On Nov 26, 8:28*am, gpsman wrote:
On Nov 25, 12:19*pm, "Ron" wrote:

Is it
true that a good quality portable professional steam extraction carpet
cleaning machine is sufficient for a small carpet cleaning business and it
will do just as good (or almost as good) of a job as a truck mounted
machine?

Depends on the machine, of course, but a good "box extractor" will
easily outperform truck mounted units. *A lot of suction and heat is
lost between the unit and the head.

When I was cleaning carpets Steamex (now Pacific Steamex) was the
best, but they no longer sell that unit, or any closely resembling
it. *I found one on ebay a few years ago and still regret letting it
get away for $2K.

The Pacific Steamex Flash-based site suggests to me they are now to be
avoided like the plague, since 1999 has come and gone and they do not
seem to have noticed.http://www.pacificsteamex.com/

Their Triumph 1200 model is the closest to those I used.

Flash, especially with audio, just screams "moron" to me. *That's
woefully insufficient evidence, but I hate Flash sites so I
rationalize that it's plenty.

"Steam" is a misnomer. *It's just hot water.

The big problem/s with cleaning carpet by extraction is over-wetting
(and residual soap). *A little too much water and you can create mold
and mildew problems and ruin perfectly good carpet and padding.

The tricks a

1. Vacuuming the **** out of it first, and by that I mean vacuuming
slowly, not the typical rush job that does not allow the vacuum to
work as designed.

2. Pre-treating w/o over-wetting.

3. Wetting only the nap of the carpet, and sucking it so dry that it
is dry as a bone in 2-3 hours, at most.

Lots of resources available on the web, but I'd start here.http://www.shawfloors.com/Tips-Trends/Carpet-Care
*-----

- gpsman

For our personal use, I own a Cobra. very happy with the ease of use
and effectiveness. Research that unit tells you a lot. Two power
cords, takes a LOT of power. Heats the water enough to burn you.
For me the mechanically removeable spray nozzles are ok, but if you do
this a lot, you may want 'quick disconnect' spray nozzles.
From 'expert' cleaners:
1. Let the machines do the work.
2. Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum. Then clean process once.
3. Carefully select/apply cleaner [we use a Brulins liquid product,
with built in anti mold/fungus]. Do periphery as a boundary first. If
cheap carpet, or wrong cleaner, you can end up ruining both, or the
underpad, turning it super brittle! The guy is right about quantity
of water. Think spray on remove instantly, no setting around, no
letting dribble down through everything. especially to a wood
flooring.
4. Rinse, rinse, rinse. Very important to remove ALL chemical
residues.
5. Extract to dry, dry, dry. It will be decent in a couple of hours,
especially if you set up those large floor fans to blow across.
6. BUY INSURANCE! If you break something inside someone's home, or
inside a business, and don't make good, your rep goes to zero!

I think the equipment is readily available at any local professional
janitorial supply house