Lets talk about extraction rinse!

Im a little confused lately about all these brands of "extraction rinse". Im not talking about acid rinse, that stuff I totally understand the concept. I mean the powdered detergents that I have been using as a prespray for quite a few years now, and with great results. But it bothers me that these products were not intended to be used in this way.

Someone today told me the rinse detergents will be "ok" but lack certain ingredients that the regular presprays contain for use as a pre-treatment of carpet.

My issue is that these "presprays" do not perform as well as the extraction rinse detergents. I mean, I can make the carpet clean with a standard prespray such as.. Ultrapac but I have to work much harder at it to get the same results. Even my own supplier admits that Ultrapac is designed for use on lightly soiled residential carpet and will have little effect on heavy soil.

So, what is the purpose of these extraction rinses? Some examples are Matrix finish first, Esteam TMC, Prochem dry slurry, Green Balance Extraction Rinse, They seem to do the exact opposite of an acid rinse. It seems to me that you are rinsing out soap with soapy water, how can you possibly ever win? There is no way to clean a carpet this way without leaving a residue.

I've known for many years that an amateur tech worries about getting out the dirt, but a pro thinks about the soap.

Why would you want to leave the carpet in a high PH state? Most extraction rinses run 8.5 -9.0 PH

So, if it makes no sense to use detergent as a rinse, then why do they make so darn much of it? In so many different brands. It completely eludes me.

I use clean soft water for rinsing and extraction. Then I know there is little to zero residue, nothing left behind but fresh clean carpet or upholstery. Besides, IF I mixed up extraction rinse, then my chemical injection system jug has to hold soap instead of Deo, which is what I usually keep in my chemical feed, for when it's needed.

There is no room to put multiple jugs in the van either. Maybe if I ever get the trailer idea going I could do that.

So, why use extraction rinse for the purpose it is designed? I see no benefit.

Thanks for the help on this one Scott.

So the main advantage to the rinse detergent is to "soften" the water to allow better penetration. What about those that use filtered softened water already? And what about the PH state that the rinse is leaving the carpet in? Causing negative effects on the fibres themselves?

We used to kill pump after pump after pump in our portable and our suppliers had no idea why they kept going leaky on us. Finally we realized it was because of running detergents and rinses through them in the portable.

At one point we were killing a pump every three months. And it was over $600 for a new pump, plus several hours to replace it.

We decided to run only straight water rinse through the portable and nothing else. And since we started doing that, we have gone well over a year without having to replace a pump, using it all day, 5 days a week full time.

Detergents and rinses kill pumps in portables!

The prochem solution, they do not say which one it is, and they have dozens of different presprays, this particular solution obviously does not contain any degreasers. Boost it with a bit of citrus sol and the oil will break down the same way. This is why I add a little bit of citrus sol to the detergent solution if I am mixing up a prespray, to give it enough degreaser to have exactly this effect on oily soils, making them water soluble.

Porty users and distributors may believe what they choose, I have learned from experience, and very much the hard and expensive way, that running anything more than water through a pump will damage it. Why do you think our truckmounts have "last step chemical injection" systems? To avoid running chemicals through the pump of course! They work on a gravity feed principle, similar to the way a hydroforce works.


Our Ninja had hypro pumps that lasted three months tops when running rinse through them, and finally Esteam switched to a different pump, a ceramic plunger style, not sure what brand but they are much more reliable than Hypro.

Regardless, as soon as we stopped putting stuff in the water the pumps started lasting longer, a LOT longer, like over a year compared to three months.

Lance, I agree that softened water cannot degrease, but the question was, is that the only purpose of a detergent rinse, to soften the water, if so, I already have soft water. The detergent rinse perhaps has some degreasing properties, if that is what you meant.

The water temperature never exceeded 130 degrees. Hot water from the tap, no heater in the unit.

Im using dry slurry now, it works great, even on oily spots, however I'm also going to give Prochem Power burst a try too and see how it performs on "non organic" soils.

The sample you sent me worked pretty good too, I called Esteam about it and they told me the "e clean" line is more for janitorial purposes, however they make a similar product more specifically designed for carpet cleaning called "TMC" but it was pretty much the same as your "e clean" extraction detergent powder. The only negative point about the TMC was the price point, at $50 for an 8lb jar I think I will have to use something else.

I also ordered in some of Bridgepoint's "green balance" to see how it performs, but they sent me "extraction liquid" in error. So, since we are testing truckmount extraction detergents anyway, I'll be trying it out as a prespray also, just to see how it does. Problem with green balance is that Canadian suppliers dont stock it, and I have to order it in from the states, takes 2-3 weeks.