Can You Handle A “Gagger?”

 The Challenge: Gaggers

Some folks call them “gaggers.” When you unroll the rug for processing, the odor can make you gag. The rug may be an olefin from a big box store or a (once) valuable work of art. But the owner has allowed their pets to treat the rugs as a personal litter box. I have had to remove urine from rugs contaminated by cats, dogs, hamsters, a pot-bellied pig and even a goat.

Regardless of how one cleans wool and other area rugs – warm water extraction, a portable rug pit set-up in your shop, a wash floor or automated equipment such as wash tubs or a centrifuge, everyone who has cleaned more than a few rugs has encountered this challenge.

As urine biodegrades or decomposes, the typically mild acid becomes highly alkaline as ammonia is formed. Even if the dyes avoid permanent damage, they are likely less colorfast than previously.

The cleaner now faces the daunting task of removing the odor, stain and contamination from a rug with unstable dyes. It is difficult for cleaning agents to penetrate densely packed fibers. So, removing remaining urine, alkaline salts, lipids (body fats, cholesterol) and other components of the stain is a real challenge.

The Solution:

Drawing on his years of experience as an Oriental rug appraiser, Bridgepoint formulator Tom Forsythe developed Wool Medic to address these issues. Wool Medic contains the proper balance of acids to stabilize most dyes, even those that have been exposed to urine. The acids also neutralize alkaline salts making it a simple matter to dissolve them into the cleaning solutions to be rinsed away. There are just enough solvents present to target the lipids present in urine that repel and tend to inhibit the action of any water based cleaning. A special surfactant allows this blend of cleaners to penetrate all the way to the base of the yarns even where knots are tightly packed together.

Wool Medic is suitable for use with a variety of rug cleaning methods. You may saturate the offending spot using a 1:4 solution of Wool Medic. Allow dwell time and then flush the area using a Spot Lifter, Water Claw, Flash Xtractor or similar tool. Those using a wash pit can submerse a rug or portion of a rug in a 1:6 solution prior to cleaning. Wool Medic can also be used on the wash floor, in a tub or even with some centrifuge systems.

Useful for successfully dealing with urine contamination or simply to stabilize dyes, Wool Medic will be a useful solution for anyone who cleans rugs. 20% OFF intro special, Call CCW on 1800 68 68 69 and mention this blog to get your 20% discount off any bridgepoint wool products.  Valid until 29/02/12

Steve Poulos Rejoins HydraMaster and US Products as Regional and International Manager

Mickey McKee, VP of Sales and Marketing for HydraMaster and US Products has announced that Steve Poulos will be rejoining the company in a newly developed position as a Regional Manager. Poulos will be responsible for key distributor accounts within the mountain region, along with several focused national and international accounts. Steve returns to HydraMaster and US Products from a key management position with a cleaning and restoration industry equipment, chemical, and tool manufacturer. He has wide and varied industry experience as a leading instructor, store manager, and account manager with over 31 years in the cleaning and restoration industry.  Several thousand students have attended his classes in the past and benefitted from his technical and business management and marketing expertise.

Steve has also served in several key industry trade associations, including six years on the Board of Directors with the Mid-South Professional Cleaners Association, including Executive Director. He was a regional editor for Cleanfax Magazine for five years and has contributed numerous articles to industry publications, blogs, and websites.

“We believe that the addition of Steve’s talents, industry knowledge, and relationships further bolsters our ability to expand our markets going into 2012,” stated McKee. “His long established relationship with industry distributors; professional cleaners and restorers; and industry trade associations helps him successfully establish productive and profitable solutions for all involved. Steve will be an important part of meeting the demands of sales, service, and support for our growing businesses.”

HydraMaster is a leading manufacturer of truckmounted and portable carpet and hard surface cleaning and restoration equipment, chemicals, and accessories. For more information and the location of your nearest HydraMaster Distributor Carpet Cleaners Warehouse on 1800 68 68 69, visit our website at www.ccwonline.com.au, or find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CarpetCleanersWarehouse

All Heat Exchange Truckmounts Are Not Created Equal

When looking at the solution temperature of a machine, most machines will go up to 230° – 250°F when water isn’t being used, but will they sustain the temperature when you are in a typical cleaning cycle, or using an RX-20? Most of them won’t.

