[gwrightson]

Could any body please give me a precise answer to my question

What effect does h/w/e of a carpet have on stain protection. if any ?



sorry to be vague, but do need as much info as poss, ie.  time equastions etc.

geoff

[Mike Halliday]

or you thinking that hwe could 'wash off' the protector?

High ph can remove protector,

 a nylon stain resistant carpet has acid dye blocker which stop stains occupying the open dye sites, using a high PH cleaning agent  can remove them dye blockers and the carpet will lose its stain resistance

so if you cleaned a carpet and now the customers is complaining the carpet no longer resist stains you should look at what you used to clean it, not how.

but I would also concider that Protecotr can also wear off, it does'nt last forever.

some one else might have more info on removing protector.

[gwrightson]

got to admit Mike ,

the only reason I was expressing concerns is the custy was told the cleaning of the carpet would remove the protection, this by the way was Rainbow International who told her this !!.

I was a little surprised at this statment as the carpet is less than a year laid and protected, rainbow did a flood restoration job for her, but told her she needed to get it cleaned to remove any possible odours,

Now Rainbow actualy phoned me for a quote for protection of the carpet   Been a little apprehensive as to why they phoned me I told them I would need to survey the job, and why they would want to call me ?  Dont you do protection ? I asked.  Reply was "well its a bit of a grey area!!!!!  still confused I said ring me back with some more details .

5 minutes later the custy rang me after been contacted by rainbow , this is when I got the details of the above statment. So I am going to take a look first thing in morning to see whats what.

that is the reason I need to know .

Geoff

[Mike Halliday]

so the carpet has been cleaned by rainbow to remove the possibility of an odour problem and now you are going in to protect the carpet, is this correct?

what i would do is check what the carpet is made off ( burn test) then check the PH of the carpet ( you don't know what rainbow have left on the carpet) you'll need PH paper and pure water.

or just assume they have left the carpet with a high PH residue, so rince it first with Fab & Fibre rinse

when you are in front of the customer you'll need  to talk a bit of scientific waffly-waffle to big yourself up a bit

[gwrightson]

I,ve already done the bit ot waffling Mike   

No Rainbow have not cleaned the carpet, they said they couldnt because it removes the protector, hence  they wanted a quote from me for protecter, but the custy informs me it needs cleaning , but wont have it cleaned if it removes protector  Confused!!!!!!!!!
So am I !!!    will try and sort out tommorow , but this is the reason for asking info on protector.

geoff

[Gary Webber]

Geoff,

As with most situations involving carpet & upholstery cleaning it will be difficult to get a precise answer. For instance if the carpet is more than 4+ years old, it is likely the protector will have been "broken down" in the traffic areas.

If you were to clean with a microsplitting agent such as Single Pass, they state that this will not strip away the protector. Detergents with  high levels of Ph will cause a stripping action and are to be avoided.

I would review the carpet and carry out tests of the areas requested to be cleaned for protector strength and asses how "active" the protector is before making any decisions

Gary

[derek west]

just quote for a clean and protect and tell her to take it or leave it, all this bollox is costing you time = money.
derek

[Jim_77]

Well said Derek

It's an insurance job, give it the belt and braces treatment and be done with it

[Mike Roper]

HWE wont strip protection especially if its mill treated, its the chems that can .As mentioned high ph but also cationic products will effect the stainprotection because of the + or - charges changing. Sanitising chems and crystal green could be a problem.
Mike 

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Have you tried the old 'drip' test? put some water on your fingers and let it run doen them and drip onto the carpet, if it beads then it is still protected if it doesn't then protector has worn off.

Not scientific but it may answer a 'who pays for what' question.

Shaun

[Ken Wainwright]

Things used in cleaning that will remove a protector:

pH >10
Water over 180F
Cationics
Solvents

On my first Scotchgard training course back in 1984ish they believed that correct cleaning would remove about 3% of the protector. Wear and tear would remove protector too.  A good rule of thumb was to re-protect after every other clean for residentials and every clean for commercials.

I remember hearing from some suppliers that there has since been mixed opinion about high pH removing protector, but I would always play safe and keep within traditional guidelines.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken