30 Nov From Start to Finish: Turbo-Charging Your Dry Foam Cleaning In Restaurants
Thought I’d just sit down tonight and send you a few words.
I have cleaned my share of restaurants, so, by now I have figured out what not to do! Lets get you up to speed. It sounds like some of you out there may be 10 years behind the rest of us! Hang on! I will pull you a little closer to the 21st century! :o)
Right off the bat, I will say you are going to have to spend a few bucks! No huge amount, though, but still enough money to buy the necessary stuff to make your life much easier.
The Shopping List:
1. Super Wash Soda is found in the laundry soap department of your local grocery store. It is in a yellow box with an Arm and Hammer logo on it. It costs about $2.50 +/-. See? That’s not so bad! Get a quart freezer jar to use as a container for it. Cost: less then a buck. Your wife can help you on this step! :o)
2. Buy a good plastic 10-Quart Bucket. Rubbermaid makes good ones; Hesco carries a good one at reasonable cost. (com-2963, currently on sale for $3.98) Their phone number is 1-800-822-7467.
3. To go with the bucket, you will need an Immersion Heater. Jon-Don sells a good one. The “donut” type is the quicker of the two types I have used and is safe to use with only 1 gallon of water in the bucket. Always, always, always keep the donut in the water when plugged in! (Product # CA-3150-EA. $42.26 at Jon-Don)
4. You have a choice of presprays depending on the fiber type you will be cleaning. My favorite prespray for Nylon carpets is SPC by Just Rite. On a polypropylene (olefin) carpet, I have been using a Fabpro product
called “Hard Surface Cleaner”.
I mix it at 2 to 4 oz. per gallon as a carpet prespray.
(Hesco FAB-058 $10 a gallon case lot) You might want to buy a separate pump-up sprayer for $20 at Wal-Mart or Ace Hardware. Get the kind that has two fan nossels and use the big one.
5. Restaurant Power Foam from Just Rite. It is the only one there is! Accept no substitutes! I usually mix mine a little more diluted with water than what it recommends on the label. I personally feel that RPF is the only grease stable product to run in this equipment.
6. Some black brushes are just way too stiff. I feel that the Braun Brush is the only way to fly! It is the only brush I use on my machine and it has given me 8 years of good service. Check www.foamerscorner.com for the latest information about it. I paid $50 for mine, but I know they must have gone up in price to over $100 by now. This is a very worth while investment, though. Don’t skimp on this one!
That didn’t bust your bank account up too badly, did it?
Ok, let’s go to work!
1. Put about a tablespoon or so of Super Wash Soda in the bucket.
2. Add 8 quarts of hot tap water to it.
3. Stick in the heater and plug it in.
4. Go do something like move chairs and tables for your first run.
5. Apply your prespray and allow 15-20 minutes to elapse before you begin cleaning. Sometimes a recoat of prespray just prior to cleaning is appropriate. Back at the bucket, the water should be boiling. Yep, a big rolling boil!
6. Unplug the heater and leave it in the bucket while it cools down.
7. Add your detergent.
8. Remove the bucket heater.
9. Pour this solution into your VS-1 and go kick some butt!
(To facilitate pouring very hot solution, I have enlarged the hole in my VS-1’s shampoo tank to 3″x5″ or something like that. You MUST be very careful when pouring because this stuff is HOT!)
10. Redo steps 1 through 3 so you will be heating up the water for your next batch of shampoo while you are cleaning.
A few more tips are in order:
>> Take a 5-gallon pail in with you and keep it in the area you are cleaning.
>> When the recovery tank is full, dump it into this 5-gallon pail. (If you have to carry the recovery tank across the restaurant every time you empty it, you are losing time better spent cleaning and the evening gets a little longer each trip!)
>> Buy a cheap or used portable extractor. (Wendy’s may not warrant this one except if they have the salad bar. The carpet out of the pantry area or around a salad bar is always the worst! Do all the above steps with extra scrubs on these two areas.
>> Rinse the traffic path using an “All Fiber Rinse” in the extractor.
This procedure could save you 20 passes using the VS-1 alone. An extractor is also handy to use cleaning under booth areas where the tables do not come out.
Do not worry about damage to the machine. It loves it, in fact. I have not heard one report of machine problems, not one! I have been doing this for over nine years with absolutely no problems!
If you do the above simple steps on every job, you will be able to kick some serious butt and make some real money! Oh! and remember to have fun too!
George Hagele
[ Editor’s Note: The information contained in George’s article above is for educational purposes only. If you (the viewer) decide to try any of the suggested “tips” or “modifications”, you do so at your own risk and you are solely responsible for your own actions and their result.
VLM Central E-zine assumes no liability for physical injury, death, property damage, or voiding of any warranty brought about by the useage, misuseage, application, or misapplication of any of the information contained here within.
Protect yourself! Don’t pretend to be an electrician or a plumber if you are not. Call a certified professional when you need help with something you are unsure of, or unqualified to do. ]