We’ve worked hard to make the Boxxer™ Titan, and CDS™ the hottest machines in each of their classes. Prove it to yourself, run any of these machines against our competitors and you too will be a believer.

Things to think about…

When comparing solution temperatures on truckmounts, you cannot always believe the temperature gauge of the machine is accurate.

Now why is that?

There are many variables that make the temperature look hotter or colder than it really is.

Where is the Temperature Gauge sender located? Is it on or near the heat exchanger? Plumbing it near the heat exchanger is going to give you an artificially elevated temperature. The proper location for the sender is at the outlet quick connect manifold. This will give you a more accurate reading.

Where is the Pressure Gauge reference tap plumbed? This makes a difference because some machines have more pressure restrictions than others. Is the tap plumbed before the restrictions or after? In our testing of various machines we have seen that the actual pressure leaving the machine can be up to 200 psi less than what the gauge is reading (500 psi on the gauge, 300-psi actual pressure). This restriction causes a pressure drop, which reduces the gallons per minute through the cleaning tool. The less flow you have the hotter the solution. In this case you are getting the heat but at the expense of reduced water flow.

What size jet is being used? This can also reduce water flow.

What is the Vacuum Breaker set at? Is the vacuum blower inlet connection blower reduced down thus causing restriction of airflow “CFM”? Is the vacuum blower outlet restricted down? This will cause the blower to operate at elevated temperatures reducing component life. Anything that causes the system to operate at a higher “Hg level will produce higher temperatures in the Blower (and the Blower Heat Exchanger). This will also make the engine work harder.

When testing machines for temperature performance it is important to do the following:

Use an external temperature and pressure gauge. Set the machine at 14” Hg and use a number 6 jet. Connect the external gauges at the end of 100 feet of hose. Adjust the machine’s pressure until the external gauge reads 350 PSI. Use the same set-up for all of the machines you are testing. This will give you an accurate pressure and temperature reading in comparison to all of the machines being tested.

Let the machine heat up under a full vacuum load for 10-15 minutes. This will allow all the components to achieve their maximum temperatures. Do two tests…

First test - Run the machine for ten minutes with a continuous flow of water. This will give you a Continuous Flow temperature reading. (After ten minutes the machines temperatures will level out). The continuous water flow test will show what the machine is capable of during cleaning with Rotary machines or a continuous spray with a wand.

Second test - Immediately after the first test, stop spraying water for two minutes. This will allow the machine to recover and heat up. Then cycle the spray with 30 seconds on, followed by 10 seconds off. Repeat this cycle for ten minutes. At the end of this ten minutes, the temperature of the machine will level out. Now take a final temperature reading. This test simulates the machine’s ability to recover and perform heavy duty cleaning followed by a dry pass.

 Article courtesy of Hydramaster

Longevity is a powerful thing. It can’t be bought at any price. It has to be earned.

Hydramaster Hydracat 30 years old and still reliable

This is a snip-it of what Doyle Bloss, a 30 years veteran of the industry and the new Marketing and Brand Manager of HydraMaster and US Products, wrote in his latest Hydramaster distributor news letter. A Message from…

I was carefully studying the full line of HydraMaster truckmounts, learning about industry innovations and firsts that the company has brought to the market. I was also taking the time to peruse what some of the other truckmount manufacturers had to say about their latest creations. What struck me was the fact that everyone claims the quality and innovation in their particular truckmount would ensure that the machine would be reliable and last a long time. It got me to thinking…sometimes being innovative is easier than ensuring reliability and longevity. The innovator needs to have a proven track record of performance. That is what I really believe sets HydraMaster as a company and as a manufacturer apart. HydraMaster was there in the very beginning of truck mounts. We have an almost 40 year track record of innovation, but even more importantly, we have a track record of reliability and longevity. When we say engineering designs and component selection will provide 10 or more years of service from the latest Boxxer truckmount, we can demonstrate that through past and existing truckmount models.

