleans better when it cleans all sides.

Does anyone have any experience of the Challenger OP?  and did i read in a thread over the last couple of weeks that someone offered one for sale? (not in the for sale section)  I am sure i read it somewhere but cant find it now

Anyways thanks again, i enjoy learning from other peoples experiences!

Cheers and thanks

Paul

[covenant]

I use the Texatherm system and get great results, well worth getting them to give you a demo.  It doesn't cost you anything but a bit of time

[garry22]

Paul,

We've got Dry Fusion.

Two things work in it's favour.

Firstly, the heat is produced on the machine and is thermostatically controlled (quite accurate). The source of heat is less than six inches above the carpets / tiles at all times. You can get up to 85 degrees, right where you need it constantly. You can then turn the heat down to say 65 deg. for polypropylene (to avoid scorching / friction damage). In other words, you are always in control.

You may find that a "hot" pad will not be half as hot after it has been used over 15-20 square metres, whereas with DF the heat is pretty constant.

Secondly, you have a selling advantage, especially with rest homes and kids' nurseries. There is the normal chemical, "Activator" that cleans, deodourises and stain blocks. Then there is a second one called "Bactoshield OV" which does all of that plus it applies an anti microbial treatment (full reports etc are provided when you buy the chemical). This gives you an advantage when quoting against others for those sort of jobs.

Garry

[Robert Watson]

Sounds good Garry.
I wonder what the heat would be, generated with just the friction of a bonnet.
Anyone know?
Rab

[Mike Halliday]

I think heated bonnet systems is a load of marketing hocus-pokus.

 I've tried both D/F and pre-heating the bonnet as in Texatherm. With D/F the machine doesn't produce the heat to penetrate the bonnet, it gets warm but not hot enough to aid cleaning.  D/W works well because the chemicals are excellent, the heat side is just to make it sound different from other bonnet systems, it makes no difference.

As for Texetherm, dunk a bonnet in boiling water, the run it across 14ft of carpet, then check how hot the bonnet is, its just warm. A hot bonnet cools to quickly during cleaning to make any difference.

D/F has the right idea in injecting steam onto the bonnet but they need a much bigger steam generator something that injects saturated steam ( not dry steam) onto the bonnet to help the heat pass through the bonnet onto the carpet, until then 'bonnets & heat' is just waffle

[rich hand]

Hi Mike, how does DF and texatherm compare with ordinary rotary used with the best pad and MS?

[Mike Halliday]

Rich, I can't say I've tried them side by side so don't really know. I use M/S and Argo bonnets which I imported from the USA. they are a thin ( but tough) 100% cotton bonnet.

one of the best things I've found for bonneting is folded bathtowels, cheap, very absorbant and 1 towel when folded gives 4 sides to use, so a couple of towels with do a through lounge.

[Gary Webber]

Mike,

the idea behind the Texatherm System is to USE the heat only in the first pass. The heat combines with the advanced cleaner presprayed beforehand and the neutraliser/water mix to cause an exothermic reaction. The idea is that the heat will reduce, but by then it has done its job in creating the reaction. The second pass is then carried out to trap the "wicking" soil.

The second point would be how do dry fusion operators clean stairs? do they use a heated method or just apply a cold handpad?

[carlton care]

If you can L/M clean without heat, why bother about heat ?  There are a fair number of very effective products available which don't require heat and give virually the same result as the " briefly or poorly " heated systems.

I first used L/M about 10, maybe 12 years ago, with a non heated product with great results.

robert m

[Paul Redden Countryfresh]

Anyone had any sucess with cr*ft*x catlyst with LM cleaning.

Cheers Paul

[garry22]

Paul,

Obviously Mike and myself have had differing experiences with Dry Fusion. That does not make either of us right or wrong. We have been using it for say 3 & half days a week since 2002 and I'm really happy with it.

There have been isolated incidents where I got better results with a micro splitter (very greasy tiles). Heat to the pads does not seem to be a problem (ours get quite hot) and certainly helps when doing the "drying pass" (DF chemicals contain a lubricant which helps the pad to glide across the surface. They are also all neutral Ph as opposed to a high ph pre spray and acidic rinse on the pads).

In saying that, most of our work is offices and we direct our advertising at this market ( I've said it before here, look for the work that suits your equipment).

If you want to do this sort of work (you should because the numbers are large), then here's my advice....

Before you fork out a couple of grand on a "pucker" system, try the cheap way.

Try a few local auction houses (or E Bay) and look for a standard speed machine with drive pad. I got mine at an auction for £45.00 a few years ago.

Get a few microfibre carpet pads and a mop bucket (wringer).

Get some micro splitter (I've only used One Step or Solutions but both gave excellent results) and a pump up sprayer.

This will get you into the market for less than a couple of hundred quid.

Make sure you really dry vacuum well and then try it out. You will be amazed at the results that you get on low profile carpets and tiles.

This should give you a really good insight into what's involved. By then, you will know what to look for in a LM system.

Only after I had done this for a while and gauged the size of the market, did I go and buy the Dry Fusion system.

Hope this helps,

Garry

[Gerry Styles]

Have you considered dry powder such as host or envirodri?

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

I have said this before but one of my biggest customers insists on Texatherm and he has tried TM, Portable , dry.

I had a look at Charley's yeaterday and will give them a try.

Cheers

Doug

[carlton care]

Is there a better price available on Charleys with the new set up at Royston.   I foolishly gave away mine, thinking I would never use them again..............

robert m