Tried dry strokes today...

[Spurlington]

This is what I use for carpet protection .. and Im all about the post vac process - wouldnt the dirty moisture be encapulated during the drying process?

 

[BIG WOOD]

If you're at only 300psi with master blend heat, and you're only triggering the wand on the pull back...you can get away with not doing dry passes.

Me on the other hand:
Prevaccing
500-600psi, depending on condition of carpet
triggering the wand on push up and pull back

I have to do dry passes or my dry times will suck in a bad way.

 

[ruff]

Could it be that the gentleman, when referring to "Dry Strokes", means cleaning with the lack of alcohol?

Who in their right mind cleans a carpet without?

Sheeeeesh! No wonder

 

[Mark Saiger]

Jeremy, you need to work with another carpet cleaner like Mikey or maybe Mark since you are in minnesota. You have good equipment, you just have to learn to use I properly. A 500 sqft. Mobile home, condo couple of rooms in a house will take me about an hour, drystroking all the way. That's working slowly. If it was only moderately soiled, I could knock it off in 1/2 an hour if I had to. All of have had to learn the hard way, working things out by ourselves mostly. See if you can pay Mark a visit, you'll come away with a wealth of experience and ideas and maybe a zipper or 2

Would love to spend time together...

Anytime it might work the invitation is always open...

 

[Kevin De Medeiros]

I'm sorry, but a carpet that really took three days to dry wouldn't of benefited that much from dry stroking. Maybe two and a 1/2 days. Something else went really wrong, like they forgot to hook up the vacuum at the truck, or close a dump valve.

Or their filters were clogged to shiet! I've seen this with a hack and a portable but not truckmounts. Something stupid must have happened.

 

[Nate The Great]

300psi and water only back stroke, I doubt you'd really need another dry stroke....Depending on how much pre spray you spray down... Do you run a chemical rinse? If you haven't had a problem up to now on the way you clean, why change it up now? Someone once said "you can't over wet, just under dry".... What size jets are you running?

I'm one of those "get it cleaned, get it dry fast" folks... I do extra dry strokes because I need it to dry quicker.... Most jobs we get, that's pretty much the complaint we hear are dry times.... We'll leave AirPaths and pick up the next day or so, but we aren't the cheapest cleaners either... Even the crappy rentals get a dry stroke...

I still remember my first MikeyFest in San Diego that guy Frank Perez? He was the PowerClean Genesis nut who sold them also... He cleaned the ballroom using 260 degree water cleaning with an emulsifier, no pre-spray and got 15 min dry times.....ACTUAL knee down dry test and it was dry....Some argued he didn't really clean that great with the temps he was running, but it was ISHITYOUNOT dry with the knee test.... You could tell the difference and see that he actually cleaned it and not just used "Steam"....

It did open my eyes to emulsifier only no pre spray guys way of cleaning... I still can't fathom not using a pre-spray before cleaning unless it's due to unrealistic expectations like moving in same day or using the ballroom/conference room... There are many ways to skin the cat ( I've never have, nor would I want to skin a cat).. I just use common sense, get the carpets cleaned to the best of my ability, and get it dry.... It's not rocket science....

 

[FFA]

I have a Masterblend el diablo, 15inch lift factory set. I use 300 psi roughly. 2 inch tube all the way to a 2 inch PMF titanium wand with Teflon glides. If they pay me to prevacuum I will do it but they have the option of doing it themselves to save some money, many do. Average dry times are 4-8 hours depending on carpet type and humidity levels. At their worst I have had reported that a basement carpet, Minnesota basements are very humid due to high water tables, has taken 24 hours to dry during a week of 80+% humidity levels. At their best, if a box fan is placed in the room as soon as I am done cleaning the carpet upstairs will be dry to the touch by the time I am done with the downstairs. This is with no dry strokes. I clean water on on the pull stroke, no water pushing up to the next stroke which is overlapped by 1/2 of the previous stroke.

What is the vac lift reading under load? With no glide, i would not be wanting to do dry strokes either. How come i can get dry carpets almost before i leave and i leave the trigger on going up and down for about a 7 foot wide path then follow with overlapping dry strokes?

 

[FFA]

I suggest not getting a wand with a siteglass lol, it would drive you nuts. Sometimes i hit spots that i thought were clean and boom brown water in the glass. It also helps me with dry times because i can see what im pulling out. And if im not holding the wand at the wrong angle i wont see much collection so it helps me correct the way to hold the wand for maximum extraction.

You are not going to get dry clean carpet by not following the proper procedure. If you can get away with it, good on you, no harm done.

 

[Cleanworks]

You get dry carpets almost before you leave? So, in other words, the carpets are still wet when you leave and you really don't know when they dry.

 

[FFA]

You get dry carpets almost before you leave? So, in other words, the carpets are still wet when you leave and you really don't know when they dry.

In other words, sure..

 

[steve_64]

4 rooms real dirty 2 and a half hours. $350 with protector.

2nd job 4 rooms little more than hour $180.

Both customers extremely happy. Carpets were damp when I left, advised about how to finish drying.

3rd job 2 bedroom apartment
45 minutes $70. Turned in my new prices and quoted the offices and rec room.

I took my time with all of this and worked 6 hours by myself.
If it takes two hours for 4 rooms then you need to charge for it.

 

[ruff]

Is that the actual cleaning time or time from arrival till you're all wrapped up and ready to go?

 

[Nate The Great]

4 rooms real dirty 2 and a half hours. $350 with protector.

2nd job 4 rooms little more than hour $180.

Both customers extremely happy. Carpets were damp when I left, advised about how to finish drying.

3rd job 2 bedroom apartment
45 minutes $70. Turned in my new prices and quoted the offices and rec room.

I took my time with all of this and worked 6 hours by myself.
If it takes two hours for 4 rooms then you need to charge for it.

Says the Ex-Bane guy......

Just razzin ya Stevie! My portable work is slow too... Hell I'm just slow in general, (No not Ladwig slow).......

 

[Desk Jockey]

Careful don't poke the tiger!

 

[Nate The Great]

Careful don't poke the tiger!

He doesn't have my address..... I don't have to worry about the doodoo underwear showing up at my door....

 

[Desk Jockey]

Yeah but I do and I have Jimmy's too.

 

[steve_64]

Is that the actual cleaning time or time from arrival till you're all wrapped up and ready to go?

Whole day including estimates dumping filling driving 6 hours.

 

[steve_64]

I was faster with the bane but left em wetter and the traffic lanes weren't as fluffy

 

[Mikey P]

You been talking to @Wandslinger ?

 

[steve_64]

Not me. Why do you ask?

 

[Cleanworks]

Too many guys on this board listening to some guy named Larry that says to crank your lift to 17 inches hg and beyond. If you can't move the wand, it's not going to remove any water at all.