Longevity is a powerful thing. It can’t be bought at any price. It has to be earned. I was reminded of this at Connections when a carpet cleaner that I have known for over 20 years came up to me. He and I go way back and one of the things I have always kidded with him about was the fact he was still running his HydraMaster Bobcat Truckmount. Every year when I see him at Connections I ask him how his Bobcat is running. Every year he tells me “like a charm.” I got the same answer this year from him, along with an “I knew it was only a matter of time before you realized HydraMaster was the best truckmount.”

 

Thank-you for your words of wisdom Doyle.

Doyle Bloss is joining Hydramaster

Doyle Bloss

Hydramaster is pleased to announce that, amongst a number of other star recruits, Doyle Bloss is joining the team. 

Doyle comes to HydraMaster/US Products with an extensive background in the sales, marketing, and brand management area of products for carpet and surface cleaning. His career started in the family business, Steam Way International, which he ran until 2003. He then went onto to run the marketing and chemical brand management department as Vice President of Marketing and Education at Bridgepoint Systems until prior to joining us. Doyle’s creativity along with his breadth and depth of knowledge in this industry and associated markets is unparalleled, which we believe will give HM/USP a solid foundation to build upon as we continue to evolve our brand strategies for both brands. He and his family will be relocating to the Western Washington area from Salt Lake City.

From all at Carpet Cleaners Warehouse Australia Welcome aboard Doyle.

Social Media Marketing, How To Win Your Market On 15 Minutes Per Day

 

