We did a coffee spot removal on white carpet. Used Releasit first, cuz it may just do the whole job and will break down the oil barrier. No such luck.

Then used Bridgepoint TCU for tannin, coffee and urine stains, an acid. Then flood rinsed 3 times with clear water and water claw. Then final Releasit, both to clean it again and to neutralize any leftover acid.

It was definitely better, but it left a shadow that was visible. Client would possibly like us to try cleaning it again. Is there a stronger acid that you prefer in this situation? A totally different approach than acid cleaners?

Show me what you do differently - I'm totally open to a different approach.

Thanks!

Try one of the many rust eliminators, with caution.

In the past we would have used hydrofluoric acid, but that is now a no-no.

care at all times and extra flushing, with a quick fan assisted dry.

You say you flushed it well, you did not overwet the carpet by chance??

Cheers,

Shorty.

I use a product called "Spray n Go" it is a powder you add to very hot water and as the name suggests you just spray n go. It is contains a reducing bleach and I use it at Borders book stores (I have 22 stores) and it's the only thing that works for me.http://www.baneclene.com/catalog/sprayngo.html

Here's something to keep in mind about hot coffee.

If you are dealing with dyed goods such as dyed nylon, the hot coffee can actually penetrate into the fiber. When they dye the greige goods they introduce hot dye to the fiber.

Greige goods: Textiles that have not received any bleaching, dyeing or finishing treatment after being produced by a textile process (pronounced gray).

The hot dye opens up the dye sites so the dye can penetrate.

If very hot coffee gets spilled onto the carpet, the same thing can occur. The dye site can still accept color, in this case coffee, making it impossible to remove the color stain from the dye site.

Sometimes it helps to explain this to the customer.




Rick Gelinas
encapman

Use an oxidizer.

Hi Clay,

Spray N Go has always worked for me. Rick brings up a very good point about Nylon carpet and heat set dyes. In a commercial setting the first chem you used would normally get it. But if this was a cut pile nylon carpet it will absorb the coffee. Should have used the correct chem the first time. Always remember with the original spill you have one set of chemestry. You use another chem and the stain is still there, you now have changed the chemestry and compounded it. Meaning you have added to the mix. Now you have more to deal with. This holds true for all spots and stains.
It is usually a good idea to treat stains you can identify while dry. The dry carpet will absorb your chem and not have interferance from other products. This will always produce a better result the first time around. No time wasted going back over the same area. Most of the time a good pre conditioner will remove maybe 90 % or higher of the spots in a carpet. Over time you will learn which one will need to treated while dry to achieve best results with the least amout of labor.

Bob

I did have some concern that the 2 chems mixed together were fighting each other. In other words, an alkaline and and then an acid without time to dry the alkaline first would neutralize each other.

And I will point out to the client that hot coffee may in fact permanently dye the carpet, but then she said that another company removed completely a full cup of espresso a few feet away from this stain.

What is in Spray n Go that makes it work? Is it an oxidizer? Or an acid, similar to the TCU I used?

I have been using Encap Punch and Larry Cobb's Dynachem, both mixed at 50/50 with excellent results on coffee and urine. I put these products on immediately upon arriving and let them dwell up to 30 minutes before cleaning. The results have blown me away. I carry less and less of spotters these days. Don't you just love encapping?

Do you spray the two on or do you flood the area?

Spray on heavy Joe,and work in with a bone scraper. If it is a large spill, I will flood it and use the water claw to extract. I rarely run into large ones.

Thank you.