Steam Cleaning Basics

[TTQ B4U]

First time I hear about APC leading to re-soiling... can you elaborate? In what way does APC make the fabric easier to get dirty again?

Using APC in the 10+ range can also cause re-soiling if you don't neutralize it with an acid or rinse enough. Even with basic more balanced products, I mix white vinegar into my rinse solution.

[Belo]

What kind of steamer you use?


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I'm not sure I can mention the brand as it's not sold on AG, but you can see it in the picture and find it on amazon and ebay. I'm a hobbyist and just can't swing the professional $600 ones.

How often did you swap to a new cloth?


I too like to use a cotton towel on the triangle brush attachment and this is what I also show in my classes. The paint in the butt part is if you're cleaning anything dirty - the only way to really leave an area clean is to change cloths often.

excellent point, I noticed it got super dirty in one pass. I was using an old hand towel, so I could kind of just shift the towel... but it's not easy. It's hot, wet and I was using the wife's hairtie to keep it on lol.

[TTQ B4U]

excellent point, I noticed it got super dirty in one pass. I was using an old hand towel, so I could kind of just shift the towel... but it's not easy. It's hot, wet and I was using the wife's hairtie to keep it on lol.

I do a two-handed pass. I don't do a lot of interiors as I prefer not to, but when I do, I simply use I use a small home-based steam cleaner and use it in my left hand with the steamer in my right. The way I do it is to pre-treat the area for a few minutes with just a light spray from the solution tank of the small unit. Then as I pass over the areas with the steamer, not only is that steam extracted but also the pre-treatment is pulled out. I may do 1-2 or more passes depending on the need and then I finish with a small spray of rinse water and a final extraction.

Certainly not as simple as some of the professional units but the results are excellent and it works for me.

[Mike Phillips]

First time I hear about APC leading to re-soiling... can you elaborate?

In what way does APC make the fabric easier to get dirty again?

I'll take a shot at answering this...



It's not so much an APC leading to re-soiling, it's ANYTHING you apply and don't 100% remove. If you spray some APC or any type of cleaner onto your hand and let it dry, the film will feel sticky or tacky. Same thing applies to a fabric.

This is why in my detailing classes I only show using water in a hot water extractor - not water plus an APC or some type of upholstery cleaner. If you're always injecting a cleaner into fabric or upholstery when using an extractor you're always injecting the CLEANER INTO the fabric or upholstery. You are NEVER purely extracting. Thus you leave some level of residue behind and this can accelerate re-soiling.



Now follow me....

If the above happens wit a tool that injects and then extracts liquids (extractors) - how much more so will the same thing happen when using a steam machine that ONLY cleans topically - it doesn't EXTRACT. Thus any cleaning agents (and dirt loosened with the cleaner), that is NOT on the surface will thus remain IN the fabric and because it will be tacky or sticky it will lead to accelerated re-soiling.


At least that's my opinion based upon using these tools and what my brain is able to figure out simply by thinking about it.



Just to note - when I lived in California - there was a carpet cleaning company called zerorez, (note zerorez is a palindrome, which spells the same thing backwards or forwards), and their entire sells pitch was with their system they leave ZERO RESIDUE. And of course they also claim any system that DOES leave a residue leads to accelerated re-soiling.

Also the way they claim to clean without cleaners is to use what the call/make Electrolyzed Oxidated Water - Assuming this is true and accurate then they are injecting water and extracting water and whatever is in the carpet or upholstery.

[Belo]

I'll take a shot at answering this...



It's not so much an APC leading to re-soiling, it's ANYTHING you apply and don't 100% remove. If you spray some APC or any type of cleaner onto your hand and let it dry, the film will feel sticky or tacky. Same thing applies to a fabric.

This is why in my detailing classes I only show using water in a hot water extractor - not water plus an APC or some type of upholstery cleaner. If you're always injecting a cleaner into fabric or upholstery when using an extractor you're always injecting the CLEANER INTO the fabric or upholstery. You are NEVER purely extracting. Thus you leave some level of residue behind and this can accelerate re-soiling.



Now follow me....

If the above happens wit a tool that injects and then extracts liquids (extractors) - how much more so will the same thing happen when using a steam machine that ONLY cleans topically - it doesn't EXTRACT. Thus any cleaning agents (and dirt loosened with the cleaner), that is NOT on the surface will thus remain IN the fabric and because it will be tacky or sticky it will lead to accelerated re-soiling.


At least that's my opinion based upon using these tools and what my brain is able to figure out simply by thinking about it.



Just to note - when I lived in California - there was a carpet cleaning company called zerorez, (note zerorez is a palindrome, which spells the same thing backwards or forwards), and their entire sells pitch was with their system they leave ZERO RESIDUE. And of course they also claim any system that DOES leave a residue leads to accelerated re-soiling.

Also the way they claim to clean without cleaners is to use what the call/make Electrolyzed Oxidated Water - Assuming this is true and accurate then they are injecting water and extracting water and whatever is in the carpet or upholstery.

this basically confirms what i thought prior to using the steamer and post results. You're really just spraying hot pressurized water into your upholstery and you're not really removing it. Still great on hard plastics and better than nothing on carpets, but it's not a miracle machine.

[duffthebluff]

So last weekend it was finally decently warm and I was able to try my new shop vac and steam cleaner. I was not attempting a professional clean, but the truck had gone the second half of hunting season and all winter without an interior clean. Overall I'm happy with the steam cleaner. I'm not sure it's quite the miracle worker I had read about, but I'm still learning. It was great on the doors, cupholders and other nooks that are tough to get too. It was not so great (even with attachments) on the rubber floor mats or embedded salt stains. I was hoping the steam would do wonders on the rubber mats and still resorted to my megs gold wash and tire brush method.
I also had to resort to using some stuff called salt off and as you can see it still needs some work. Any suggestions welcome.

Overall, I think it was worth the money and helped to cutdown on my time and chemical smell. I really liked using the triangle attachment with terry cloth for scrubbing seats and carpets (including leather). I'm curious if anyone can recommend a carpet spray for general cleaning and not just spot treatment, i think that would help. I apologize for not taking pics of the wife's kid hauler explorer, but it was too embarrassing haha.

Pics below are all vac and steam, but also a mckees fast interior spray once over.
Attachment 66379Attachment 66380Attachment 66381Attachment 66382Attachment 66383Attachment 66384Attachment 66385Attachment 66386

Hey Belo, I'm also trying to find a product that I can use for general carpet cleaning and not just a spray treatment, what did you end up using?