Most of us have been judging presprays and cleaning products for carpet and upholstery by the PH level. We are taught not to go over 10 unless its a really trashed synthetic rug. It has made us judge the strength and performance of a solution by PH alone and I know this isn't the whole story. I see many presprays available that have lower PH values that could work just as well, because of their formulation. I'm sure Scott would agree on this. The question here is what other factors should we be looking at when accessing a prespray? Can someone either write an article in the next cleanfax, or post a link or article here for us to learn more about our chems. All I know for sure is there are things like Surfactants, solvents, brighteners, polarity, Ionic/non ionic etc and it all gets very confusing. No wonder we just look at PH and how nice it smells.
I really only see if the product has enzyme and oxidizers. and i think all of them have surfactant! but i love the enzymes.
That is more like a request for a dozen articles. I will hit a few key points and direct you to more information. Surfactants There are easily hundreds of different surfactants used as raw materials or ingredients in our industry. The goal of all of them is essentially the same, but there are variations in how they do this. Surfactants break down surface tension of water making it "wetter" so that it penetrates better. Surfacants may also do many other things, help loosen soil through chrges at the molecular level, keep loosened soil suspended either in oil or water or both, prevent loosened soil from reattaching or redepositing itself on the surface being cleaned. Surfactants may also help other ingredients besides water penetrate into a fiber or fabric. Some surfactants tend to push liquids into a surface, others spread liquid across a surface. To see how these forces work, place a large drop of water on a piece of cardboard or a paper plate. Observe the rounded shape of the drop caused by surface tension pulling the water molecules together. Now dip a toothpick into your favorite prespray and touch the toothpick to the water drop. You should see the water quickly spread out and begin to penetrate the paper or cardboard due to the presence of a surfactant in the prespray. Selecting the right surfactant or combination of surfactants can be a key part of developing a cleaning agent. Maybe weeks of time spent in a lab seeing how a surfactant reacts with different soils, combinations of soils, at different temperatures, with hard or soft water and so forth. If you have not worked with surfactants, you would be surprised how much difference variables make. Polarity Most molecules tend to have a balance or symetry that keeps them electrically neutral. Water is different. We all know H2O, but it is not arranged in a balanced or symetrical arrangement like this H-O-H. Instead the the Hs are on top like Mickey Mouse ears on an Oxygen head. The result is a difference in the electrical charge from top to bottom. Even though as a whole the molecule is neutral, the top (H area) is more negative and the oxygen portion is more positive. This leads to water having a greater ability to disolve many things. The elctric charge makes it more active. Surfactants can come in 4 types. 1) Cationic where the end of the molecule that reacts with water tends to be negative. This is common in sanitizers, disinfectants, fabric softeners. Cationic molecules have poor to average cleaning ability but have other desirable qualities. 2) Anionic surfactants have a water reactive end that is positive. These are more common in cleaning products. 3) Non-ionic In these molecules the ends are uncharged and the center of the molecule holds the charge. These are usually good cleaners and more stable and long-lasting than anionic. So many quality cleaning products use many non-ionic surfactants. 4) Amphoteric surfactants have two charge ends that can react with water differently. They can be thought of as V shaped with one end positive and one end negative and no charge at the point. This type of molecule can handle all types of electrical charges and thus disolve a wide range of soil type. These are also safer to human contact. You will find amphoteric surfactanst in the "no tears" baby shampoo for example. This surfactant is more expensive to make. It will be used in some premium priced cleaning products. pH, Total Alkalinity, Buffering - Many soils, but not all tend to be acidic. They will disolve better when neutralized by alkalines. We all heard that in a CCT class. But that is only part of the reason alkalinity matters. Perhaps a bigger reason is that alkalinity helps to emulsify grease. (Break grease or oil into tiny droplets that will be surrounded by surfactants and float around in water.) So the more alkalinity the faster we cut through grease. pH is not all there is to alkalinity. If all that mattered was the number - pH 10 or 11 or 12 - you might expect that when diluted with water at a pH of 7, the resulting mix would be pretty close to 7. After all, there might be 8 or 16 or 32 times as much water as prespray. Total alkalinity and buffering describe how well the pH of a cleaning agent is maintained even when diluted. For example a cleaner with a pH of 10.5 in the bottle. Mix it with 32 parts water. Is the pH of the mix 7.1 or 8 or 9 or 10? If the total alkalinity is high, or we could say highly buffered, the prespray resists change and the pH of the mix may still be 10.0 or higher. If total alkalinity is low, the pH may drop rapidly. Total alkalinity and buffering explain why one product with a pH of 10 is OK on wool while another with a pH of 9 may not be safe for wool. If the 9 is highly buffered it stays at 9, which may be too high for the dyes used on the wool. For more on this topic see my articles on pH and total alkalinity. You can find it here on TMF in another post or in Clenafax magazine archives or on my new website www.cleanwiki.com. You'll find all kind of technical information on Cleanwiki site. Optical Brighteners These products absorb ultraviolet light and reflect it back as white light or often as blueish-white light. When optical brighteners are used a fiber can appear to get brighter after cleaning (Remember the whiter than white laundry detergent that used a light meter on clothes washed with this product?). OB can be fine for laundry to make the colors and whites look bright and shiny. However, after a few weeks of exposure to UV light, the OB begin to degrade and turn yellow/ and then eventually brown. Not a big problem if they are washed out and replaced every week or two when the laundry is done. But few people clean their carpets every month. So OB make a carpet or piece of upholstery look great right after cleaning, but the appearance goes down hill after several weeks. Carpet manufacturers don't want Ob used on their carpets. No major manufacturer of presprays uses them for carpet presprays. A couple use them for upholstery products. Bridgepoint does not use OB in any of our products.
