Date:         Tue, 27 Sep 2005 13:13:11 -0700
Reply-To:     Robert Fisher <refisher@MCHSI.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Robert Fisher <refisher@MCHSI.COM>
Subject:      Re: carpet - Cleaning
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
              reply-type=original

I used to use Super Clean in a 50/50 mix with water to clean gas station
pads. It, and most of those 'purple' knockoffs have a fairly strong
percentage of sodium hydroxide (otherwise known as lye) in the mixture.
Y'know, lye, like in that scene in 'Fight Club'.
They also often have other related types of caustics in them as well
depending on the product.

Now lye can be found in a million things (including some foods) in different
amounts, but in the five-percent or better mixture in these cleaners it can
be pretty powerful. I saw a guy once get holes in the skin on his hands
after about 45 minutes of exposure to some undiluted purple stuff- he didn't
think he needed gloves. He was wrong. Not only were his hands messed up, but
there's a possible poisoning problem from that kind of injury as well. You
can read about the effects of lye on washer-women from back when, for
instance. Pretty ugly.

A few months ago somebody on the list suggested using one of these cleaners
(a concrete/driveway cleaner) to clean the engine. Caustics can be highly
reactive to aluminum as well as other materials on or around the engine. I
wouldn't go there. If you didn't get it completely rinsed out or diluted in
could cause damage that would come back to haunt long after you forgot about
using it. The products that are made for engine cleaning generally work just
fine, no need to get creative with it.

If you dilute the purple stuff to the proper levels it should be fine on
carpets. I think I'd be inclined to use it as a spot treatment, tho, and
probably go with the Tide otherwise, or just a commercial carpet detergent.
Tide, btw, is pretty versatile stuff- people use it to make mixtures to wash
houses, for instance.

The local Wal-Mart stopped carrying Super Clean, and the Walmartian
'working' there told me it was because California banned it when it did its
annual tweak of the environmental statutes. I'm not sure I buy that, but I
never looked into it because there are plenty of decent substitutes readily
available and many of them are cheaper.

Cya,
Robert

----- Original Message -----
From: "Doug in Calif" <vanagon@ASTOUND.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2005 11:14 AM
Subject: Re: carpet - Cleaning


> Pull the carpets out of the van, place them on a blue tarp on a concrete
> sloped driveway, squirt them down with a citrus based degreaser, NOT
> CASTROL
> SUPER CLEAN IN THE PURPLE BOTTLE, THAT STUFF EATS EVERYTHING IT COMES INTO
> CONTACT WITH.
>
> Use an electric power washer and your wet converse tennis shoe to scrub
> out
> the spots. Dry over some saw horses, they will sparkle.
>
> I would NEVER try to wash them in the van. When you take out the carpet
> you
> will see the cork floor and how the floor is shaped to hold the water for
> a
> long time.
>
> Even the cork when out of the van is difficult to dry.
>
> Doug