Mystery Spot??

[Walt]

Moved a chair, carpet was clean. Did a quick wet pass and the carpet turns bright red. Did a couple more passes and it got brighter and bigger. Called Customer to get permission for the big guns. Panic ensues.

Sally's special spotter #40 - didn't touch it

Red Vanish with heat - no dice.

Hell Gel - maybe a little lighter but wait the towel has pink on it.

More hell gel - a little better

Then the total Hack move - Simple Green straight - 50% gone

Simple Green X 3 - 99% gone

What the heck was it? Customer had no idea.

 

[Walt]

I'd like to add that I used the simple green because the next step was using a knife. It was in my spotting kit because I was cleaning the rims on my truck and I keep all spray bottles in the case so they don't spill in the truck. Never used it before on carpet, and probably wont again unless there is nothing to lose.

What I was wondering is - what the heck was the spot????

 

[Chads]

sounds like it was a red ink spot

 

[Walt]

It wasn't there when I started. The carpet was perfect. Then suddenly a spot.

 

[Chads]

the stuff could be pretty small and spread like crazy same thing with concentrated magic marker could almost look black and then turn a crazy bright color.

 

[Able 1]

I have only had that happen with ink... If the ink is at the bottom of the fiber you won't see it till it gets wet. If it's not ink??????

 

[Nate The Great]

I have only had that happen with ink... If the ink is at the bottom of the fiber you won't see it till it gets wet. If it's not ink??????

Exactly my thoughts. I do hate when that sh!t happens. You didn't have any Fels? lol.

 

[Luis Gomez]

Flower pollen?

 

[Mr Carpet]

It is likely Benzyl Peroxide

Acne medicine and foot creams are compounds that contain benzoyl peroxide. They are not water-soluble making them difficult to wash off the hands,face or in this case feet. The user may believe the substance has been washed off when it really has not. Then it is transferred to the carpet.

Benzyl peroxide spots appear clear until they are activated by water (your Cleaning) Then the spots begin to turn, purple, pink orange or dark yellow, depending on the dyes.


Even though there appeared to not be a spot before the cleaning the customer caused the pre-existing condition that caused the now permanent spot.

Benzyl causes a bleaching and will not be corrected by cleaning.

Ask the customer if they have used products that contain benzyl peroxide such as ;acne medicine, foot creams etc...


Dave Yoakum

 

[Mr Carpet]

It is likely Benzyl Peroxide

Acne medicine and foot creams are compounds that contain benzoyl peroxide. They are not water-soluble making them difficult to wash off the hands,face or in this case feet. The user may believe the substance has been washed off when it really has not. Then it is transferred to the carpet.

Benzyl peroxide spots appear clear until they are activated by water (your Cleaning) Then the spots begin to turn, purple, pink orange or dark yellow, depending on the dyes.


Even though there appeared to not be a spot before the cleaning the customer caused the pre-existing condition that caused the now permanent spot.

Benzyl causes a bleaching and will not be corrected by cleaning.

Ask the customer if they have used products that contain benzyl peroxide such as ;acne medicine, foot creams etc...


Dave Yoakum

www.FreeMarketingForever.com

 

[DRScrivner]

I have done two apartment move outs before where the tenant was evicted for non-payment of rent. They in turn damaged the units pretty much as much as they could without burning the place down and removing ALL the Sheetrock.

One of the lovely things that they did knowing that the carpets were going to be cleaned was dump powdered Cherry Kool Aid in the carpet- they must have bought the whole entire store display outta that stuff on one of them. I realized early on that I was getting a lot more then normal when I pre-vac'd. Took me a little while to figure out what it was.

I vac'd like there was no tomorrow in there. I showed the manager what was going on, they said try to clean it, if you can't we will replace it and charge the tenant for replacement. OK- sign this waiver please then- done.

Even with the pre-spray I could see it start to activate some of the powder and dye the carpet. Tried a wet pass for giggles- I had nothing to lose at that point- nice red carpet.

I never saw the powder until I pre-vac'd. If I did not pre-vac I could have been on the line for that one.

 

[Dolly Llama]

I don't have a clue what the mystery stain was

But it's interesting to me of all the things you tried, Simple Green was the only one to remove it.
Doesn't make sense, or at the very least, seems odd

I know butyl is a component of S-G
But there must be something other than the butyl, cause we've used other strong butyl all purpose cleaners and S-G blows them all away on a myriad of soils.
I wish i could stand the smell of it, cause we'd use it more for general cleaning if so.

and yes, we HAVE used it on rat nazzty carpets too.
It kicks Castrol Superclean and Purple Power's azz all over the joint

If you can stand the licorice/anise smell, it's a GREAT "hack" juice...just bring some defoamer


..L.T.A.

 

[Shawn Forsythe]

My first thought was Del's observation. Kool Aid powder would react just as this scenario suggested.

Highly unlikely that it was an ink spot, as the spot bled so profusely with an aqueous cleaning pass.
The simple green would be effective, so long as the stain resist of the carpet was in good shape, but the simple green itself can be somewhat damaging. What was missing from the original post was the fiber type.

 

[Shawn Forsythe]

Rub some fels naptha on it

rinse rinse rinse

You need four rinses, not three. LOL

 

[Mountain View Carpet Care]

I would guess it was a kool aid powder that spilled there or a pix stick candy.