I’m going to turn this issues column over to Lee Phillips, the lab manager for Professional Testing Laboratories inDalton,Georgia. Professional Testing is the leading testing lab for floor covering in the industry. On top of that they test all the vacuum cleaners made to determine their effectiveness, efficiency and performance. They also test all the spot cleaners, cleaning solutions and carpet cleaning machines and systems in the industry. With the Carpet and Rug Institutes new Seal of Approval Program, which I wrote about recently here, they are doing all the testing and the hot water extraction systems and cleaning agents for the industry. Basically the Seal of Approval Program certifies that a cleaning system and cleaning agents actually clean a carpet and don’t cause it to resoil. The warranties for carpet are going to be predicated on, and enforced, through the use of the approved systems and cleaning chemicals. Basically, if the carpet is not cleaned as called for with an approved and Seal of Approval compliant system the carpet manufacturers will not warrant the product. The simple reason for this is that carpet manufacturers have been claimed to death for maintenance and cleaning related issues which they have no control over.
I’ll turn this over to Lee so he can explain for you how this works.
Here at Professional Testing Laboratory, inDaltonGeorgia, carpet testing has become rocket science. PTL is working with the CRI, carpet manufacturers, vacuum manufacturers, and the cleaning industry to test products that are used to maintain carpet, with the ultimate goal being to extend the appearance and performance of carpet during its life cycle.
MY OPINION ON THE MOTIVES
The CRI “Seal of Approval” programs are based on monitoring the performance of products and chemistries used to maintain carpet. Often cleaning products and machines are available and used in the care of carpet that just don’t work very well. So when carpets do not clean or maintain as the end user expects, who looks bad? In the end users eyes, it is carpet and hence the manufacturer. Part of the reason carpet market share has shrunk some over the last few years is the perceived difficulty in maintaining carpet. If we as “carpet people” can change that perception, we give renewed life to the industry. Using better cleaning products, methods, and machines will help do just that.
The second reason for the Seal of Approval program is to help eliminate claims that are not manufacturing related but yet the manufacturers get dragged into them due to appearance issues. The plan for most mills is to tie warranties to the Seal of Approval program. This means that if the end user chooses to use machines, methods, and chemistries that are not SOA approved, then the warranty from the carpet manufacturer has been voided. This could eventually include vacuum cleaners, spot cleaners, in tank chemicals, pre-sprays, extractors, and other cleaning equipment.
The third reason for these programs is to capitalize on cross industry synergies that could result from interaction of the carpet mills and the cleaning industry. More dialogue and cooperation is occurring now that will produce outcomes benefiting the end user/consumer world.
The Tests
I will briefly go into the basics of how the tests are conducted. If I pique your interests and you have several hours, you are welcome to come by the lab and get the full tour.
With vacuums, we look at three main categories.
1) What does the vacuum pick up? The vacuum must show the ability to remove embedded soil at a minimum percentage rate.
2) What does the vacuum spit back in your face? We have a dust containment chamber where a dust inoculated carpet is vacuumed and we measure the respirable particle count that escapes the vacuum system during a four pass cleaning. We also measure the particle size of the dust that escapes. (note for consumers: carpet fibers are too large to be breathed in)
3) Does the vacuum damage the carpet appearance? We vacuum the same area for 200 passes then examine the appearance of the carpet and rate any damage that the brush systems cause to the carpet. The 200 pass test is based on a one year usage period in an average home. When all three categories are met, the vacuum receives the Seal of Approval via the Carpet and Rug Institute. The vacuums are not listed in any rank order on the website www.carpet-rug.org , they only receive a pass or fail. Don’t call me and ask who is best because those answers are safer than aFortKnox vault.
Spot cleaners are tested to determine, interestingly enough, if they clean. An eight stain battery is placed on non-treated nylon carpet and cleaned with the spot cleaner and rated against water only cleaning. Some cleaners do get beat by water only!! We also determine if the use of the spot cleaners leave residues that cause an acceleration of soil accumulation after usage. Testing is conducted using accelerated light on a cleaned area of carpet to ensure the use of the chemical does not cause color change to the carpet. The pH is measured and the cleaner is checked for optical brighteners (a big faux pas).
But now to the ROCKET SCIENCE, the apparatus we use is an X-Ray Fluorescence scanner (XRF). XRF has been used by NASA to monitor parts, and their composition, for use on the space shuttle and we have been able to implement this space age technology into carpet testing. In fact, this program has been nominated by NASA for the Space Foundation Hall of Fame.
The cleaning systems test begins with us soiling a control carpet with a designer soil that contains six elemental tagging agents. We then use the XRF apparatus to scan the carpet to get a baseline of how much of each element (soil) is present. We then clean the carpet using the system being tested. For example, we would use manufacturer X’s hot water extractor and an accompanying manufacturer X’s chemical and clean the soiled carpet on our conveyor. After the carpet has dried, we will re-scan the carpet and can determine the amount of soil removed from the original baseline. The XRF graph will show the breakdown of the total removal and the individual elements removed, of which all have particular soil type characteristics.
This data is much more useful than data from previous testing. Engineers can then improve their machines and chemistry and have a better understanding of its performance. This technology will change many things in our industry for the better and I look forward to implementing it into other aspects of testing.
Author: Lewis G. Migliore and Lee Phillips of Professional Testing Laboratory
LGM and Associates – The Floorcovering Experts