By Claude Alwan Social Media – How To Win, On 15 Min’s Per Day! You may of heard of the phrase social media marketing or even facebook marketing and twitter marketing? If not, chances are that you are the only one. Facebook marketing , twitter marketing and even youtube marketing are all part of a relatively new method of internet marketing called social media marketing that has well and truly swept the world. But what does all that mean to you the small business owner? social media marketing Well if your anything like the millions small business owners around the world, that have sweet little time or energy at the end of their working day to do much else, let alone to get a handle on this relatively new way to market your business. This article is for you! Like you I have the same issues with time and juggling my priorities. Yet I know to miss out on marketing my business in this medium would be a Huge mistake. Why? Did you know that facebook is ranked as the second most popular website in the world. The number 1 spot goes to Google, and that out of the top 5 most popular global websites 3 of them are social media websites. Top 5 Websites Globally Google Facebook Youtube Yahoo Blogger.com source: alexa.com july, 2011 There is no doubt that social media is having a big impact on how we look for and at information online. What this means is, if your business is not ranking well in social media searches, your missing out on a big slice of traffic pie. More Reasons as to why Social Media Marketing should not be over looked comes from an SocialMediaExaminer.com’s report for 2011 social media industry report. It states that of the 3300 businesses that were surveyed 72% reported an increase to traffic and subscribers whilst 62% reported improved search engine rankings. Many of you may be thinking well that is great, but how do I employ social media in my business with it costing me a lot of time? Further in this article I will show you how to get hooked into social media specifically Facebook and Twitter with spending only 15 minutes (approximately) a day. The only prerequisite is that you understand a little about RSS first. If you don’t, I suggest that you read my page called RSS Explained first, then come back here and finish this lesson. A Real Life Experience Using Twitter Automation is the key to much in this brave new world. Let me give you a “real” world example of how I managed to build a twitter following of 5000 without actually ever making a tweet. That was until I started this website in January 2011. A couple of years ago I decided to learn about Twitter. In relation to this I had heard about using RSS to automate your tweets. So as part of the learning process I created a stand alone twitter account to help me learn more. I called it online_income01 . I searched around for a couple of websites from which I could harvest a large number of regular RSS fed content and fed them straight into my twitter account and sat back to see what happened. Straight away, I started getting close to 50 people following me per day. As time went on though this number gradually dwindled to just a trickle. At first, I did not necessarily understand why I was getting at first what I had thought to be a large number of followers and then just a few. In any case, apart from channeling all that potential click through traffic to a site that paid me an affiliate commission, nothing else was done to it and that was the way it sat until relatively recently. When I had began doing my research for starting this site, I had discovered that my number of followers had fallen significantly, to less than half. That was when it hit me! That there was a very good reason why this medium is called Social Media, it is all about making connections with others. You can’t be an island in this new world and expect to have any measure of success. To stop the loss of followers and to save me time I had setup an auto follow function using TweetAdder. And started to make actual Real Tweets, presently though I still only tweet the good stuff, content of value to my followers, each time I release a new article for this site I do tweet to let people know of it’s release. This translates for me to a 2.5 – 3% click through rate to my website. Which is not bad considering the traffic in terms of dollars was free and time invested for me is presently less than 15 minutes per month. There is nothing flashy about my account it just works. Some Big Lessons From This Experience Shared 1: You don’t need to be on Twitter and Facebook 24/7 to generate traffic. 2: Having stated lesson number 1, Remember Social Media applications like twitter and facebook are all about connecting with community. The people behind these applications factor this into search results. So in short keep it real and do interact occasionally. Best practice has it at 2 to 3 real contributions per day – over the course of the day and reply to your customer base (This is the 15mins I speak about). The other benefit of keeping it real is the viral marketing aspect. 3: Automation, using tools like RSS is a great way to automate almost any content on the web, learn more about it and use it to your benefit. How To Set Up Automated RSS Feeds To Your Facebook and or Twitter Accounts 1: Go to http://twitterfeed.com/ The follow screen displays 2: Click the Register Now and sign up for an account The following screen displays after clicking on Register Now. Once you have signed up for a new account and automatically signed in you will be taken to the following screen. 3: You are then taken through a Series of 3 Steps in creating your automated feeds. Step 1: Type in your desired Feed Name (What you wish to call your feed) then Copy and Paste your desired RSS feed URL (from your favorites RSS feed or one you found when searching on the internet) Tip: It is always a good idea to use the Test RSS Feed button to the right of the url field to ensure you have the correct URL. When correct, a Feed parsed OK message will display. Optional Click on Advanced Settings - Under Update Frequency , select how often you would like Twitterfeed to check for New Post from the feed you have entered. The default setting is 30min. Note ! Twitterfeed may not like some of your chosen setting and may stop your feed if it does not like the frequency and number of feeds you select. Therefore I suggest you experiment. I have found the more feeds and the more often you have it set to feed to your site the less likely twitterfeed will give you any problems. - Also the the up to number of posts you would like published at a time. (This applies for both Twitter and Facebook) - You will also notice that under Facebook options by default the Include automatic thumbnails in Facebook wall posts is already checked. I normally leave this as is as I like to add visual interest to my facebook posts by including an image of some sort. Most everything else relates to Twitter and I normally leave as is. Step 2: The following screens displays From here you can choose either Twitter, Facebook or another application to publish your feed to. For this example I’ll choose Facebook. The following screens displays Under option 2 , click the blue Connect with Facebook button. NOTE: If you have a Facebook Page (or business page ) a list will display where you can make a selection from. Select your Facebook Page (or business page ) and then click the Create Service button The following screen displays From here you may choose to publish automatic feeds to Twitter or another service if you wish. They all follow the same steps I have just walked you through. Step 3: Your Done! ABOUT THE AUTHOR, Claude Alwan Claude Alwan is the founder of Internet-Marketing-For-Small-Business.net. A free online publication assisting small business owners make the most of their online marketing efforts.

Summary of Findings… Understanding Heat Drying Systems

Drymatic Wall and Floor Drying System

Summary of findings by Dr Ian Hopkin (Ref 1), Managing Director, DBK Technitherm Limited; of the research paper: Water Movement in Porous Building Materials‐‐VI. Evaporation and Drying in Brick and Block Materials (Manchester University UK),(Ref: 2), along with a brief appraisal of its relevance to the Drymatic Heat Drying System.

In brief the two main conclusions that can be drawn from the research is that at the beginning of the drying process where there is a lot of free water not bound in the materials, a 10°C temperature increase causes a doubling of the evaporative rate (equivalent to quadrupling the number of airmovers).

Following this towards the end of the process where evaporation is decreased due to water being bound in the materials the terminal drying rate increases rapidly with increases in temperature.

(Click here for the full summary and research paper)

Understand more about heat drying

A new course “Understanding Heat Drying” explores the transformational effect drying with heat can achieve in the restoration of a flood damaged building.

