So, let’s remember that encapsulation is the way a chemistry dries in our application. It is not a method but can be used with all methods like hot water extraction and all forms of low moisture cleaning for carpet and upholstery, with excellent results. May have falsely taught that encaps can be used for any and all machines and be effective, but this is not always true. Here is why. In the picture below you see a carpet filament between my fingers and it is small, very small.
Now imagine the thickness of the encap polymer coating on that fiber. Now imagine using a scrub only machine like a Cimex for example that will scrub well but top flush all the greasy soils to the bottom of the carpet. Do you really think this small coating, even though it is great stuff, can hold all the soil, pounds of it in a dirty carpet or greasy carpet? It cannot. The scrubbing from the machine and chemistries will break up soils into smaller micro and even possibly nano-sized particles that the polymer can encapsulate, but is limited in just how much it can physically hold.
So, what do you do? Pre-vacuuming is a great first step and either extraction and or bonnets are critical to remove large amounts of soils to reduce the burden on the remaining encapsulation polymer so it can perform properly and effectively otherwise it’s like too much water in the tub and it will flow over, overwhelming the tub and spill out on everything around it. So is the case with encap only cleaning systems that don’t use bonnets or extraction. In low soil load situations, it can be fine, but for a greasy restaurant or high soil loads it must have the help of bonnets and or extraction so it can help prevent rapid or accelerated re-soiling and so the carpet cleaner is actually cleaning the carpet not just rearranging the soils. Don’t let the convenience of the method like a brush or fiber pad only system fool you into thinking one size fits all. It never has, as the soils build up in the carpet’s bottom — and that will eventually bite yours in the form of an unhappy or lost customer.
