Powr-Flite, a manufacturer of professional cleaning equipment, announced it will begin applying the term “airwatts” to measure the effectiveness of many of its portable carpet extractors.
 
The term, sometimes spelled “air watts,” is not new to the professional cleaning and carpet cleaning industries.
 
Traditionally it has been used as a measurement of a vacuum cleaner’s effectiveness, according to Mike Englund, a cleaning trainer and product manager for Powr-Flite.
 
“Typically, airwatt refers to airflow (air) and the amount of power (watts) a vacuum cleaner is producing and using,” says Englund. “It gives consumers a better idea of how powerful the vacuum cleaner is. We have taken the same concept and applied it to carpet extractors so technicians can compare products more easily.
 
According to Englund, carpet extractor performance has long been measured by CFM, which refers to airflow, as well as waterlift, referring to the suction generated by the system.
 
“Airwatt technology provides the best of both by measuring the [extractor’s] peak performance of CFM and waterlift at the peak performance level of operation,” he explains. “This measurement indicates the optimal performance of the extractor.”
 
Englund says the company decided to start using the new measuring system to help cleaning technicians better understand the capabilities of the company’s carpet extractors and “to add greater transparency. We believe this is [the kind of information] more and more technicians want manufacturers to provide.”