Encap comparisons

Just wondering how many have used several or all these products(Releasit, Vacaway, Soils n oils and Procyon Extreme) and what are their thought on overall performance.  I am experimenting with a couple of them now, but have been a Releasit advocate for many years.  I would love to hear others opinions and if possible real side by side job comparisons.

I haven't used Releasit in years. From what I recall It worked pretty good. What I didn't like that It had a high alcohol content that made me cough. Not sure if Rick is still using tea tree oil as the deodorizer but I personally didn't like the scent either.

More later I have to take off.

I know what you are saying is true, but I don't seem to get the same irritation you're speaking of anymore.  I'm not sure if it's the way we are applying it or if the chemistry itself has changed, but do not seem to get the coughing spell I used to.
What are you using and what other products can you compare?

Im wanting to learn more here too. I can tell you this, I read a lot of possitive about the Releasit and Soils n Oils....Ive been investigating the Procyon and just cant seem to get it to my door. First samples took 6 weeks to get here with three calls, Now an order im trying to get placed is two weeks in the making!(no sarcasm here) I think I rulled them out as of yesterday.

I'm looking in to a procyon distributorship. It has great potential because it is green and very safe, Good for marketing daycare and assisted living facilities. Also required for any "LEED" buildings. It also is a very good encap and can be used as a HWE prespray,
I used to use Prochem Ultrapac, but seems to foam a lot, so I'm switching to P{rocyon for some encap and HWE prespray.
I really need to test the soils n oils against releasit. While Vacaway has some great products, I have not been impressed with their encap.

kleen1 wrote:I'm looking in to a procyon distributorship.  It has great potential because it is green and very safe,  Good for marketing daycare and assisted living facilities.  

Hey K1, good to see you jump in and post an avatar of yourself!

And great thread topic you started here also.

I've only used a few different encaps, so I don't have a lot of info to share on this, but....

I had been using a product called Bone Dry made my Harvard (the brand Mark Saiger distributes, but doesn't mention that when he's pushing it. But that's another story lol), and thought it worked well, but then half way threw a large commercial job I got my first shipment of S/O/E. So the first night on the job was done with Bone Dry, and then the second night I showed up with the S/O/E, and wow what a difference! The areas cleaned with the S/O/E were drastically better. Plus no coughing, and it's DfE approved, which is important to me......so I haven't felt the need to stray since.

BTW is the procyon you're referring to also DfE approved?

They might have reduced the alcohol level content since I used it 7 plus years ago. Excellent supply is a top notch organization with excellent customer service.

There are just so many variables to consider when choosing an encap. Are you comparing a film former or crystalizing encap? Are you using them for straight encapping or pad capping? Are you using them for commercial or residential. Do you want one that does a better job at organic stain or soils and oils. Is using an eco friendly product important to you? Are dilution ratios important to you? And it goes on and on.

For example if you're straight encapping meaning you using a CRB where there is no soil extraction taking place you want to use a crystalizer instead of a film former because a crystalizer contains more polymer available to encapsulation soil.

If you want to find out if its s film former or crystalizer put a drop of each on a dish and wait for them to dry. The crystalizer will be brittle and you can scrape with your finger. The film former will be soft and gooey not brittle at all.

From what I have heard , both crystalizers and film formers encapsulate soil and release at vacuuming but would you want to leave something in the carpet that leaves a soft residue. I think that's why most HWE encaps are film formers.

There are some that think encapsulation is marketing BS. But there does seem to be a general consensus that they do contain drying agents that prevent wicking

What kind of test will you be doing and what products will you be comparing Kleen!. I look forward to see what find out an let me know if I can help.

Devon that's just ridiculous that it would take that long to get your proycon.

Mo...im done with them...I even had them make my label for the bottles of product for customers to buy or to give away....When I call I get the same guy that just has little motivation, everytime its him I have that problem. He is not very personable and I feel like im talking to the guy who is making the product instead of sales. sheesh



I cant with a sane mind get involved with this level of service. Im sorry and im sure the product will survive without me.

No need to apologize Devon. I wouldn't do business with them either. Who wants to do business with some that takes three to deliver product? I certainly wouldn't.

Have you gone up the chain of command there? Did you order directly from Procyon?

I've used all of them.....might be a sign of just being old.

Started with Vacaway products.  I really liked all of them, but none of them really stood out to me.  There are several options, but they all seemed to be the same product with different smell to me.  The gum remover was and is still the best I have ever used.  