 This one day course ‘Understanding Heat Drying’ has been designed to provide an introduction to the basics of heat drying and is the only course of its kind offered in Australia. The Course will be held on the 27 September 2011 in conjunction with The Ausclean Convention and Mould Conference being held At Jupiter’s Casino on the Gold Coast on the 27th and 28th September 2011.

(Click here for more information)

SEO Marketing : Top 13 Free Tips

This is the first artical in a series of Free Monthly SEO Marketing and social networking tips designed to help you improve your organic page ranking on search engines and get more value from your internet marketing efforts.

By Claude Alwan What Is SEO Marketing & Why Is It Important? In recent time seo marketing or ( SEO ) Search Engine Optimisation has become big business. Why? Because people have recognised that gone are the days when you can publish a website and expect people to find you. What I will endeavour to do within this page is share with you some free seo tips to get your website ranked as close as possible to the number 1 spot. image: digitalart In sharing with you these seo marketing secrets, my only caveat is this. Please understand that as the internet gets increasingly busy that web site owners have to do more and more to improve their ranking. So what is this more activity that I am talking about. In two words, link building. If getting the seo marketing right can be considered On Page Criteria then Off Page Criteria broadly speaking is any activity on the web that results in others web sites linking back to yours. Link building has many forms, it can be a link contained within someone’s blog, a suppliers website who recommends your business or it can come via your favourite social media platform e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube etc. In essence what happens is search engines see a link to your site from someone else as a recommendation and the more of these you have the more relevant you are to the search engines, particularly if they are on topic links people have found you by. For now though here are some free seo marketing tips, enjoy! My Top 13 Free seo marketing tips: 1: Keyword Research If there is a common theme in this list of tips it is to do your keyword research. Going through this list you can see how important it is. You can not only research your domain name but also each page on your site, making sure your main focus for each page is that one keyword. I use a keyword research tool called Brainstorm It . This is a paid for tool but there are plenty of free ones on the web, one of them is Wordtracker’s Free Keyword Research Tool. 2: Keyword Focused Domain Name In my experience a good domain name can count for up to fifty percent on whether or not you win the search engine battle in getting your site noticed. My preference are domain names with no more than 3 words (unless your research proves otherwise) and with no dashes in between each word (if available). Things to look for : The Demand (or how many people use a given keyword) , The Supply ( or how many sites presently use that keyword) 3: Domain Name Extensions Unless your market is local (limited to country or city) a generic Top Level Domain like a .com, .net, .org, or a .info is my preference. Other-wise any country code Top Level Domains like a .com.au for Australia or a .com.ca for Canada is fine. If of course your preferred domain name and country code Top Level Domains is no-longer available, you may like to consider using your domain name with a generic Top Level Domain extension. 4: Keyword Focused <Title> Tag Ensure each page tile tag <title>SEO Marketing tips</title> has 1 reference of your keyword, preferably at the beginning of the sentence. Note: You will find the following 3 tags: Title Tag, Meta Tag & Description Tag located within the head tags at the top of your html page. 5: Keyword Focused Meta Keyword Tag Ensure that there are no more than a max of 5 keywords in the meta keyword tag. Always start by placing the main keyword for a given page first within the meta keyword tag and then the others within this tag can be scattered within body of the page. Do not add hundreds of keywords into this field or the search engines may consider you a spammer, keep your pages real and the search engines will reward you. 6: Keyword Focused Description Tag Keep in mind when wording this tag that depending on the search engine only about 90 characters or so display in search results. Keep it short and ensure that your description is keyword focused. Always start it with your pages keyword or as close to the beginning as possible. 7: Descriptive Page Extensions Rather than having a URL / address like eg: http://www.dogtypes.com/category9_1.htm for content pages within your website. I strongly suggest using website building software that allows you to optimise your page names so rather than your page looking something like the above example it looks like this. eg: http://www.dogtypes.com/poodles.html . If your software won’t allow you to do this consider changing or upgrading your software. 8: Left Hand side NavBar Because of the way search engines spider the pages; top to bottom, left to right, placing your main navigation bar at the left of the page will benefit you. Ensure each button on the navbar either uses an image or text that has been optimised for a specific keyword. 9: Pictures and Images Ensure all pictures, images, logos and graphics of any type have an appropriate keywords in the Alt Tag in the code. The value of this is if people do not find you for a given keyword, they may find your site for an image search. A good article to help you with this is 19-ways-to-use-images-to-enchance-your-blog. 10: Keyword density The idea of using keywords is to provide hooks for search engines to grab a hold of when people search on a given topic. The problem is if you provide too many of these hooks the search engines will either penalise or black ban your site if they think you are a trying for an unfair advantage. Use too few or non at all and no-one will find you. It can be an art to provide just the right of keywords whilst keeping your page readable for humans as well. So when building your web page together keep your keyword density in mind. I use software that works it out for me depending how long or short the page is. However if your counting keywords instead. Use the following guidelines: ensure that your page has at least 125 words in it for the search engines to pick up the page and 1 keyword appearing within the first 90 characters and no more than 1 keyword every 200 characters after that. 11: Use of Keyword focused H1 H2 & H3 Headings The use of headings in you body tell the search engines what text contained within a pages Heading should be considered important. Therefore ensure you maximise the use of these tags within the HTML of the page code. Typically they would look like this <h1>Fresh Flowers Are The Best</h1> . With a H1 have more importance than a H3 for example. 12: Links in General In pointing Links When using links try to where appropriate use in-context links eg: “Be sure to check out my range of Maternity Swimwear before you leave.” Try to have as many of your web pages interlinked in this way. Outpointing Links It is always best to have more in-pointing links to a given page than out-pointing links but when appropriate it is best to limit outpointing links to 5 per page. In the code always set and out-pointing link to open in a Blank Page so you don’t loose the visitor should the click you link. 13: Site Map Simply said, a sitemap is a must for the search engines to find your pages particularly if your website is large. Ensure that you visit each of the major search engines to see their requirements and how to get it listed with them. A Closing Note Please note that SEO Marketing alone is not the only thing to consider when optimising a website or blog. If the focus is too much on the SEO aspect you may end up with a page that reads unnaturally. Ultimately you will loose out because your human visitors will not like your content. A wholistic approach to SEO is always advisable. ABOUT THE AUTHOR, Claude Alwan Claude Alwan is the founder of Internet-Marketing-For-Small-Business.net. A free online publication assisting small business owners make the most of their online marketing efforts.

