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.

New SOA Solutions
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).

New SOA Vacuums
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 independent laboratory tests in soil removal, dust containment and carpet texture retention.