Dalton GA -- Thursday, September 08, 2011 -- The
Carpet and Rug Institute's (CRI) Seal of Approval (SOA) testing and
certification program for carpet cleaning products and equipment has grown
again with the addition of multiple products in the solutions and vacuums
categories. There are currently 331 solutions, 286 vacuums, 93 extractors and
88 systems in the Seal of Approval program, for a total of 798.
In Solutions, AmSan/Interline Brands of Pompano
Beach, Florida earned SOA approval for its Certified Carpet Prespray and
Extraction Cleaner. Chemspec of Baltimore, Maryland added two products, its One
Clean Green Carpet prespray and Chemspec Pet Stain and Odor Remover. The two
additions bring the company's SOA total to six.
SOA welcomes two newcomers to the solutions
category. Spartan Chemical of Maumee, Ohio received approval for its Contempo
H2O2 spot remover, and Hoover Inc., of Glenwillow, Ohio, adds its Hoover
Platinum Collection Pet Plus Carpet & Upholstery Detergent to the SOA
rolls.
Each of these products has passed a series of
stringent tests performed by an independent laboratory in order to make the
list of cleaning solutions. The tests for spot removers, pre-sprays and in-tank
solutions include protocols for efficacy (removing stains), resoiling (whether
the product attracts soil at an accelerated rate), pH (excessively acid or
alkaline products can affect dyes and fibers), optical brighteners (can
adversely affect color, appearance and performance) and colorfastness to light
(residues on pile yarn can accelerate color change).
In the SOA Vacuums program, Clean Max, a division of
the Tacony Corporation of Fenton, Missouri, added the CleanMax Cadet Quick Draw
CMC-QD and the CleanMax Cadet No Tools CMC-1N commercial uprights at the Silver
level. This brings CleanMax's total of SOA vacuums to eight.
Tornado, also a division of the Tacony Corporation,
adds three vacuums to the SOA list: the CK-14/1 PRO commercial upright at the
Gold level and, at the Bronze level, the PV6 PacVac and Tornado PV10 PacVac
backpack models. These additions bring Tornado's SOA totals to nine
machines.
PowrFlite, a division of the Tacony Corporation
based in Fort Worth, Texas introduces its PowrFlite Piranha Back Pack (67216)
and PowrFlite JanPro JP600BP backpack to the SOA rolls at the Bronze level.
The Karcher Company of Englewood, Colorado, earned
Bronze-level approval for its
BV 7 and BV 11 backpack models, bringing the
company's SOA total to seven.
To earn the CRI Seal of Approval/Green Label
certification, vacuums must pass the following independent laboratory tests:
- Soil removal - CRI uses
NASA-enhanced x-ray fluorescence technology to measure the precise amount of
soil removed from carpet.
- Dust containment - The vacuum must release
no more than 100 micrograms of dust particles per cubic meter of air, keeping
dirt and dust locked in the vacuum - not escaping back into the air where it
can be breathed.
- Carpet texture retention - The vacuum must
not affect the texture of the carpet more than a one-step change based on one
year of normal vacuum use.
