Understanding CRI Certification

A CRI Seal of Approval on an extractor or a vacuum indicates the machine meets specific standards for operation and performance. 

Equipment manufacturers voluntarily submit their carpet care models for CRI''s independent testing. An independent board of scientists reviews the test results and recommends whether or not to certify the machine.

The CRI testing program certifies machine performance in three areas, in addition to an appearance assessment:

• Soil removal: The combination of foot traffic and dust settlement leads to a large amount of soil buildup in carpet. To gain certification, a vacuum must make four passes over a piece of test carpet that contains one-tenth of a gram of soil per square inch of carpet. Extractors must be able to remove 55 to 70 percent of soil to receive bronze certification, 70 to 80 percent earns silver distinction and more than 80 percent achieves gold certification.
• Dust containment: This protocol evaluates the total amount of dust released into the air during the act of vacuuming, requiring that the vacuum release no more than 100 micrograms of dust particles per cubic meter into the surrounding air.
• Water containment: Since moisture residue in carpet can cause any number of problems, from mold to fostering bacteria growth, it is important that no excess water remain after the extractor finishes cleaning an area. To test an extractor, the machine is allowed four passes over a carpet sample that contains a set quantity of water to remove as much water as possible. To receive certification, the machine can leave no more than eight ounces of water behind per square yard of carpet.
• Carpet appearance retention: Over time, dust accumulation can wear down carpet fibers and diminish the appearance of carpet. This test is designed to assess the impact of a particular machine on carpet appearance. A cut-pile carpet is subjected to one year of simulated use, including vacuuming or extracting and walking. Researchers compare before-and-after photographs to determine the amount of wear incurred using a technique called Spectrographic analysis. The vacuum or extractor receives a passing grade if the degree of wear is judged to be equal to or less than one year of standard use.

Results from all three tests are peer reviewed by experts in the field of maintenance and indoor air quality (IAQ) to assure their validity.

Cold Water Extraction: Is It Effective On Carpets? (Part 3)

The EPA advises that carpets be dried within 48 hours to prevent mold and mildew. However, LEED recommends 24 hours. What are your thoughts? How fast should carpet be dried before mold and mildew become a problem?
As you point out, there has been much debate on this topic. In fact, the Low Moisture Carpet Cleaning Association takes this even further, suggesting carpets should dry within two hours to help prevent mold and mildew from developing.

We believe carpets should dry as quickly as possible and suggest they dry in 24 hours or less.

A moisture-controlled carpet extractor can help ensure carpets dry in 24 hours or less, but cleaning professionals should know that many new wands have been developed using new “atomizing” technologies. These technologies apply and remove moisture so effectively that they can prove as effective — if not more effective — as using a low-moisture extractor.

— Jolynn Kennedy, marketing director, Tornado Industries, West Chicago, Ill.

I suspect that the EPA number is based on the science of how long it takes for mold or mildew to grow. Any good carpet extractor should be effective enough to allow a carpet to completely dry within 24 hours. However, in the event that high humidity and/or insufficient air movement in a room is prevent the carpet from drying rapidly, an air mover fan should be employed to reduce dry time.

— Scott Keller, vertical market manager–commercial buildings, Bob Abrams, product manager, Brian Simmons, product manager, Clarke, Plymouth, Minn.

Cold Water Extraction: Is It Effective On Carpets?

Is cold water extraction as effective as traditional hot water extraction?
This is one of the great debates of the carpet cleaning industry. Scientifically, hot water has been proven to improve the effectiveness of cleaning chemicals. However, many new carpet cleaning chemicals perform very well using cold water.

Many green cleaning advocates encourage the use of cold water for two reasons:

1. When hot water and chemicals are mixed, they can release fumes that can be potentially dangerous to the user. Cold water minimizes this.
2. Cold-water machines generally use considerably less energy, making the machines much more sustainable, and very often these systems are more cost effective as well.

Our recommendation is to evaluate the soil load and make a determination from there whether to use a hot- or cold-water machine. For excessive soiling, hot water may prove more effective.

— Jolynn Kennedy, marketing director, Tornado Industries, West Chicago, Ill.

Cold water should never be used in a carpet extractor. It’s just not very effective. Most carpet extractors use hot tap water, which is about 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Cooler water than this would be less effective. Some carpet extractors have built-in heaters that will heat the water to higher temperatures. The hotter the water, the more effective the cleaning. Even when using a carpet extractor with a heater, it runs more efficiently if hot tap water is used to fill the tank.

