Low Moisture Cleaning With Oreck Orbiter

[@brentnorman2126]

Brent Norman likes this video

[@JoeWheeler]

Thanks for saying it instead of just pushing the little thumb button. This is the classy way to do it.

[@brentnorman2126]

Keep it classy San Diego

[@charlesdoucette1256]

Pre spray with what

[@JoeWheeler]

Currently, I use Betco Green Earth Peroxide based cleaner which has directions on the label for carpet cleaning and spotting so just mix accordingly per conditions. Here is a PAID LINK just hit where it shows "See All Buying Options" to get sellers and pricing. amzn.to/3J6hyo3 Since it has a "carpet safe" solvent and a strong peroxide it works well on most carpet but I wouldn't use t on wool.

[@RochelleHaynes]

This is nice like to try this

[@JoeWheeler]

+Rochelle Haynes It's probably the easiest carpet cleaning system once you get the hang of it, and the carpets are dry very quickly. An added benefit of this machine over typical carpet extractors is that you can also maintain hard floors so you get to use the machine far more often than a carpet washer would be used. Glad you like the video!

[@JP1AO]

Well I tried a half a cap full of Tide in a gallon sprayer this time. It worked a lot better than the Folex. Not sure I'm quite happy with it yet. I used the brush then the bonnet. I might order a gallon of the pro stuff for encap and give it a try. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for the vids.

[@JoeWheeler]

JP1AO Glad you liked it. You can look on Truck Mount Forums for opinions on the various encap products, and that might help you avoid the gimmicky ones. There is a lot of subjective opinion on this topic, so hopefully you'll find some good information with a little searching. If you get a chance try to make a video at some point showing some of your cleaning. Thanks for the positive feedback on the Oreck products. See ya!

[@tomjones5630]

Joe Wheeler do you use the Oreck carpet cleaning machines has a carpet cleaning buness ?

[@JoeWheeler]

Tom Jones A side business. I work for one complex doing their move outs and for residents of the complex who want to get their carpets done. I occasionally do office carpets and homes off property but don't advertise or put a lot into that end so far. I've cleaned over four hundred apartments in the last three years with a Rug Doctor X-3 and now an Oreck Orbiter. I've been in the carpet cleaning business off and on since 1978, when I was 14 years old and started cleaning office buildings and rental houses after school...And I wish I'd had an Oreck way back then (or a Rug Doctor for that matter, the machines back then didn't work very well). Thanks for asking!

[@tomjones5630]

so you think a commercial Oreck can be used fr house apt and restaurant carpet using the brush and bonnet I wrk for windowcleaning compant and thinking about doing carpets for side busness

[@JoeWheeler]

Tom Jones The Oreck is a great machine for carpets and hard floors, and is an affordable way to break into a carpet cleaning business. All you need is to start small and gradually take on work as you develop the skill at cleaning. The machine is capable, but you have to learn the skills for different carpet types and that takes a little time. Good luck if you do it, and don't forget to consider floor cleaning jobs if you can get customers. Watch some videos on floor stripping and learn how to apply the finishes, it's pretty easy after you get the hang of it and makes an Oreck twice as useful.

[@TGSHomeandGarden]

Great job! I like the voice narration 😊

[@JoeWheeler]

bebegurl31291 Yes we just started speaking on video, and both of us hate it. You would never believe that we don't really sound like that in real life. We have lived in Texas for almost ten years and have picked up the local accent. Slurred words and little to no enunciation which we both have developed so slowly that we never noticed it...till now. We are properly embarrassed and are considering hiring a voice coach. But thanks for being kind, my brother Jay and myself are working to improve on this aspect. BTW we still intend in future to video some of your suggestions and questions so please don't think we are ignoring them. Thanks for being an active subscriber and please keep watching!

[@007mwn]

Joe- This method is Brilliant. Economic dry cleaning at it's best. Every home owner should get an Orbiter. Have you ever used one of Oreck's Vacuums for pre vacuum?

[@JoeWheeler]

I've not used their vacuums, but have seen many positive videos on them. Glad the Orbiter impresses you, they're very nice to have around the house.

[@chrisbirkett5893]

How much prespray do you put down? As much as a normal extraction prespray? A mist?

