Encap 101 Do you understand it?

This might be useful to some of the newer encappers to understand and to be able to explain how it works to your customers or potential customers.

What are the advantages of a film forming polymer that will not easily shatter? Is a film forming encap better as an HWE encap solution?

Are the polymers used in the cleaning business synthetic or natural? If one is used over the other? If so why?

I agree that the advantages are that a filming type with hold the encapsulated particles longer.
The crystallizing types market that they shelf shatter when they dry so I don't feel that this is the best choice to hold the soils until they are vacuumed.

Mine in the past have not dealt with the high heat of a truck mount to well. Above 140/150 they tend to come out of suspension. To answer your question it would depend on if your using high heat and if the polymer can deal with it. In tape water heat I don't see a problem. Its the higher heat that can cause issues. So at that point it can come down to a persons personal preference of polymer type.

To my knowledge they are synthetic.

Good questions.

My experience with film forming is that its much harder to put on a maintenance schedule. You have to go slightly more diluted each time because once the film gets wet its similar to new solution. It really presents a problem when a foaming agent is involved.

It's just a bit more trial and error imo. Most depends on your chosen method of extraction though. Like BP mentioned, heat usually changes things.

[quote="REALCLEAN"]My experience with film forming is that its much harder to put on a maintenance schedule.  You have to go slightly more diluted each time because once the film gets wet its similar to new solution.  It really presents a problem when a foaming agent is involved.

[quote]

That shouldn't be the case. A good filming type should still vacuum out.

Tale a look at this link: http://bonnetpro.com/encapsulation/T2H_polymer.html

the page is titled: Surround and the electron microscope.

Thanks for the link. I've read it before. I understand the science.

Real world conditions are hard to predict though. Vacuuming alone; how often, how long, which vacuum, is it maintained, height setting adjusted properly?

I'm posting what I've found from trial and error over the past 5 or 6 years. I see both sides of the argument, but my personal experience is that the crystal is more advantageous.

Of course, I've found the crystal polymer is much more expensive to manufacture because its easy to convert to a film if the ph is off.

Of course, I've found the crystal polymer is much more expensive to manufacture because its easy to convert to a film if the ph is off.


What Crystallizing polymers do you know of? Are you talking about a finished product or a raw ingredient?

Acrylate Copolymers. I'm working with several chem manufacturers.

First, I formulate a surfactant to serve a specific purpose. Once its successful, I have to make an acrylate copolymer that will perform as a brittle crystal that will easily release with a vacuum.

That process is expensive. Lots of trial and error. Getting it to film is easy. But from my experience (primarily cgd in medical facilities), the brittle polymer performs better than a film.

the brittle polymer performs better than a film.

I disagree but that's OK. The purpose of the encap is to hold the soil not release it ( no joke intended) upon drying.
The trick is to get a balance between right away and forever.

I've tested both in a medical facility I contract to clean. It sees 400+ patients a day. Doctors are split evenly on both sides of the building so both hallways coming from the waiting room receive equal traffic. It's cleaned every 3 months.

After 1 year, before cleaning, I used 2 unused superzorb bonnets, plain water, and my Orbot. 1 pass down the center and back. Film side was noticeably darker.

My question, was it dirtier because some solution was still there as a film and reactivated with plain water thus pulling more soil out? Or was the film acting as an attractant since it wouldn't release completely?

Both sides are daily vacuumed thoroughly.

Also, I'm using 2 different products just to test the polymer because no one makes one surfactant with polymer options.

I don't have a product to sell, so I feel I'm pretty unbiased. I just want to know what works.

You can get different levels on performance for difference products. All polymers are not the same nor are they mixed into formulas the same. In your case the products used showed a clear winner. One formula might deal with dry soils better then another one oily soils but that also is dependent on the other ingredients in that particular product.

I always tell people when trying a new product to try it in multiple locations before you decide.
Im making the first wool bonnet. I have tested it 8 times now. I loved it the first 6. i hated it on the seventh try and the eight was good. Had the 7th cleaning been my first I may have dropped the project. My point is you tried a product in a particular environment. That doesn't mean you will always get the same outcome. I get someone who tries my product that came from brand B and thy love mine and use it for years. Now I occasionally get someone who says brand B works better then mine. why? I dont know. Its almost impossible to catch all the variables and net does on size serves all when it comes to chems.

We think a lot alike. I've tested just about every encap product under the same conditions. That's a major benefit to me being primarily a janitorial business. I've got almost every fiber and condition combination you could imagine. I keep very detailed notes so I don't get lost. Joe's S/O/E is the most versatile that I've found, even though there are others that are effective as well.

Good luck with that wool bonnet. That's never even crossed my mind. What's the intended application for wool?

I've developed a microfiber bonnet that I've talked to Joe about that's much different than anything out right now. I'm currently testing its longevity, to get an avg sq.ft. per bonnet life.

I make a cotton bonnet under the ProCotton brand. The cleaning performance is excellent but I'm not as happy with the life of the product. Plus cotton can shed. Wool is up to 2x more absorbent than cotton and stronger but its also 6 to 7x more expensive per pound. So with my blend the goal is to make a safer bonnet for carpet, one that does not shed, cleans easily in the washer and has high absorption. The first test pads have covered everything well expect on certain carpets the actual cleaning performance could be improved other carpet they worked very well. The next batch should address my concern with that.

Cool!

I think cap and bonnets will take a pretty big chunk of business over the next decade. You're way ahead of the game! Congrats!

Just out of curiosity, what caused you guys to use VLM? I have never bonnet cleaned. I am very interested in doing some.

I went to a sales class in the nineties, think it was Joey Picket? maybe not.
Anyway they talked about it. I was trying to get a local account at the time. 18,000 feet of hallways in a senior subsidized building. They would not pay the cost for extraction but I landed it with bonnet. Now we do all of the housing authority buildings in the area ( about 16 on 4 properties) plus we do apartments and other stuff for them. So for me it added a lot of revenus I was missing due to price point. Plus its so much nicer to cover more ground with less time with no hoses.

Do you guys rake the carpet when you finished to give it a fluffy look?

CRB. After every job.