It's time for carpet cleaning as we have a summer 'meet the public' business where we share our home with guests.

My husband thought he would try a new company and asked for an estimate. Plans to have it done this week. When he shared with me that there would be no need to set up fans to accelerate the drying and that it would be dry in about 3 hours, I started becoming concerned.

Dry Cleaning the carpets? I know what chemical that is. Then my husband shared that there was a surfactant in the cleaning product that did the good cleaning. Now I am really concerned. 2-butoxyethanol is a surfactant.

Well, I'm holding my horses while my husband finds out what product & what the surfactant is that cleans so well.

We would be running our guest right back out, so many are alergic today. And on top of that I don't want to spend every waking moment having diarrhea & knowing tumor/cancers are around the corner.

Here's what happened to a couple of cats when Spot Shot Carpet cleaner was used in a couple of homes

And just because a product says it is safe, doesn't make it so

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Rich,

OKAY, First, I've been in the Carpet Cleaning Business for 28 years so any concerns you might have regarding the chemical in question, I will be happy to answer for you. I have also used and taught EVERY carpet cleaning method there is, so I won't steer you wrong. First, you should know this. If you use Clorox Bleach in your laundry, than THAT is FAR more toxic than what any carpet cleaner uses. In fact there has NEVER been any "TOXIC" carpet cleaning chemicals. Spotting agents such as Tricloetholyne 1,1,1... YES. But that's been off the market for 13 years now.

Question: Are YOU cleaning the carpets yourself or hiring a Professional?

Trust me, if you're doing it yourself, please stay away from, the Home Depot crap (ZEP) it's out dated junk. Also stay away from ALL supermarket brand spotters such as Resolve and Woolite. They are know to cause "Reactive Yellowing
in carpets. Plus, if they were really any good, WE'D BE USING THEM. I have alot more to say on that topic matter, but I'll move on.

My advice to you is to either get referrals from friends or family members first. See what they have to say about who they used. That's better than "Rolling the Dice". I can tell you with confidence however, that you should be happy hiring a CHEM-DRY Franchise. Your carpets will be safely cleaned and dry in 1 to 2 hours tops. Their method is the same one I use most of the time. Unless you need "RESTORATIVE CLEANING". Feel free to e-mail me if you have any other concerns.

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We have a small carpet cleaning machine (Green Machine) that we sometimes use, but for bigger jobs we like to hire it done.

Thanks for the informative post on carpet cleaning. I would like to know what the surfactant is in the dry cleaning type

The chemical I'm concerned about is a surfactant and it is used in dry cleaning and plastics industries, and all kinds of cleaning products

I think the worst exposure is vapors in one's eyes.

Do you have any health issues from your military service, or from this business? ... flu type symptoms is what exposure looks like or things like a nagging cough, sniffles, etc

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FIRST WHICH surfactant are you talkin about? There are too many out there and I don't know which one you are talking about. However, to simplify things, if you're talking about PERT. (which is rarely used anymore) you would not want to use that to clean your carpets with anyway. In fact, you wouldn't want to use any "solvent based" cleaning agent on your carpets as it wouldn't clean them very well in the first place. DRY cleaning (solvents) just happens to be the worst cleaning system out there, however, for some FABRICS, you have no choice, other than replacement. Now, DRY COMPOUND (Capture, Host) cleaning is very good and very safe. But again, it has it's linitations. Are you doing the cleaning YOURSELF or hiring a Pro?? Like I said, Chem-Dry is VERY Good and their cleaning solution is extreamly safe. You're not going to get ill or die from it, so don't worry. Hot Water Extraction ("steam cleaning") is the most popular method, but be prepared for VERY LONG drying times. In the end, IT'S NOT THE METHOD...IT"S THE MAN". Go online and look up the surfactant or call the manufacturer for the MSDS. If you need me, you know how to reach me.

Remember this Maggie. Today, All Carpet Cleaning chemicals are safe. They have to be. We're around them ALL DAY-EVERYDAY. I used to clean my hands with Triclor 1,1,1 and I'm fine. I'm not one to tell anyone how to live. Far be it from me. But the last thing you want to become is a Chemo-Phobic person. There's way too many other things to worry about in life than cleaning chemicals. Unless you're consuming them orally, you have very little and most probably, nothing to worry about. Did you know Windex has 7 times more VOCs than what I use. Something to think about.

Rich

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OK, the products used by the professional we are considering for carpet cleaning use the following:

Steam Way PH-iber Guard, MSDS

Steam Way Traffic Lane Cleaner (Maxpak) MSDS This has 2-butoxyethanol at 10% strength; CAS no 111-76-2

and Steam Way odor eliminator MSDS

So what do you think of this type of carpet cleaning ... as to the ones you have described?

More MSDSs

I think people get a lot of exposure to ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, and it doesn't take that much to cause serious harm.

but warnings are inadequate on the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) regarding harm of 2-butoxyethanol (#111-76-2)

valdezlink.com/same.htm

valdezlink.com/acute.htm

valdezlink.com/pages/crackthecase.htm#this

I'm watching my grandkids right now & my daughter just got a call back from her friend. Her friend said was in the hospital with gall bladder removal surgery

I remember 4 months ago when they my daughter & son-in-law went on a cruise and this friend watched baby When they got back baby (4 monhts old) was fussy, fussy, fussy with swollen abdomen (I suspected swollen organs)

I thought then that the chemical was there ...
If baby had stayed much longer, I suspect he could have died, and they would have just said SIDS ... we do not know

Gall bladder removal surgery is an early on thing I notice with this chemical exposure  http://www.valdezlink.com/pages/questionnaire.htm

Another young father, a fireman in our town, had gall bladder surgery removal and his kidney shut down, liver issue, too .... and his digestive system was shutting down (so they removed his intestines and gave him a bag) ... his organs were shutting down, and he almost died. I doubt that it is over yet