— Scott Keller, vertical market manager–commercial buildings; Bob Abrams, product manager; and Brian Simmons, product manager, Clarke, Plymouth, Minn.

Check back next week as we talk about tools to clean the stairs.

Proper Carpet Spotting

Technical content attributed to Clean Link.

What is carpet spotting and why it is important? Consider at least these two concerns:

1. Do you know how the carpet will react to the spotter?

Answering this question may require some research since not only should you know what the carpet is made of, but also what product is in the spot itself. Most carpet experts will advise you that you should use appropriate products and processes for a cola than for orange juice or for blood. Understanding the pH of the spot and the cleaning product is very important. Using the wrong spotter could either set the spot or simply expand it to a bigger stain.

2. Do you know what cleaning products have already been used in the carpet that may have left a residue?

This residue could react with the spotter causing damage or possibly setting the stain. I have come across carpets that had already been saturated in a soapy type cleaning product and simply needed rinsing. When I applied more cleaning product, there were reactions ranging from it bubbling and foaming to damaging the carpet fibers beyond repair.

Remember that in most instances, the number one choice of a spotter is tap (or better, distilled) water first with an absorbent cloth blotting (not rubbing) to see if the spot will wick into the cloth. I prefer white terry cloth for its absorbency. Be careful of using a colored cloth since the dies may actually wick into the carpet. Using water simply dissolves and suspends the soils so that the cloth can be used to blot it up.

From water, you should escalate your efforts to a mild alkaline (base) cleaner with a pH less than 8.5 or 9. Never go beyond pH of 10 unless you have carefully tested it in an inconspicuous area first. Give the product time to work and blot (don’t scrub/abrade) the carpet to avoid damaging the fibers.

Combat Dust

By: Scott Keller, Vertical Marketing Manager, Nilfisk-Advance

Protecting the health and safety of a facility and its occupants is one of the key challenges of a building services manager. This requires them to keep their building looking clean, visually appealing and, above all, improve the facility’s indoor air quality (IAQ). IAQ can be impacted from many types of dust particles, inside and out. Dust inside a building is present in a wide range of forms, from bacteria and allergens to paper dust and mold. Fine particles, such as asbestos and coal dust also add to dust generation. Dust from outside a facility, such as pollen, pesticides, fertilizers and other natural environmental toxins can also penetrate a building, which adds to poor IAQ.

Building services managers can combat dust particles with carpet cleaning equipment designed to effectively contain dust particles and remove soil while providing efficient, sustainable performance. When selecting carpet care equipment, cleaning professionals turn to the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI), which rates machines on their ability to remove soil, contain dust and retain quality carpet appearance.

CRI Certification

A CRI Seal of Approval on a vacuum indicates the machine meets specific standards for operation and performance. Equipment manufacturers voluntarily submit their carpet care models for the Carpet and Rug Institute’s independent testing. An independent board of scientists reviews the test results and recommends whether to certify the machine. The CRI testing program certifies machine performance in three areas:

• Soil Removal: The combination of foot traffic and dust settlement leads to a large amount of soil buildup in carpet. To gain certification, a vacuum must make four passes over a piece of test carpet that contains one-tenth of a gram of soil per square inch of carpet.
• Dust Containment: This protocol evaluates the total amount of dust released into the air during the act of vacuuming, requiring that the vacuum release no more than 100 micrograms of dust particles per cubic meter into the surrounding air. 
• Carpet Appearance Retention: Over time, dust accumulation can wear down carpet fibers and diminish the appearance of carpet. This test is designed to assess the impact of a particular machine on carpet appearance. A cut-pile carpet is subjected to one year of simulated use, including vacuuming and walking. Researchers compare before-and-after photographs to determine the amount of wear incurred using a technique called Spectrographic analysis. The vacuum receives a passing grade if the degree of wear is judged to be equal to or less than one year of standard use. 

Results from all three tests are peer reviewed by experts in the field of maintenance and indoor air quality to assure their validity.

Carpet Cleaning – Why You Have Carpet Spots

This article was originally published by Bald Guy Clean.

Carpet Cleaning Chemicals – Too Much and Too Many

The first mistake most make when cleaning carpet, it to use too many or too much carpet cleaning chemical. This is because there are so many.