[@JoeWheeler]

A mist is a good description, just enough that you can see droplets but there's no need to soak it...but if you did it would still be okay. It's just a matter of using enough to do the thing, and not needing more than enough, but that's sometimes hard to judge. If the carpets clean up then you had at least enough, possibly more, but it worked out so...

[@banecker1]

Have you guys ever thought about mounting a sprayer head to the front and back of the orbiter, and then mounting the pressure tank to the handle? just a thought I have been kicking around for my orbiter.

[@JoeWheeler]

Adam Voss We've thought about it. The weight added to the handle may cause issues, but who knows. I've seen people use a back pack sprayer with some of the OP machines, but they don't seem to stick with it for long. If you find a way that works well it's a good idea, and I'd love to hear about it. Currently, I have been going over everything with a Rug Doctor to extract as a final step, so I am getting good results just pre-spraying, as I use the Oreck as a scrubber in this method. Since I don't bonnet to remove all soils etc. with this method, I generally don't need more detergent to spray down so I wouldn't get as much out of a system your describing. But, I may revert back to bonnet only again, and for that a spray system would be ideal. The Hudson Backpack Sprayer at this link amzn.to/1I1sW06 (Amazon affiliate link!)has gotten a lot of good reviews by carpet cleaners, and being battery powered, it may work well if you can mount a sprayer attachment near the base of the Orbiter. I may get one myself soon because pump up sprayers get old after a while! Also, you could get a long hose to keep the sprayer 30ft or so away from the Oreck and just set it on the floor to keep it out of your way, similar to the set up offered by Excellent Supply for the Vario a couple of years ago. Thinks for the suggestion Adam!

[@1UpKroeker]

thanks for the video, is this just regular liquid tide?

[@JoeWheeler]

Yes, it is

[@JoeWheeler]

While soaking the bonnet (wet-bonnet method) works, sometimes a faster drying method is required. Pre-spray applied to the bonnet can speed things up a bit...

[@truckingwithnose]

Do we soak the bonnet when we do the initial cleaning or leave it damp

[@trinapruitt2223]

Does using detergent ever leave residue

[@JoeWheeler]

Detergent above 7pH will generally leave residue if not flushed out, or neutralized (using an acid wash). There will always be some percentage of residue in most cases, but it can be minimalised, by flushing with an extractor, or absorption with a bonnet. It is good to keep the pre-spray mix at a low percentage of chem to water ratio, so that most of what you spray down is water, and the small actual amount of detergent is easily pulled back out of the carpet.

[@Yodaismycopilot]

How can a bonnet continue to pick up dirt after the first minute or so? Seems it would be quickly saturated with dirt and then we'd just be smearing dirt around without absorbing it.

[@JoeWheeler]

The bonnet holds a lot of dirt and moisture, so you can use it for an entire decent size room or more. When it starts to get where it won't absorb anything else you can tell. Then you can flip it over and use the other side for a while, or you can wash out the dirt, wring out the water, and use it some more. Also, the pre-spray breaks the chemical bond of the dirt/stain to the carpet fiber, and the agitation and scrubbing done by the machine helps to break any stubborn stain that wasn't fully suspended during the dwell time, and absorbs these particles. Any particles broken loose that aren't absorbed, will be in subsequent passes, or will remain loose for sufficient time to be picked up next time a vacuum is run. No carpet cleaning method can remove 100% of dirt and stain material from carpets, so regardless of how the cleaning was done, it is always a good idea for the person who lives on that carpet to vacuum well when the carpet is fully dry. I have a couple of videos cleaning AFTER a truck mount cleaner has finished, and there was a lot of loose debris vacuumed up when they left, so any method will leave something behind. Unfortunately, carpets can't be cleaned too aggressively or they will start to fall apart, so a balance of cleaning gently, and not ruining the carpet to clean it is the real world scenario. Bonnet cleaning is usually chosen due to it being a low moisture cleaning method, where extraction methods can cause problems due to over wetting carpets. Over wetting a carpet brings up old pet stains and odors, and can cause wicking, browning, and re-occuring stains. So bonnet cleaning can be the best method in certain situations. But all methods have their place and time where they offer the best option.

[@Yodaismycopilot]

Thank you for the thoughtful and thorough reply. I'm still a little puzzled about the absorption in the bonnet, however. When I scrub my linoleum kitchen floor with and old wash rag, it gets completely mucked up after a couple of short arms length passes, after which I need to rinse it out. I'm not sure why this would not also happen with the bonnet.

