IN PLANT RUG CLEANING
After inspection and dusting the rug, it should be wetted out with a pre-conditioning solution. This is especially important with wool fibers as they naturally resist moisture and do not wet out evenly without dwell time. Solvents also are needed to break down oily bonds and reliquefy dried out oil base soils. Make a solution of 4 & 3/4 gallons of warm water (75 degrees to 100 degrees) to 32 ounces (1/4 gallon) of Sublime ( or use 6 ounces per gallon for smaller batches). spray entire rug including fringes, using a #06 spray jet. Apply evenly to wet out rug. Flip rug over and lightly spray back. Now the rug is ready for your main cleaning solution. LST is your best choice for most rugs. Mix LST at 8 ounces per gallon of warm water (75 degrees to 100 degrees) and add to the tank of your shampoo machine. If available, you will find that a Cimex machine will be superior to a single disk machine for cleaning most rugs. Start on the back and include the fringes, shampooing the rug evenly. Flip over and shampoo the front evenly including the fringes. We need to consider a few side points here. New shampoo brushes must be broken in before use on rugs. See box entitled “Breaking In New Brushes”. One must know how operate a single disk “swing” machine, if you do not, you will need some hands-on training before cleaning a customer’s rug. You cannot learn from reading or watching, it is much like learning how to ride a bike, you just have to have hands-on experience.
Choice of cleaning solution: While we already note that LST is most often your best choice, sometimes you may want to use a speciality solution. Make sure to use a product designed for the fiber type that you are cleaning. Most carpet cleaning products are designed for synthetic fibers and are not appropriate for most Oriental and fine quality rugs. Wool Rug Shampoo is slightly alkaline and is designed for cleaning heavily soiled wool rugs. Wool Rug Shampoo is a more aggressive cleaner to LST. Silk Rug Shampoo is designed for cleaning silk, it is milder than LST. The pH is lower to be just right for silk.
Triple Deodorizing Shampoo is designed to clean and deodorize rugs, including those with urine contamination. It is safe on all natural fibers. Keep in mind that urine does damage some fibers and dyes. This is pre-existing damage from urine, not cleaning. After, shampooing, a through cold water rinse is required. Flood rinse the entire rug with a water hose. If the rug is extremely soiled, a power washer maybe employed, use cold water and adjust pressure to 300psi-400psi. Pressure wash rug face pile and do not forget the fringes, as power washing is a great tool for cleaning them. Use a Rug Squeegee or a Rug Roller to move soils, contaminates and rinse water from rug. Once you notice that no more suds are coming out, place water hose under rug to flush the back, using your rug squeegee or rug roller to move rinse water and soils away from rug.Now the rug is ready for the flat bed washers. (if you do not have a flat bed washing machine i.e. Moore of Mirza, use a hot water extraction unit, truckmount or portable, just leave out the hot water part and use the vacuum only. (See section on Pit Cleaning).
Place rug, face side up on the washer. Make sure to set rug well beyond the pin roller to reduce yarns snags from pins, This is a two man job on all but small rugs or runners.. Adjust wash and rinse jet pressure to 300psi – 400psi. Adjust wringer pressure for maximum water extraction as practical. Use both Rug Wash Liquid and Rug Wash Powder in your machines carburetor. Fill your tank until it covers over the agitator blades. Turn agitator on. Slowly pour in the entire pail of Rug Wash Powder and continue to fill with water until tank is almost full, then add one full gallon Rug Wash Liquid and fill tank to full. Set dilution meter at 30 to 1.