It will vary, but basically it is a polymer similar to carpet protectors. But it is desgined to emulsify soils and come loose from the fiber pretty easily. Protectors are designed to stay on the fiber for months or years. Once dry there is no way it can be harmful. Swallong would be bad on the digestive system. Inhaling the mist from spraying would be bad to the lungs. Use a system that puts it right on the carpet rather than a fine mist in the air.
Thanks Scott. Are they similar 'chemically' or just in use? I can't find a supplier that list the ingredients openly.Can you tell what they are?
The ingredients in our encap products and I suspect in everyone elses are proprietary secrets. The polymers are developed by companies that specialize in that. There are very few companies that make specialty polymers. (Like Dupont and 3M for carpet protectors). So no I can not tell you the ingredients. But I don't think you would recognize the ingredients if I did tell you. They were developed for us and are not used by other companies. The products are physically similar to carpet protection polymers, but not necessacerrily chemically similar.
Scott,you are aware that dupont has settled a class action lawsuit and has agreed to remove teflon from the marketplace by 2015. THEY SAID IT WAS SAFE FOR 50 YEARS to the tune of a billon dollars a year. I just want to know if encap is just flake off teflon.And of course manufacturers wouldn't lie . But if it walks like a duck....I don't wish to lie to my customers just to make an extra buck. Besides I have eight grand kids . I wonder about any company that hides behind 'secret formula's and trade secrets. You are right that I wouldn't recognize the ingredients but I bet I could research them -and would.
ummm..can you give anymore info on this? The only thing that I could find at all has to do with Teflon nonstick coating (like on pots and pans). That lawsuit (as far as I can find) has not been settled. I don't think that is the same as the carpet protector. There have been no reported illnesses but apparently some scientist think that it is "likely" to cause cancer in humans. I can find nothing about them taking it off the market by 2015. If it was truly a health risk do you really think that the FDA/EPA or anyone else would give them 7 years to stop selling it?:AddEmoticons04259:
please go to KLEENKUIP.com and clickon the red bar (discussions) tenth topic down SCOTCHGUARD AND TEFLON PROTECTORS BE SURE TO FOLLOW THE LINKS
The polymers in our encap cleaner are not Teflon or Scotcgard. They are a newer technology. There is a lot of misinformation about Teflon and related products. Let me try to say what is and is not a potential hazard. Teflon is actually a brand name that covers many products. The Teflon used in non-stick cookware is not the same Teflon used as carpet protectors. The cookware has been the center of discussions on health issues. It does release some toxic vapors when the temperature exceeds 1400 F. Of course if the pan in yourkitchen is over 1400 degrees, you likely have other greater threats - your kitchen is on fire! PFOA / PFOS has been used in manufacturing many carpet protectors. This does build up in human tissues. It is a possible health risk, although nothing known for sure. It enters the body through drink water that was contaminated with waste from the manufacturing operation. It is not present in any carpet protector as a final product. It does not get into the boidy through use of these protectors. Inhaling any polymer in the liquid form as a mist can coat tissue in the lungs. This is probably the greatest health risk. When spraying carpet protectors - Dont use too much pressure. Excess pressure can aerosolize the drops into a mist that hangs in the air. Don't use too small a spray jet. Bigger jet means bigger droplets that fall to the carpet rather than stay suspended in the air. A XX04 size is the minimum that should be used. Personally, I like to use the XX06 spray tips. Wear a respirator or at least a dust mask if you have concerns about your own health. Do not allow anyone including children and pets in the area where a protector is being sprayed. Once the proetector has dried ther is no longer any threat of inhaling it. It is safe. The newest protectors just coming out use Capstone technology. THese are consider much safer in the manufacturering stage due to no PFOA or PFOS. DuPont is already doing what DuPont promised the EPA it would do by the end of 2010 - using a new technology that is considered much safer and does not build-up in the body and is not suspected to be a health hazard.
get informed ..it appears to be a shell game visit EWG.ORG search 'capstone' Dupont changed from C8 to C6 because they were made to.. now the chase starts all over again and the original question was "what are the ingredients in encap?" Doesn't the smoke screen on teflon seem similar to the one being used concerning encap products? Anyone who reads this should care enough to dig for the truth...
