Carpet Cleaner Buyer's Guide

What Is Encapsulation?

Encapsulation carpet cleaning also referred to as “encap” or “encapping” is one of the newer carpet cleaning technologies to appear in recent years.  Although often misunderstood and confused with dry foam shampoo cleaning, this cleaning system has gained tremendous popularity with both cleaners and their clients.

Encapsulation first appeared around the late 1990s or early 2000s. The method often uses similar equipment as the “Dry Foam Shampoo” method.  That is why many have confused, dismissed and equated it with that method.  The difference between encapsulation and dry foam shampoo is that encapsulation uses a very new and revolutionary different type of chemistry!

When cleaning via encapsulation, a cleaning solution containing a crystallizing, acrylic polymer and surfactants are used.  It is this polymer that helps create the magic of encapsulation.  The added surfactants aid in breaking the bond between dirt, grease & grime and the carpet fibers so that all this gunk from your carpet can be encased inside the polymer crystals.

The encapsulation cleaning solution is usually worked into a carpet with an agitation machine.

The machine type we use is the Counter Rotary Brush. This CRB machine ensures all sides of the fiber are cleaned when the encapsulating solution is applied.

The agitation from our high powered CRB breaks down the chemical bond between soil and carpet fiber.  It also surrounds the soils and surfactants with the polymer solution.  As the carpet dries, the polymer solution crystallizes into brittle, heavy particles that are easily broken off and removed with subsequent routine vacuuming.

Most carpet cleaners when explaining the Encapsulation cleaning process explain it as surrounding or encapsulating the dirt in your carpet.  This explanation is accurate to some degree.  It does make it very easy to visualize how this cleaning process works.

At Santos Carpet Cleaning we have run countless tests and invested hours into research and training.  The results of all this research, training and testing have led us to the conclusion that the above explanation is only a VERY SMALL PART of what takes place during Encapsulation Cleaning.

Allow me to explain: The encapsulating polymer does surround a certain amount of the soil.  But there is another even MORE IMPORTANT PROCESS that takes place during encapsulation.

As mentioned during our segment on pre-vacuuming, 79% of all carpet soil is dry particulate matter (sands, soils and silicas).  Regular routine vacuuming can remove most of these dry soils.  It is the other 21% that is visible and causes your carpets to “Ugly Out”. It is the removal of these visible soils that need professional cleaning.

Without the sticky visible soils, there would seldom be a need for professional cleaning.  A good vacuum cleaner used regularly could be used to remove the accumulated soil.

The 21 Percent

The best performing encapsulation products we’ve tested and now use contain EXCESS ACRYLIC POLYMER.  The polymer mixes with and suspends the visible, sticky soils from the carpet fibers.

What makes up these visible soils? They come from tracked in dirt and oils.  They also come from food and beverage spills, and over the counter spot removers.  Another contributor would be residual detergents and surfactants left from the previous cleaning where the cleaning agent was not neutralized and rinsed out of your carpet.

Many professional cleaning products are sticky. That is one of the reasons why you rinse your hands after washing them with soap or rinse your dishes after washing them and the reason why your washing machine has a rinse cycle. After their application, the detergents are never 100% removed.  The residue lingers behind to attract more dirt and soil.

The major complaint people have after having their carpets professionally cleaned is that their carpets get dirty again very quickly!  The culprit is usually due to the left-over residue from improper rinsing.

The encapsulation products we use remove the residual stickiness from your carpet.  Also, due to their crystalizing polymer makeup, they will never leave behind a sticky residue.

The encapsulation product we use will crystallize. Once it dries, it can then be removed during routine vacuuming.  By encapsulating your carpet, it will stay cleaner, longer.

What does that mean for you?

During the cleaning, most of the DIRT AND GRIME should be removed first with a thorough pre-vacuuming. The remaining 21% of the soils will be encased in a polymer capsule or crystal rendering it non-sticky so that subsequent vacuuming will be able to remove this remaining 21% as a result of the encapsulation cleaning process. That means you have a cleaner carpet, that stays cleaning longer.

Take A Look At What Some Of Our Clients Had To Say.