Wand Stroke

[daniel@procarpet]

I just hired a guy that worked for Stanley Steemer and a few other companies. He is very experienced, but his wand stroke is different than mine. I usually wet the carpet with a slow back stroke and then a slow dry stroke for residential to get good dry times. He wets the carpet forward and back no matter what we are cleaning. I told him it was probably cleaning better, but since we were cleaning mainly residential that was not too dirty to wet the carpet on the back stroke only as to not leave the carpet too wet. He said when he worked for SS that they did not pre-spray the carpet and that is how he was taught and he is used to cleaning that way. How much longer does it take the carpet to dry wetting forward and back? He does go back over the area with dry strokes. Should I just let him clean like is doing or insist he change his stroke? The carpet looks good but I am worried about the drying time. What kind of wand stroke do you use?

 

[kelsolo]

We latley have been doing a dry stroke forward and a slow wet stroke back and then a quick dry extract.If it s a bad bad area we will do wet forward and back then a good dry extract.I did the wet stroke both forward and back but are coming to think that if you use a really good prespray after you have vaced the carpet, and have good size jets on your wand using that much water is unnessary and a waste.

Btw I am getting 3 hour dry times with teflon applied and no blower to dry, and I have never got those quick dry times before.

Just my 2 cents

 

[renegade_cowboy]

Do a side by side comparison. I clean in a similar way. I get good dry times, I also use a fan. Some of the carpet is dry when I leave. I also do a dry stroke everytime. If he is getting the carpet cleaned and drying on time then I would let him do it how he wants. Everyone cleans their own way, I wouldnt make it an issue.

 

[Ken Snow]

Our guys all clean like he does and our dry time are great sans a glide.

 

[hogjowl]

He means without a glide. "Sans" is just his Forsynthian way of confusing the issue.

 

[ruff]

The more water you use, the better the cleaning.
High flow can be achieved by bigger jets or simply slowing your strokes speed.
Yes, when spraying water only on the pull stroke you are reducing the time it actually stays in the carpet from 2-3 seconds to substantially less, however, how essential is it? Yes it will dry faster but then you can achieve the same by reducing flow, doing more dry passes or using a fan.

If your main claim to fame is how fast the carpet dries then that is what you have to do.

Though I suspect that the way he cleans (wet both ways) actually will remove more soil.

That is just my honest humble opinion.
Bear in mind I am not a "high performance" guy.

Now lets hear from the lunatic, dry before it's even wet, fringe.

 

[hogjowl]

I can't believe how hard we make this.

 

[Ken Snow]

Thanks Marty, I was saving letters u focker!

 

[daniel@procarpet]

I agree. The double stroke cleans better, but is it necessary on lightly soiled carpet? I will just let him clean like he was taught. He knows all of the tricks like cleaning baseboards, tight areas, and basically just how to clean carpet. It's nice to not have to teach someone how to work out of a room and the angles of cleaning, or how to work the hose etc. He does go back over each area with dry strokes. I guess this will be sufficient. I also agree that clean is better than dry.

 

[hogjowl]

I've been insulted by Waldo, Chucky and Odin, so you're going to have to do better than that.

 

[harryhides]

More water being used for cleaning does raise the problem of how to dispose of the dirty water, legally. I have asked the Cleaning Artist this question several times but no reply. Some, like him claim to use over 100 gallons PER JOB !!

Ken, don't push Marty too much as he really is quite sensitive.

 

[B&BGaryC]

I just hired a guy that worked for Stanley Steemer and a few other companies.

He worked for Stanley. He mentioned he doesn't use pre-spray normally... And you're listening to him?

It doesn't matter how long you've been doing it wrong. That isn't experience. Teach him how you want it cleaned, and if he doesn't play ball, fire him. Start looking around when you go out to restaurants, convenience stores, shopping centers, the mall etc. Whenever somebody goes out of their way to greet you with a smile and make sure you are having a good experience (especially at a crummy job) give them a card and ask them to interview for a carpet cleaning position. Find somebody with a good attitude that has never cleaned a carpet and you will be way better off than taking advice from bait and switch tech.

