 |
We at Coastal Cleaning Systems love to clean your carpets as well as educate our customers. The artical gives you an intoduction into how our systems was developed.
We are here for all your cleaning needs. Contact us with all your questions
Thank you
Sean Qualls
How is one system judged “better” than another? By user preference and specific needs. In an effort to help you better understand how the diverse cleaning systems vary in method and usage, we sent questionnaires to several manufacturers.
It’s come to be known as one of the cleaning industry’s oldest arguments: hot water extraction vs. pads; dry vs. low moisture; foam vs. dry compound; and so on. How is one system judged “better” than another? By user preference and specific needs.
In an effort to help you better understand how the diverse cleaning systems vary in method and usage, we sent questionnaires to several manufacturers. Their answers just may help put some of the arguments to rest.
For your convenience, a directory of manufacturers for the various units follows.
CARPET CARE SYSTEMS
Q. How do you describe your system?
A. Very Low Moisture (VLM) and Oscillating Pad (OP). There are many different methods included here, but they have differing cleaning abilities and are quite different in application as well. Dry compounds are totally different along with foam, however bonnet and pad cleaning are similar. Although similar, they achieve differing results. Bonnets, which are used with rotary machines, are usually heavy cotton mop type bonnets; while OP is used with cotton terry cloth pads and an oscillating floor machine. The oscillating floor machines and cotton pads do a deeper cleaning of the carpets, especially in the residential setting. They also remove more soil.
Many of our customers describe us as “dry” cleaners, but we never make that claim. If they have used hot water extraction (HWE) in the past, they see us as dry cleaners.
Q. When was this method first introduced?
A. Oscillating Pads have been around for many years, we started with them in 1974 and perfected an OP machine to use with Argosheen and cotton terry cloth towels. In the beginning, we used pads made from bathmats from prisons, Holiday Inn, etc., and wherever we could get terry cloth material. I believe Argo and Company first came out with the idea. They started by producing Argosheen in the 40s, using cotton mops in the 50s, moved onto bonnets in the 60s, and finally in the 80s produced an orbital machine of their own.
Q. What sparked the idea to develop this method?
A. Actually it was the results we were achieving and the comments from our customers. They are the ones who drove us to perfect and enhance this method. Their comments were “Never having their carpets look so good,” or “Our carpets never stayed clean so long.” We were thought of as “surface cleaners” for many years by the HWE crowd, and it wasn’t until many of them started using this method to aid in cleaning commercial carpet to stop wick-backs that they began to understand just how well and deep the OP method cleans. Many use both methods with each other. Some truck mount users have even sold their units in favor of using the OP method. Others now use OP whenever they clean above the first floor of a building.
Granted the most important components in carpet cleaning are the operator, their ability, and their “desire” to do the best for their customers. Whether hot water extraction, bonnet or OP, without the effort, knowledge and desire of the operator, the carpets would not be cleaned as they should be.