Bottom Line:  Vacaway works and smells nice.

Releasit has one of the best customer service team in the industry.  It also worked very well, but I never like the smell...sort of an ammonia scent.  That caused me to look elsewhere.

Bottom Line:  Releasit has awesome customer service, but don't like the odor.

Soils and Oils Encap works very well without foaming and with no odor.  To me that is a winning combination and the fact that you can get great deals on drum purchases makes it economical.  I don't think it was as potent as the Releasit without some boosting, but I don't believe in encapping trashed carpets anyway.

Bottom Line:  Works, no odor, economical, with moderate impact.

Procyon Extreme is one that I just tried in a sample bottle.  I didn't encap with it, but I used it on a trashed poly for owners with 2 huge dogs.  It knocked it out of the park with the extraction method.  It has no color and no odor which keeps making me worried about if the sprayer was actually drawing or not.  It might be difficult to encap with a water clear solution without odor or foam.....easy to miss areas.  The customer service is also terrible at this point.

Bottom Line:  Works well, no odor, no foam, no color.  If you have a local source for it, I would certainly give it a try.  If you have to order it....I would wait until they get a better customer service system in place.

I hope this helps.  I like the new Avatar as well, we really are the only board out there with cleaners willing to step out from behind the curtain.

Mo wrote:No need to apologize Devon. I wouldn't do business with them either. Who wants to do business with some that takes three to deliver product? I certainly wouldn't.

Have you gone up the chain of command there? Did you order directly from Procyon?

Thats who Im dealing with! LMBO

I would have been on the phone and emailed the President Ivan Day two weeks ago.

I refuse to run his company, mine is crazy enough.

I can add my thumbs up to all the above good words about S/O/E.

Although the Procyon customer service may be lacking, it does work well. That is one reason I am thinking about a distributorship to have enough product to provide customer service as it should be. Prior to starting a cleaning business, I was half way through an MBA in logistics, so I have a strong background in warehousing and distribution based on historical demand and projections.
I like the fact that Procyon is Green Seal and Woolsafe approved so I can use it in "LEED" buildings and also on wool carpet and rugs and it is CRI approved. You can encap or HWE with it. Versatility is hard to beat.

I haven't has the slow shipping times like Devon and Rob have had since I started ordering from them.

I believe Rob said he had a distributor an hour away. Have you ordered Procyon form them Rob.

Maybe they do need a distributor on the east coast with experience in supply chain management that is able to provide tracking capabilities and deliver product in a timely manner.

With regards to Kleen not being impressed with Vackaway products, That hasn't been my experience either.

I haven't ordered from them yet Mo locally. They don't have a website and no listing for them, so they must be a cleaning company selling on the side. I will probably just drive down there next week to find out.

I did try and order straight from the Procyon website, but it kept giving me errors and saying that it was unable to process at that time. After 3 attempts, I decided they must not need the business.

Hopefully, it is just a matter of growing too fast and they will get the infrastructure developed soon. The other option would be for one of us to become a distributor......anyone have that kind of free time and would like headaches?

No shit. I have to place an order.

This is what I'll do. I ll send a compliant through there website with a link to a new thread to see if they respond.

milspec6 wrote:I haven't ordered from them yet Mo locally.  They don't have a website and no listing for them, so they must be a cleaning company selling on the side.  I will probably just drive down there next week to find out.

I did try and order straight from the Procyon website, but it kept giving me errors and saying that it was unable to process at that time.  After 3 attempts, I decided they must not need the business.

Hopefully, it is just a matter of growing too fast and they will get the infrastructure developed soon.  The other option would be for one of us to become a distributor......anyone have that kind of free time and would like headaches?

Yeah Kleen1 is going to be the man on the east coast to call

s/o/e works really well, I tried his solvent version and hated it.. the bottle was crusting up and forming films.. if you left it in anything it would get all weird.. so I prefer the original version without the solvent because it cleans really well


releasit I dont like because its too foamy

matrix encap is good but also has heavy alcohol that makes people cough, so not a big fan of it.


so far I like s/o/e the best

Mo...its not slow shipping times...if I wouldnt have called several times it wouldnt have made it at all. Its NO shipping times! lol (really)

hey Devon if you want to give it a try again just call rotovac and have them ship it to you.  

They are based in the same area pretty much and pricing is the same I believe.

id say that there are other pre sprays that are similar, but it wouldnt be true.

I wont be switching chems anytime soon, especially once I learned what just the powder can do.

Ironically Procyon is being very attentive right now.