 

New Enhanced Dry Fusion Machine MKII allows for improved ease of operation and much improved safety

Dry Fusion MKII

Following years of intensive research and development, the new enhanced Dry Fusion machine MKII allows for improved ease of operation and much improved safety. The innovative and patented rotary cleaning machine heats a pH neutral cleaning solution to provide an amazing cleaning and stain removal action but with a dry time of only 30 minutes.

Originally developed in Australia the Dry Fusion system uses a heated bonnet system to clean, deodorise, dry and protect your customer carpets all in one process. Ten years since its original launch the Dry Fusion system boasts thousands of satisfied customers having their carpets cleaned via the innovative low moisture carpet cleaning process that has made its name by being cleaner, fresher, drier, faster and safer than any other carpet cleaning system.

More about Dry Fusion

OUR PRICES ARE DOWN BY UP TO 25%

The Aussie dollar continues its amazing run of strength against the USA greenback. Foreign exchange rates have never been better for cleaning and restoration companies. Much of the equipment, accessories and chemicals we use on a day to day basis are imported from the USA. Taking advantage of better exchange rates, our bigger buying power and favourable international shipping costs, we have been able to review pricing on all of our products.

There have been price reductions on some of our domestically sourced goods and reductions of at least 10-20% on all of our imported items, many of our prices are down by as much as 25%.

At Carpet Cleaners Warehouse we continually work hard to offer you the best possible prices. We understand that from time to time our competitors will discount some products to win over your business. With this in mind….If you find a cheaper price on any product we sell we guarantee to beat that price. Just ask us! Written quotes or copies of advertisements may be required to verify competitor pricing on some items.

Goto www.CCWONLINE.com.au to check out our new prices.