I always start with a dry-stoke forward to remove the pre-spray, a slow wet pass backwards, a forward and back dry stroke, move over with a slight overlap and start again. I used to key back and forth, but then I got some of greenies gadgets and some priceless advice from other board members and never wet a carpet on the upstroke again. Cleans just as well and dries faster.

 

[B&BGaryC]

P.S.: He might be a good find, you never know. I'm hope I'm not coming down too hard on the guy, I don't even know him. I just know my first 2 months I was trained how to do carpet cleaning the wrong way. It took 2 very knowledgeable cleaners a year and half to undo the damage that was done, and turn me from being a hack that soaked carpets and dinged walls to a cleaner that cleaned carpets.

 

[Doug Cox]

I spray in both directions and have no issues. I would be more concerned with him leaving puddles at the end of his backstroke than whether he was spraying in both directions.

 

[ruff]

More water being used for cleaning does raise the problem of how to dispose of the dirty water, legally. I have asked the Cleaning Artist this question several times but no reply. Some, like him claim to use over 100 gallons PER JOB !!

Ken, don't push Marty too much as he really is quite sensitive.

100 gallons per job?
That is something!

You hook to the sewer outlet, every house has one where you can hook with a hose into it. In some homes it is covered with a metal cover (usually in sidewalk at street curb- this is city setting) attached with screws, some have a threaded cap by the house. Also from what I know, the drain in the garage will go to the sewer which is treated water, so you are leglly doing the right thing.
Ofer

 

[Jimmy L]

You got it all wrong!

The intial push stroke is the dry vac soil removal!

 

[Dolly Llama]

I agree. The double stroke cleans better,

not from my experience.
all it does add more water.


SLOW keyed back stroke flushes better
up and down keyed stroke can be faster because it adds wand agitation
It's not the water as much as it is the wand agitation(*IF* you use quality [re-sprays in sufficient quantity

Don't take my word for it, try it for yourself on the next trashed rag and tell me if you see a difference

The exception to this are the outfits that rarely use pre-spray, or not enough, or crappy/weak juice
Then the added water and agitation are not only helpful, but needed


..L.T.A.

 

[Out of Character - 0]

For us 100 gallons will clean about 1500-2000sf of carpet depending upon soil, and about half as much tile and grout. We usually dump 1-3 time per day with our 125gal truck and 0-1 time with our 200 gal tm.

We have 7 or so different locations around town where dumpling is easy and legal.

 

[Jack May]

Some good acvice there Gary!!

Almost sounds like what Steve T would say :wink:

A guy here in NZ taht also frequents here told me to hire the smile and teach the skill.

I did that last time and have a better tech than his predessor.

John

 

[B&BGaryC]

Some good acvice there Gary!!

Almost sounds like what Steve T would say :wink:

A guy here in NZ taht also frequents here told me to hire the smile and teach the skill.

I did that last time and have a better tech than his predessor.

John

I actually got the idea on recruiting because a friend of mine always had a great attitude and he would always have people offering him jobs. I thought, "That's a great idea." However, Steve only reinforced that idea.

I could say that about most things I learned from Steve. And when I think about this, I am reminded of something. The greatest of teachers and the best persuaders will make you think it was all your idea in the first place.

 

[sweendogg]

The more water you use, the better the cleaning.
High flow can be achieved by bigger jets or simply slowing your strokes speed.
Yes, when spraying water only on the pull stroke you are reducing the time it actually stays in the carpet from 2-3 seconds to substantially less, however, how essential is it? Yes it will dry faster but then you can achieve the same by reducing flow, doing more dry passes or using a fan.

If your main claim to fame is how fast the carpet dries then that is what you have to do.

Though I suspect that the way he cleans (wet both ways) actually will remove more soil.

That is just my honest humble opinion.
Bear in mind I am not a "high performance" guy.

Now lets hear from the lunatic, dry before it's even wet, fringe.

Differnt strokes for differnt folks... you can do two wet passes with standard plumbing, or up the jet size and increase the wand efficiency and do one stroke with same amount of water... Some prefer the one large flush, some prefer water management and more strokes. Whatever gets the job done.. done correctly, and gets you paid.