[@JoeWheeler]

The bonnet is made to absorb a large amount of liquid and hold it, so a rag can't be compared very favorably to it. Maybe you've had soft absorbent bath towels in the past, and also used not so absorbent ones. They may even look identical, but one works far better than the other. Bonnets may not look it, but they are very absorbent. Add to this the friction caused by the rotary motion generating heat to also help release some of the moisture gathered helping the bonnet to be able to release water, while holding dirt. And there may be some voodoo involved (un-explainable factors that one can only speculate at) as well. But it is a thing that countless people have used successfully since early days (1940's and possibly earlier) to clean carpets using rotary machines and some sort of bonnet. You'd have to try it at some point to see for yourself how it actually works to believe it, but till then maybe consider it one of the odd things that somehow shouldn't work but do actually.

[@truckingwithnose]

Do I leave the bonnet wet when extracting or do I ring it out

[@JoeWheeler]

I would wring it out because if it is wetter than the carpet it is extracting from then it is too saturated to absorb anything. If the carpet is moistened with the prespray you can even just use a completely dry bonnet.

[@mr.cleanone3900]

What’s the tide water ratio

[@JoeWheeler]

Use one or two caps from the Tide container lid added to each gallon of water.

[@ingenioussservices7064]

SO can I use the oreck with the bonnet for pre treating and then carpet clean the carpet with a machine like for example a rug doctor or green bissell machine?

[@JoeWheeler]

Yes. Use your pre-spray and scrub the carpet with the Oreck and bonnet, then extract as normal with the machine of your choice. You shouldn't need additional soap in the machine, plain water will be enough to rinse the carpet.

[@lancemorgan7833]

Hey Joe and Bro, does this technique work on any type carpet? I am doing some indoor outdoor commercial carpet in car dealership cubical offices. I have the orbiter, it works great for post pre spray of tile and grout show room floors right before I use the turbo hybrid. Thanks again. Great information!

[@JoeWheeler]

It should work great for that. Good luck!

[@mr.cleanone3900]

Is it only one type off carpet this works on? I’m assuming it’s burma. I really don’t know carpet types

[@JoeWheeler]

It works on any carpet type, though use care on really old carpet if the fibers are coming off or any other sign it can't handle cleaning.

[@007donj]

Hi Joe. In this video did you use the rug doctor after bonnet cleaning?

[@JoeWheeler]

I can't remember if we did on that one or not. We often do follow up with an extraction to save going over the carpet multiple times with the bonnet. It would depend on which we thought would be most effective for that job.

[@3dcleaningprosllc193]

What pre spray container do you guys use? The ones I see are super expensive.

[@JoeWheeler]

We've been using RoundUp sprayers from Home Depot for years. We've tried others but they don't last as well as these. We've got a new one and they changed some things on it so we'll see how it holds up. THey're under $20 around here so they should be pretty affordable elsewhere.

[@3dcleaningprosllc193]

Joe Wheeler thanks! Also I hear a lot of guys say that the carpets aren’t really clean unless you rinse. How do you guys feel about rinsing after you clean it?

[@JoeWheeler]

I've not had any issues with that. This is partly because I use chemicals with pH values under 10 (I often use a neutral 7 pH cleaner with no residue whatsoever), and partly because the local water supply is slightly on the hard side, so soaps etc are easily removed. In an area with softer water I'd need a rinse if I went with higher pH cleaners. I don't use anything above 9.5 pH so that plus the water I use means I don't really need to be concerned with rinses. If I did need one I could just use vinegar (and occasionally I do to help with chemicals left by former cleaning done before I arrived if they used high pH soaps to clean it themselves). Luckily most of the truckmount cleaners around here don't use any chemicals when they clean, they only wand with no prevac and no prespray, so they leave all the stains in the carpet and I can just clean without worrying they left any residue I have to deal with. Since the norm around here is to water only clean (if you can call it that) I can use lower pH chemicals and easily remove stains with no concerns about rinsing, but again that is for my situation. If you have softer water in your location, and many carpets have an existing residue when you arrive, you may have to use rinses. Vinegars cheap, and often can do the job if conditions are within range of what it can do. Good luck!

[@3dcleaningprosllc193]

Joe Wheeler great info! Thanks !