Almost 40 years in the industry and everyday brings a new and exciting cornucopia of issues. This one was brought to our attention by a dear friend who assists members in one of the industry’s largest buying groups. The dealer received a complaint from a consumer because their vacuum cleaner was leaving burn marks on the carpet. The carpet was a cut pile polypropylene. The consumer was using a new upright vacuum cleaner with a beater bar and brush. After vacuuming they noticed marks in the carpet and upon closer observation the marks revealed themselves to be burns from the vacuum cleaner. The kicker is that during the vacuuming process the consumer was moving furniture and when they stopped to do this they left the vacuum cleaner running in place on the carpet.
The spinning of the beater bar and brush on the carpet surface generates a great deal of heat, enough to actually melt the surface of the carpet when it is allowed to run in place. Not only is there enough heat created by friction to melt the surface of the carpet but the agitation will distort the tips of the yarn. If the vacuum cleaner is placed on a “low” setting or if it has no setting, the machine will actually bite into the carpet surface causing physical damage. That the carpet is polypropylene, which has the lowest melting point of any synthetic used to produce carpet, puts it at a disadvantage because it can be damaged more easily by this type of activity and also by dragging a heavy piece of furniture over it or by a kid wearing soft soled athletic type shoes running and stopping abruptly. (Like in front of a ping pong table). All of these conditions I’ve seen over the years. Actually, nylon carpet can be damaged by the same type of vacuum cleaner action and dragging something a distance over it. Again, the heat from friction generated will melt the fiber, essentially fusing the tips together. Remember, synthetic carpet is a thermoplastic and each fiber is about a third the thickness of a human hair – it can and does melt when it gets too hot.
Now before you go panicking over selling polypropylene and getting as “non-common- sensical” as the people you sell floor covering to. Stop and think about what you’ve just read. If you were cleaning a hardwood floor with a buffer and left it running in one spot don’t you think you might cause some damage to it? If you were cleaning a ceramic floor with a very abrasive brush or similar device, and you scrubbed excessively in one spot, don’t you think you might cause some damage? If you used one of those little steamers on a wood floor and left it in one spot while you moved furniture, don’t you think you might do some damage? Naturally the answer is yes to all these questions. And it makes sense that this would happen. Need a little more perspective? If you back out of your driveway and smash into a tree damaging the rear end of your car, would you go back to the dealer with a claim against the car? Certainly not.
Any damage caused by an end user categorized as maintenance, use or abuse belongs to them, not you. Well, you may ask, should one expect to vacuum their carpet and not damage it? Sure, if they vacuum properly and don’t leave the machine running in one place while they move the furniture and have the setting too low for the length of the carpet they’re vacuuming.
I hope this makes sense to you and puts this occurrence in perspective. Common sense isn’t so common when it comes to claims and complaints. By the way, the consumer in this column bought a new vacuum cleaner – not from the dealer. Might this not be another profit center for you? And you could sell them the correct machine for their carpet.
Author: Lewis G. Migliore
LGM and Associates – The Floorcovering Experts