In May of 2022, Todd Francis, the President of First Serve Cleaning & Restoration of Indianapolis, Indiana, contacted Mark Timmons, the President of US Water Systems. Todd had just invested a considerable sum of money into the purchase of a High-Tech Oriental Rug Cleaning Machine, and he wanted to take the cleaning of Oriental Rugs to a new level. Additionally, since First Serve also has a number of trucks that do mobile carpet cleaning at customers' locations, he wondered if having cleaner water would help improve the end product in customers homes and/or commercial businesses.

Todd was also aware that there are also several carpet cleaning companies that advertise that they leave no residue behind or have zero residue. They use this as a sales pitch, but Todd wondered if there was really a better way to clean carpet that was rooted in science, not a sale pitch. It turns out that there was indeed a better way and Mark Timmons, who also happens to be a Master Water Specialist, took technology from another industry for which US Water Systems provides water treatment services: That is the Laboratory Water Industry. US Water Systems provides Laboratory Grade Water for thousands of labs around the world.

Timmons knew that the companies who were claiming NO RESIDUE were using soft water and creating an electrical charge through conductivity with the sodium and other anions in the water. Timmons felt that water that contained sodium, anions, high TDS (Total Dissolved Solids), chemicals, chlorine, chloramine, and many other contaminants could not possibly clean carpet as well as laboratory-grade water, which contains NOTHING BUT H2O!

So, Mark Timmons and Charles Dietz, US Water Systems Head Engineer, set out to design a system that would provide the ultimate in carpet cleaning. Their theory was that the cleaner the water, the more dirt and contaminants it would extract of ouf the water and fully remove any and all chemical residual… leaving just the clean and soft carpet fiber.

They designed this system and installed it at First Serves' location at 7777 W. Morris Street in Indianapolis, Indiana. The results have been nothing short of amazing… but first, let's consider how the system was engineered:

THE US WATER SYSTEMS LAB METHOD OF CARPET CLEANING

THE SCIENCE BEHIND CLEAN CARPETS

STEP 1: DEEP BED CARBON FILTRATION - A special blend of GAC and Catalytic GAC was used to remove the chlorine, chloramine, and many other dangerous chemicals.

STEP 2: 1 MICRON MAGNA FILTER - A human hair is about 70 microns, while a red blood cell is about 8 microns. One micron is about the size of the smallest bacteria and much smaller than the eye can see. It is simply defined “extremely fine filtration”.

STEP 3: ANTI-SCALANT - Instead of using a water softener that adds sodium to the water, US Water Systems has a extremely effective Anti-Scalant called Hyper Guard Plus 7000, which is injected just ahead of the reverse osmosis membrane so as to prevent scale from forming from hardness ions. The Hyper Guard Plus is rejected by the membrane and is not in the water stream.

STEP 4: REVERSE OSMOSIS - Reverse Osmosis is commonly used in Laboratory Water Systems as the PRIMARY De-Mineralization and Purification Method. It literally separates the contaminants from the H2O. The contaminants are then flushed down the drain.

STEP 5: DEIONIZATION - Often called DI, deionization simply removes and remaining dissolved solids and produces what is called “Laboratory Grade Water.” This type of water is typically used in blood and tissue labs and Pharmaceutical Labs.

STEP 6: ULTRAVIOLET DISINFECTION - At this juncture, UV kills any remaining pathogens that may be in the water or air to deliver absolutely pure “LAB GRADE WATER.”

Laboratory grade water is essential for laboratories, but is it really necessary for carpet cleaning? The short answer is “Only if you want really clean carpets, with no chemicals, sodium, soap residue, Total Dissolved Solids, or any other contaminants in the water.”

What is Water?

Water is often called the “universal solvent” because it dissolves everything it touches. Water is called the "universal solvent" because it is capable of dissolving more substances than any other liquid. According to the US Geological Survey:

It is water's chemical composition and physical attributes that make it such an excellent solvent. Water molecules have a polar arrangement of oxygen and hydrogen atoms—one side (hydrogen) has a positive electrical charge and the other side (oxygen) had a negative charge. This allows the water molecule to become attracted to many other different types of molecules. Water can become so heavily attracted to a different compound, like salt (NaCl), that it can disrupt the attractive forces that hold the sodium and chloride in the salt compound together and, thus, dissolve it.

Water can be insidious as it dissolves everything it touches. The Grand Canyon was created by raging water etching away the stone. It can be destructive or good. In the case of carpet cleaning, it is better than good. It is great because as it cleans a rug, it dissolves soap, chemicals, residue, TDS, sodium, and anything disgusting that can be in the carpet and deliver the cleanest carpet with NO RESIDUE possible.

You can see the Before and After Photos of the residue removed from the carpet by the Oriental Rug Cleaning Machine. The trough of the machine holds about 80 gallons of 0 Total Dissolved RO/DI Water. The water is perfectly clean and clear in the trough before the cleaning starts. Look at the water after the cleaning and you will see all the contaminants that are extracted from the rug. Of course, Laboratory-Grade Water does an amazing job on Oriental Rugs. However, it also cleans carpets in homes and business much better and leaves no residue behind.

Scientifically speaking, it is not possible to have cleaner carpets than with cleaning them with lab-grade water. For the person who thinks that sounds “excessive,” can your carpets really ever be too clean?

In the above Before and After photos, the TDS or Total Dissolved Solids of the water at First Serve Cleaning & Restoration was over 400 ppm. The RO/DI Water Used Before the rug was cleaned was nearly ZERO. The water After the cleaning was nearly 100 ppm. If they had started with water that was 400 ppm, there is no way all of that TDS could have been easily pulled out of the carpet. The result was a cleaner and softer carpet with no residual of anything… except for a soft, luxurious carpet!

Oh, and one final benefit for the carpet cleaner: The Nozzles on the Wand almost never plug, allowing you to complete the job with more efficiency and in less time. Everyone involved loves that!

Author: Mark Timmons is a Master Water Specialist, with over 50 years of water treatment experience, including designing, engineering, and installation of high-purity laboratory water equipment and carpet cleaning water systems. He is the President of US Water Systems, Inc. in Indianapolis, Indiana. US Water Systems also specializes in water treatment for Craft Beer Brewing, Hydroponics, and Aquaculture, and as a matter of fact, they do “Everything with water… Except walk on it!”