dry or damp pads?

[GNU]

NuTech- how long does it take residential carpet to dry doing it that way? I advertise dry time of 30-90s minutes.

I rarely use it for residential. Maybe on berbers, low cut piles. Or very small areas. I'm all hwe.
To answer the question.20 minutes at most. I use cO2 systems this increases dry times. And also mist encapsulation sauce. And let the wet bonnet do its job.

[Burtonblue75]

Tried the wet pad thing and couldn't tell much of a difference.. then I thought why not get one side wet, put tape in the middle then give it a run??? Now this is the best example I can think of, looks night and day to me. If this isn't proof then I guess I give up

[ChemBright]

They look pretty much the same from here. What am I missing?

[Burtonblue75]

The tape represents a straight line down the middle:
Left side was dry when ran
Right side was wet

In person the dry was about twice as dirty as the wet side
Both pics are the same pad just two different lighting scenerios-

[ChemBright]

Ahh...Haa! I see it now.

Do this just as to rule it out....

Take a clean pad and wet half and leave the other half dry  and see if the wet side looks darker than the dry. I am not saying a wet pad doesn't clean better just wondering it "dampness" makes it "look" dirtier?

[Burtonblue75]

and thats the crazy thing, is that the side thats suppose to be wetter, the right side ( the one I soaked before running ), is lighter even after cleaning!?

[Mike M]

Capillary action?

If the pad is dry there is no capillary action to draw the soil into the rest of the pad. Dry pad all the dirt stays on the surface.

[ChemBright]

Capillary action?

If the pad is dry there is no capillary action to draw the soil into the rest of the pad. Dry pad all the dirt stays on the surface.

Very true! You just made me think of something.

When I was running bonnets under a 175. Really dry bonnets would show the dirt on the tip of the loops. Damp bonnets pulled the dirt inward.

I think damp/wet pads probably work better. Especially using bonnets.

[Grant D.]

It only makes sense.  If you take a wet pad off it weighs what 3x as much as a dry pad?  All that extra weight (at least if you're cleaning a dirty carpet) is dirty water weight. 

[Mo]

Clean the carpet with a wet pad and dry pad. Take two 5 gallon buckets and fill them up with 2 gallons of water each. Put the dry pad in one bucket and the wet pad in the other and let it soak overnight. The next day rinse them out in their individual buckets to see what water is darker. The dirtier water wins!!

[Gavin]

sounds like a fair test

[Bonnet Pro]

You want your pads to be drier than the carpet. Moisture ( your water and cleaning solution) will travel from wet t dry. If your pad is soaked and your carpet is dry than the solution will want to travel from the wet pad to the dry carpet. Not the most efficient way of getting the soil into the pad, the opposite direction.

[jeffvanburen]

I always use wet pads usally the same wetness as out of the washer, however on frieze I like a wetter pad. I have found the pad will dry as you use it. I also like the added lubricity of a wet pad. Now on berber I may finish with a dry pad fter using a lightly wet cleaning pad first. I have found the pads actually act like a chamois, hold more soil damp than dry, thats just my opinion.

[Gavin]

I have changed my ways,

I used to favor damp pads, and never dried my pads, used them right out of the wash.

That was working for the most part great, as long as I used up the pads quickly and re-washed them. I have a few more pads then I used to. and I started not using them quick enough, the smell was awful.

I now dry them all, and just have drivers switch bins of pads when they are dirty with a bin of clean ones. what was I thinking before!