I have written an article for Cleanfax on oxidizers and reducers. It can also be found on www.cleanwiki.com Now I will tell you a secret about enzymes. They work great in spot and stain removers and deodorizers if they are given enough time to work. They don't always work so great in presprays. Here is why. A percentage of folks are allergic to enzyme. When they are in presprays, especially powder presprays, the dust from enzyme can get into the air, be unhaled and cause allergic reaction in some people. To prevent this, manufacturers of enzymes coat them. This makes them heavy enough to stay out of the air and prevent speople from having direct contact with the enzyme. All they could touch would be the coating around the enzyme. However, this coating takes some time and hot water to disolve. No problem if the enzyme is in a laundery detergent. 40 minutes in hot water and it has disolved and plenty of time to work. But if you don't vigorously mix your enzyme or you don't use proper water temp erature, you can easily end up with enzyme still coated and not working. Look for little white particles that don't disolve. From the admitedly few users I have checked this on, I think most were happy about the enzyme cleaner becuase of the high alkalinity of the product or the oxygen boosters in it, not the enzyme action.
Great stuff from Scott. Another resource you may check is Cleanfax Magazine. If you go to their site and type in Aziz Ullah you will get a treasure chest of articles from the good Doc. I am not saying you will understand them but he has written a ton of good articles over the years. Aziz always gives the straight scoop not the marketing version. I totally agree with Scott on enzymes. They are overused.
I also agree about enzymes. They have a place and certain use, like one of the tools in your toolbox. Enzymes "eat" stuff over time. When an enzyme prespray comes out like "powerburst" or similar, you are marvelling at the performance of the highly alkaline cleaners, but unless you are using it on carpet with a lot of biological soiling and allowing it at least 30 mins and using lots of heat, the enzymes themselves are not accomplishing a whole lot.
Enzymes need quite a bit of time to digest and or do their thing. I sell enzymes to restaurants for the grease traps, this product turns grease and fat into water. I use the same enzymes in the 22 gallon black tank of my camper and it works like a charm. I recently did the most disgusting dog pee job I have ever seen in the last 19 years. This job was in an apartment building where the dog owner did not walk her dog, she sent him into the hallway to pee and she did this daily. I found 30 black circle shaped stains down one side of the hall. Cleaned it with the Cimex and all the stains were gone upon inspection 24 hours later....BUT the pee smell was severe. I scrubbed the carpet again with my Cimex but this time used my special enzymes.....let the enzymes work for 24 hours Went back and the odor was gone.... HWE the enzymes set up air movers and the rest is history. I checked it again 3 weeks later to see if I could smell any pee and nope it was all good. Let your enzymes work, let them do what they like to do....DIGEST NASTY THINGS We also use it in the recovery tanks on the Ninja and Cleanco
Although this is a great in-depth and highly technical description of what is in our cleaning products, this information cannot be found on the label or in the advertising of the products we consider trying. I suppose the closest you could find this information as to polarity, exact chemical contents, ionic/nonionic, Surfactants, solvents, brighteners and all the other stuff is with the MSDS sheet.
What do you mean when you say you "Let the enzymes work for 24 hours"? Did you keep them wet? Did you apply with a pressure spayer and not extract for 24 hours? Could you be more specific. My understanding is that for them to work, they must me kept moist, perhaps by keeping a wet towel or something on top of the enzyme-applied surface. And the warmer the better. Need more input...
Try this. take a piece of carpet 1x1 spray twice what you would normally use as prespray then monitor the moisture with a Hydro-Sensor. See how long it is "wet" I only use 24 hours as a convenient time to return but it should be at least 18 hours that the enzymes are feasting.
Great thread concerning Enzymes !! Is their any health concerns with leave carpet wet with enzymes overnight? JIM
Some folks have reaction (like allergy) to enzymes. So don't have kids or even adults on the carpets while they are wet / damp with enzymes. Inhalation of enzymes in a powder can be harmful as well. For this reason, some enzymes are encapsulated or have a thin coating. These may take longer to dicolve but are safer. Be careful with the dust from a powdered enzyme. Do not have air movement. Do not have other people around when mixing. Wear a dust mask or repsirator. Once mixed and wet, most folks have no problems with enzymes.
Richard; There are several types of urine-treatment enzymes, and enzyme-generating organisms in our industry. The least expensive products have bacteria that produce enzymes. Next up the cost ladder, you have pure enzyme products, which act must faster and are more durable. Then you have pure oxidizers like percarbonate, boosters, etc. At the top of the effectiveness ladder, you have pure enzymes with a compatible oxidizer. (in our PowerMax & Odor-Attack). These give the best results for urine treatment, when used in sufficient quantities. Like Locko, we like the combination for prespraying. Larry