But some food for thought or in our case some soil for sucking... we prespray to seperate and suspend soil from the carpet fiber.. correct? Now if you trigger on the backstroke, you lay down the solution followed very shortly by extraction. The suspended soil and cleanign solution from the wand mix and are sucked back up with out too much dwell time to settle. Now, key on the upstroke and your slurry of soil and rinse solution have time for gravity to pull it father down the carpet before being sucked up and potentially push more soil into the carpet.. Now new designs of angling jets at the wand head or wand glide help prevent the old force the water through the backing. But the above still leaves room for thought. My bet is that two flushing passes on the back stroke compared to a wet up stroke and back stroke on same wand and comparable speed, will render more soil removed and less water remaining in the carpet. and as I said above, larger plumbing simly allows you to lay down and extrac the same amount of water on one stroke compared to 1.5 or 2 strokes with the standard plumbin, thus saving time.

 

[Mikey P]

Our guys all clean like he does and our dry time are great sans a glide.

When you only have Vawter's 72 hour dry times to compare to I guess anything less can be considered "great"

 

[X-Treme Clean]

Not that my opinion matters. But we did some side by side comparison. It took almost an hour longer drying, doing spray back and forth but it looked way better after it dried.I think when you go forward the yarns are laying at a different angle and your jets are hitting them different, flushing chems and dirt out better. Then just did a extra dry stroke. Looked brighter afterwords mostly.

 

[B&BGaryC]

[quote="Ken Snow":1kc50tv8]Our guys all clean like he does and our dry time are great sans a glide.

When you only have Vawter's 72 hour dry times to compare to I guess anything less can be considered "great"[/quote:1kc50tv8]

We will not start a "hack wars" debate on this board until you remove the baby orangutan picture.

I will not tolerate a pissing match on a board that headlines a little monkey in overalls that makes you go, "Aaawwweee."

Besides, haven't we had this giant debate with the big truck operations and exhausted it to the point where we all leave saying, "To each his own."... Besides, for somebody who has been to SFS you oughta know that it doesn't really matter how the job is done, as long as the carpets are cleaner and the dry time isn't a total nuisance. The thing that matters is how the customer feels about it. If Ken is giving his custy's good feelings kudos to him. If Mikey is giving his customers good feelings along with an elitist sense of well being for paying $1,500.00 to get their carpets clean well than good for him. You are all managing the customer's emotional dynamic and it doesn't really matter what method you are using.


:Bracing for impact:

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(What, that isn't an emoticon?)

 

[Mikey P]

did you have your first beer tonight?


how dare you question the great Mikey P?

 

[B&BGaryC]

I have had enough beer in middle school to be bored of it by highschool.

 

[woodsey]

I use high flow with high heat after a good prespray. On medium soiled carpet I just spray on pull stroke slow and let the flow and heat do the work. I dry on the push . When I finish a section I go back over it with the wand not just to dry it but to put a very nice crisp "W" pattern for eye appeal . Its sort of a garnish and saves me time not having to use the gandi groomer. If its heavy soil I do what ever it takes, spray forward and back, chop strokes, soak it, boil it, aggitate and bill it. Woodsey

 

[Ken Snow]

Well said Gary! I think Mikey is again reliving his own experience with COI, where he was called a chimp and everything was about rushing through jobs and they probably did leave carpet pretty wet. His transferance of this on the rest of the multitruck companies of the world is only in his own mind.

Ken
Ps I cleaned my ex's carpet last fall (about 1800 sq ft of carpet). Less than an hour and a half to clean (very light soil), drove the truck back to office and came back which was a round trip of about an hour including draining etc.. The carpet was virtually totally dry on the stairs, the last area I had cleaned, and we both agreed totally dry everywhere else.

 

[Mike Draper]

we generally use 80-100 gallons per 1000 sq. ft. We use greenhorn, 2.5"hose, studebakers.

 

[roro]

Ken
Ps I cleaned my ex's carpet last fall (about 1800 sq ft of carpet). Less than an hour and a half to clean (very light soil), drove the truck back to office and came back which was a round trip of about an hour including draining etc..

You must have a very understanding "current" if she lets you do all that for the "ex" :shock:

roro

On to No 2