What's in the formula for Coke? Even the carpet industries that sell encap products don't know what are in the polymers they buy. Those are closely guarded secrets by the polymer manufacturers. Millions of people drink Coke every day. A whole lot more Coke drinkers than people having their carpet encappped. People don't know the ingredients in Coke but they don't mind ingesting it. One of the ingredients in Coke is phosphoric acid. That can be pretty nasty stuff if misused. But used as directed, no problem. I don't suggest anyone swallow or inhale an encap product. It may not even be a great product for residential cleaning. But for commercial carpet cleaning where the product is dried before anyone comes into the room, no kids crawling on the floor and such, great. It is safe when use properly. BTW - If someone does have the secret formula for Coke, I will try to arrange a trade for the secret formula for encap polymers.
I was reading about polymers and apparently there are natural and synthetic based polymers but the type of polymers in encap cleaning solutions are proprietary. I wonder which type is used in encap and if one is safer than the other.
Carpet cleaning chenicals changed because some were deemed harmful and just read this very board about butyls and 1,1,1,tri....and you know they are.Many carpet cleaners wouldn't use them if you gave it to them for free. Chemicals manufacturers change only when they are are exposed or sued. They multi milliom dollar settlement with Dupont was not to prove teflon unsafe but showed they knew it was for decades and covered it up. Where do you think the theme for the movie Michael Clayton came from. I think you have nothing to worry about Scott ,I see no one has taken the time to visit the links mentioned above ,obviously no one gives a crap. That's the real problem. It's safe.....you can trust me ! It's top secret! No one really knows! They couldn't sell it if it weren't safe! I didn't even know there was a problem with teflon until I asked what was in encap and was told I wouldn't understand.
Dupont agreeded to stop making teflon not because it was proven to be harmful(which it was) but because they covered it up for decades while they reaped billons. So even the fines were just a drop in the bucket to they money the made. How they have a replacement and it already has been shown to be just as harmful but sales have continued unabatted. It's even called Scotchguard and Dupont Teflon. But that was not my original question. I didn't even know there was the issue with teflon uhtil I posted my question WHAT'S IN ENCAP? and got the run around.I did a little homework ,posted what I found and here we are. Scott you don't have to worry about this impacting sales because no one has bothered to visit the links mentioned so they don't care. It's obvious I'm not going to get the truth here. It's top secret..you wouldn't understand ..It's safe TRUST ME . Cleaning use to mean taking as much residue from the customer.s place as possible now it's we spray our magic pixie liquid on and it'll flake off for weeks but don't worry it's safe --they said so.
I did look at those links. And you still haven't shown me a problem with Teflon Carpet Protector, when used as directed. Heck, you haven't proven a problem with any of the Teflon products.
There is a new encap product out - Encapuclean Green Double Strength. All the ingredients were selected from the Cleangredients list. This is an organization that ha snothing to do with manufacturers but rather set-up to help the public know what was in the products. They have a list of ingredients or raw materials they know to be green or non-harmful to the environment, to people, to pets, etc. All the ingredients in the Encap Green DS were selected from that list of approved raw materials.
Scott I checked out cleangredients.com and it is not open to the public so can learn nothing there. Shell game again. The fact there is a new green encap means the other encaps must not be green. Still doesn't address the problem of flaking particulates into the air in closed buildings. Encap is being pushed as the new norm for commercial maintainence of carpets because it is fast and can be done cheaper. Ask the employees of any building what they think of a product in their building that flakes off over a period of time and watch the dust fly.
People (cc's)don't care about green products. ask any dealer (like me) we try and try to direct people to DFC and Ecogent and for the most part they don't want it. BUT THAT'S ALL I'LL USE IN MY HOUSE, RV AND CAR.
paladin; Our cleaning encap technology does not utilize a fluorochemical polymer. It is an acrylic polymer that has a good safety profile. We do make an encap with a fluorochemical added, but it is less than 5% of our total encap sales volume. As Scott mentioned, the main PFOA concerns have been eliminated from the fluorochemicals being used in protectors today. Larry Cobb
