Questions for Larry Cobb

[Mikey P]

@Larry Cobb if you were not a manufacturer, rather an Owner Op with a high class clientle who does not need to advertise and charges top dollar, yet knew what you know..

What truckmount would be running right now and in what vehicle?
What pre spray's would you carry?
Rinses?
Spotters?
Water based protector
Solvent based protector
Wand?
Uph Tool?
Stairwand?
Rotary Extractor?
Alternative method equipment?

 

[Larry Cobb]

Green Hybrid Via Van with 15HP Electric Truckmount and van engine HX.
Prochem Ultrapac TLC with extra rinse strokes (plus a good Powder).
RO water rinse.
Spotters from the Dry Cleaning Industry (more effective).
Teflon Advanced for water-based protector.
Fabpro's Upholstery Protector for Solvent Based protector.
Devastator Swivel wand (without any silly air bypass)
Upholstery tool would be a customized CFR 3" tool (never been beat)
Stairwand would be 10" wide SS head with a straight tube (29 or 30")
Rotary Extractor would be the TRex Jr.
17" Orbital floor machine since it can be used on carpet, stone and wood (Freedom MX or Mytee)

With a little targeted effective marketing,
this combo would be quite effective.

 

[Mikey P]

Green Hybrid truckmount?

Are you making that up?

 

[Larry Cobb]

Via Van is available . . .
and a 15HP Electric TM could be built easily by a small custom builder like Duane or TCS.
A Hybrid TM Van should have some marketing advantages and be very reliable.

If I had to choose a production model,
I'd probably choose the SS 570 in Transit or Chrysler van.

 

[Mikey P]

I think both Bruders just shat themselves..



I talked to Duane two days ago. No more truckmounts out of him.


Unless Zee wants to order a 15hp hybrid for his Mercedes, that would be cool.

 

[Mikey P]

I'm still in shock that Larry didn't pick an EZ, Judson, TCS ChemTex or other "open" unit..

I hope he'll elaborate on why the 570..

 

[Larry Cobb]

Kubota is a good tractor water-cooled engine.

Expensive parts, but still a good engine.

Like Jim Martin, I would have to rework the TM water box, cooling around the belts, and ECM .

 

[Cleanworks]

I thought you would be a little more environmentally friendly. the tlc is a good product, not the greenest product around and what products from the drycleaning side. streetex, pyratex, streepene, good products but again not too environmentally friendly.

 

[Larry Cobb]

I would be a cleaner who would remove all the stains . . .

That would require top performance from the chemical line.

Chemicals are what I know best.

 

[Cleanworks]

You can do it without the harsh chemicals most of the time. I agree, you want to be the best but at the same time you don't want to comprise your health doing it.

 

[Loren Egland]

Wouldn't the greenest be the chemicals that removed the most soils and contaminants from the fibers? As long as you fully rinse the traffic lane cleaner as Larry mentioned, does it matter what you use if you are removing the chemical and disposing waste water properly?

 

[Tom Forsythe]

A concept not always discussed is the difference between green in the micro and green in the macro (Loren's point). For example, if a carpet is prematurely removed from the house and sent to the landfill because green chemistry did not work then that is not a green result. If non-green chemistry saves the carpet then that is a green result. Protector, in my opinion is the greenest chemical that we can use as it extends the useful life of whatever you properly protect. If a carpet lasts a few years longer, then that is a green in the macro result. Now that I have stated a broad principle, we need to know that there are a lot of green formulas that perform as well as non-green formulas. A lot of spotting functions like ink removal, synthetic stain removal can not be accomplished by a green spotter, but general purpose and peroxide spotters are easily made green. 25% of our active formulas that we sell to the market meet our Green Balance standard. Also several not technically considered green are 99.5% green once diluted with water. Flex Powder is 99.4% green when diluted 1 to 32, yet prolongs the life of alot of trashed carpet.

 

[Bob Pruitt]

@Tom Forsythe

For example, if a carpet is prematurely removed from the house and sent to the landfill because green chemistry did not work then that is not a green result.

Great answer! Well the entire answer was great!

 

[Larry Cobb]

Green chemicals have a lot of definitions . . .

but the one that makes the most sense to me is Biorenewable .

That means made from readily renewable resources like plants and trees.

This is the direction we are going for Dynachem green products.

 

[Mikey P]

pre spray your yellow spots with 40 volume right after vacuuming and use a brush headed RE and your spotting issues will be almost non existent.

 

[Tom Forsythe]

Bio Renewable basically means from food sources like soybean, corn, sugar, etc. This is fine except if there is a major drought in the midwest then food prices will soar as a lot of the resources are going to chemicals that can be made with other ingredients that are green and not bio-renewable. If this happens then a lot of kids in third world countries will starve. One practical liberal told me that there are too many people in the world anyway in case this happens. I for one believe that we will be held accountable for the condition of the poor in these third world countries.

 

[Bob Pruitt]

=

I for one believe that we will be held accountable for the condition of the poor

I think of ethenol as a gasoline additive...actually a very poor but highly subsidized product has harmed people due to lack of corn as food in some countries.

Protector, in my opinion is the greenest chemical that we can use as it extends the useful life of whatever you properly protect.

I'm using this every time I talk to my Customer about Fabric Protection!

 

[Loren Egland]

Anyone care to guess how many green standards there are?

Though there is some science involved, and health issues may be a factor especially when chemicals are not used appropriately, sometimes it seems like common sense is lost for some perceived green standards.

Anyone remember the cold water clean being touted as more green than hot water cleaning?

If one is not marketing green cleaning, would some cleaners just use what cleans best for a given situation?

 

[Tom Forsythe]

The Ultimate Standard is the EPA Design for Environment. They have a EPA Safer Ingredient list which is quite comprehensive. I measure all green standards including our own Green Balance manufacturing standard by this one. We have 3 specialty proprietary ingredients not on the list approved after extensive review by the EPA DfE. There is a term called Greenwashing which is making unsubstantiated green claims which is subject to review and fines by a government agency (I believe it is the FTC). The EPA DfE lacks common sense in some areas like their war on fragrance. I wish they would take that war to the perfume aisle of major department stores.

 

[Cleanworks]

All very good comments, I am thinking more of the carpet cleaner who uses these chemicals on a daily basis.

 

[Loren Egland]

Thanks for the info Tom. You know things.

 

[Larry Cobb]

Protector, in my opinion is the greenest chemical that we can use as it extends the useful life of whatever you properly protect.

Top performing fluorochemical Protectors do prolong the life of the polymers used to make carpet fibers.
The IICRC Journal had that same conclusion by the carpet polymer chemist.

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