There are probably twice as many carpet cleaning chemicals on the market than there are types of carpet. Everyone has been taught that you need to use pre-spray, de-browner, extraction cleaner, neutralizer, de-foamer, brightener, sanitizer and then a de-odorizor. Then you can apply a stain fighter or carpet protector, but when that fails you need several more chemicals to address specific stains and spots too.

That is a lot of chemical to pump into what is basically fabric! Most of those chemicals are sticky, even when diluted. After you have carpets cleaned, they are wet, right? Put your hand on that wet, clean carpet. Now let your hand dry and tell me what it feels like. Tacky? That’s how your carpet is too. The over use of chemicals are viewed as a short cut to removing dirt, but in fact, they will cause the accumulation of even more dirt. This stickiness stays with the carpet, covering over or even removing the stain fighting abilities that are built into carpet at the mill. The carpets may appear clean at first, but in a very short amount of time, the dirt begins to accumulate much quicker than it did before.

Even worse, when you need to clean them again, you will be battling the sticky residue from the last time you cleaned along with the dirt that it is holding.

Read the full article here to learn more about carpet cleaning solutions and chemicals. 

The Advantages of CRI Certified Extractors: Longer Lasting Carpet

We have discussed how CRI-certified carpet extractors can help to improve a facility's indoor air quality and lower cleaning costs. Today, we finish our blog post series by discussing how these extractors can help facilities achieve Longer Lasting Carpet.

The soil in carpet is not only unsightly and unhealthy, it is also destructive. Carpet soil includes sharp and abrasive microscopic particles, which when walked on, cut into carpet fibers and abrade them. This ultimately causes the carpet to continuously appear dirty. Over time, the wear caused by soil will require replacement of the carpet sooner than would otherwise be necessary. Having CRI’s certification means an extractor is both able to effectively remove dust particles, as well as not adversely affect the carpet’s overall appearance. Additionally, a certified machine will effectively remove the water from the carpet, thus greatly reducing mold and bacteria growth. All this translates to a longer life for your carpet.

To learn more about Advance's CRI-certified carpet extractor solutions, visit: www.advance-us.com.

New ES4000 Total Carpet Care System from Advance Provides Complete Flexibility for Carpet Maintenance

The new ES4000 Total Carpet Care System delivers unprecedented versatility in a single convenient, controlled platform. Offering four distinct operational modes, the ES4000 can dry sweep, interim extract, pre-treat or restore carpets—providing a flexible solution for carpet care applications ranging from daily maintenance to deep restorative extraction.

The ES4000 allows users to efficiently switch between four different cleaning modes, providing the time-saving versatility to accommodate varying carpet care requirements:

• Dry Sweep Mode utilizes dual brushes, vacuum suction, dust misting and two-stage filtration for complete dust containment, providing daily sweeping capabilities up to 35,000 square feet per hour.
• Interim Mode provides the capability to extract up to 14,000 square feet of carpet in a singe pass in one hour, allowing for room turnaround in less than 30 minutes.
• Pre-Treat Mode allows operators the flexibility to pre-treat up to 21,000 square feet of carpet per hour, or lay encapsulates, in a single pass while riding, increasing productivity.
• Restorative Mode deep cleans heavy traffic areas where more attention is required, cleaning up to 7,000 square feet of carpet per hour.

The ES4000 Total Carpet Care System meets green cleaning equipment requirements with Carpet and Rug Institute Seal of Approval (CRI-SOA) certification. CRI-SOA certification proves equipment quality and cleaning effectiveness to protect and maintain a facility’s carpet life. With operation no louder than a person speaking, the ES4000 permits daytime cleaning without disturbing facility occupants. The ES4000 also adds to facility sustainability with onboard detergent metering, eliminating the need to pre-mix solution and reducing chemical costs and overall environmental impact.

To learn more about the ES4000, please visit http://www.nextcom.com/pressreleases/2054

Effective Cleaning for Floors With Carpet

Although many facilities present hard-floor surface cleaning applications, some facilities, such as offices and classrooms, require floor cleaning for carpets as well. Carpets are often more difficult to maintain and require additional equipment and detergents.

To satisfy floor cleaning requirements for both hard-floor surfaces and carpeted floors—without purchasing multiple pieces of equipment—facility owners can employ a multi-function machine, such as a combination scrubber-extractor, to complete all floor cleaning jobs.

This eliminates the need to buy a separate machine for extracting carpets and reduces the number of times staff has to return to the supply closet to change machines. Multi-function machines help improve cleaning efficiency by minimizing labor and costs.