Let's End the Confusion about "Rinse" Products

         
             The best way to end this confusion?

            Consider the kind and condition of carpet you are cleaning,
                     and the philosophy of cleaning you follow!

If you use hot water extraction, either with a truck mount or portable, the question on many cleaners' minds is:

• “What's the best type of product to run through my machine: An acid rinse or an alkaline detergent?”

• Before we explore the answer(s) to this question, it's helpful to understand the two basic categories of such products, though there are variables of each:

Acid Rinse Agent:  An acid rinse agent will, in most cases, simply act as a neutralizing and rinsing product that enables the cleaner to remove both their own preconditioning agent along with pre-existing cleaning agents and tends to leave the carpet with a softer feel than would an alkaline cleaning agent.  There are also acidic detergents that serve the purpose of neutralizing preconditioning agents and preexisting residues, but as they are detergents and not rinses, they do not truly “rinse” a carpet.

With this understanding in mind, what product should you use in your cleaning system?

• The best way to answer this question would be do consider (1) the kind and condition of the carpet you are cleaning, and (2) what philosophy of cleaning you follow.

• If your primary customers are commercial, rental property, and restoration, then having an alkaline detergent running through your machine makes a lot of sense. You will clean more quickly, and the injection of heated, alkaline solution in your system will give you an "extra bang" that is needed to break loose oily/fatty soils.

• If you are cleaning more owner occupied residential carpet, and if you have a good mix of upholstery cleaning in your average job, then the acid rinse products make more sense.  Carpets in homes rarely have a lot of petroleum/protein/fat in the carpet, and a good prespray will emulsify tracked in soil, "doggie oils", cooking films, etc. Then the acid rinse will truly "rinse and neutralize" what you put on the carpet, and leave it in that "baby soft" condition people love.

Another important benefit of running an acid rinse and neutralizing agent through your cleaning equipment is that it makes switching over to upholstery cleaning far easier.

• Most cleaners, both employee and owners, tend to resist adding on upholstery cleaning services because of the time and trouble of changing cleaning materials. If you have an acid rinse in  your cleaning solution, then all you need to do is switch cleaning tools and use a different precondtioner. This makes it easier and less complicated to add on profitable upholstery cleaning services without rescheduling.  

The other benefit is “real world” fabric safety issues.  

• Simply put: Cleaners who use an alkaline cleaner for carpet are rarely inclined to drain out that cleaning solution or meter through (in the case of truck mount equipment) a different product when they clean upholstery.  

• The result? Natural fiber fabrics cleaned with alkaline detergents are far more likely to fade, bleed, or brown afterward than they are if they are rinsed with an acidic agent!

The Bottom Line:

There is no “one size fits all” answer when it comes to deciding which product to use when you clean carpet. 

• You need to take a hard look at your market, your service mix, and both yours and your employees attitudes about cleaning product uses and changes.
• Once you do that, you'll know which system is best for you, or if you can justify using both.

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If you'd like to know more about how upholstery fabrics react with a variety of cleaning agents and pH ranges, join us at our next “Fabric Pro Upholstery Cleaning Workshop”.

In the case of upholstery cleaning,  we will be presenting a two day “hands on” training class soon that will teach you how to clean the most challenging fabrics, and  help you to have the confidence to clean those fabrics for your customers.

Need more information? check here  .  .