I got a bit hamfisted with a clogged length of central heating pipe
and dribbled some sort of red muck out of the pipe onto the carpet.
Does anybody know what the much is - some sort of oxide? And more
importantly, how to remove it?

I've tried the usual soapy water and blotting paper etc, but to no
avail :-(

In article ,
Andy Dingley writes:
On Wed, 15 Jun 2005 09:48:51 +0100, Pete
wrote:

Does anybody know what the much is - some sort of oxide?

Iron oxide - one of humanity's oldest and most stable pigments.

It's a non-soluble pigment, not a dye. So you've no hope of trying to
clean it up by dissolving it in a solvent. You'll have to wash it out
instead, with copious supplies of liquid. I'd expect a wet carpet
cleaner with vacuum to be your best hope here. You might hire one, if
you don't already have a Vax.

A can of 1001 Troubleshooter carpet cleaner might be worth
a try. Spray on, work into a lather, leave to dry, and vacuum
up with the dirt attached to it. I found it to be very successful
at removing a load of black iron dust which had worn off inside
a door handle and went straight into the carpet when I unscrewed
it. Vacuuming alone didn't touch it.

--
Andrew Gabriel

"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
.. .
In article ,
Andy Dingley writes:
On Wed, 15 Jun 2005 09:48:51 +0100, Pete
wrote:

Does anybody know what the much is - some sort of oxide?

Iron oxide - one of humanity's oldest and most stable pigments.

It's a non-soluble pigment, not a dye. So you've no hope of trying to
clean it up by dissolving it in a solvent. You'll have to wash it out
instead, with copious supplies of liquid. I'd expect a wet carpet
cleaner with vacuum to be your best hope here. You might hire one, if
you don't already have a Vax.

A can of 1001 Troubleshooter carpet cleaner might be worth
a try. Spray on, work into a lather, leave to dry, and vacuum
up with the dirt attached to it. I found it to be very successful
at removing a load of black iron dust which had worn off inside
a door handle and went straight into the carpet when I unscrewed
it. Vacuuming alone didn't touch it.

--
Andrew Gabriel

There is also a stain devil for it. Smells like cabbages, but got rust out
of a white T shirt.

Bob

On Wed, 15 Jun 2005 14:30:16 +0100, "Bob Smith \(UK\)"
bob@nospamplease wrote:

There is also a stain devil for it. Smells like cabbages, but got rust out
of a white T shirt.

Probably based on oxalic acid. Might be needed for wool or cotton, but
shouldn't be necessary for synthetics.

Andy Dingley wrote:
When I was a kid, we had a red setter. I came home from school one day
to find a redder red setter than usual. In a very much redder house than
usual. He'd ripped open a bag of red raddle (cement pigment) and spread
it _everywhere_.

Awww bless.

We had to re-paper the walls (there was a brushed stripe at dog height),
but it came out of the carpets and soft furnishings fairly well.

And how did it come out of the dog? :-)

Owain

On Wed, 15 Jun 2005 09:48:51 +0100, Pete
wrote:

I got a bit hamfisted with a clogged length of central heating pipe
and dribbled some sort of red muck out of the pipe onto the carpet.
Does anybody know what the much is - some sort of oxide? And more
importantly, how to remove it?

I've tried the usual soapy water and blotting paper etc, but to no
avail :-(

Borrow a steam cleaner.

We've got a cheap "steam bullet". It's a portable handheld steam
cleaner - you fill it with cold water and when it heats up it has a
trigger action steam jet. I think it was around £30.

The steam can be used to blast most dirt and muck away.

Put the nozzle on one side of the stain and a clean cloth on the other
side of the stain. The steam is usually sufficient to blow the stain
out of the carpet and straight onto the cloth.

Might be wise to try it on a concealed area first of all to make sure
the carpet can cope.

Steam cleaners are also superb for defrosting a freezer. I can defrost
our freezer using the steam cleaner in about 10 minutes.

Graham

"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
Does anybody know what the much is - some sort of oxide?

Iron oxide - one of humanity's oldest and most stable pigments.

Yes ... rust ... :-(

....

Fortunately the pigment doesn't attach itself well to fibres,

Hmm. You've never seen the result of a steel pin being left in damp cotton.

What's worse, the heaviest affected part of the affected item disintegrates,
leaving a hole. I've never been able to wash it out, some stain removers
might cause a chemical reaction but I suspect it wouldn't be kind to the
fabric.

so it does
wash out well. Unless there's wool in the carpet, when it may stain
permanently (also for many timbers). The tenacity of iron oxide pigment
depends on how finely it was ground - random plumbing crud should be a
lot easier to shift than dusty cement pigment.

I opine that immediate cleaning is the only answer, whatever method is
tried. It will only get worse if it bonds.

When I was a kid, we had a red setter. I came home from school one day
to find a redder red setter than usual. In a very much redder house than
usual. He'd ripped open a bag of red raddle (cement pigment) and spread
it _everywhere_.

Was the raddle coloured with iron oxide?

We had to re-paper the walls (there was a brushed stripe at dog height),

LOL! You should have left it as a design feature :-)

Mary

Hi Graham
Might be wise to try it on a concealed area first of all to make sure
the carpet can cope.

Wise indeed mate. I once attempted to get chewing gum out of a 100% acrylic
carpet. The steam nozzle had a brass end which touched the carpet and
melted a spot of it!

Steam cleaners are also superb for defrosting a freezer. I can defrost
our freezer using the steam cleaner in about 10 minutes.

Yup! That and a wet/dry vacuum to pick up the water!

Dave

In article ,
writes:

Steam cleaners are also superb for defrosting a freezer. I can defrost
our freezer using the steam cleaner in about 10 minutes.

My grandfather used to defrost his fridge by putting a bar heater
in front of it. Well, that was until he bought a Hotpoint Iced
Diamond fridge in the 1960's, which was the first fridge he'd had
with a plastic liner. Called out the Hotpoint engineer and said
"looks what's happened". Engineer, confronted with a fridge which
looked like a Salvador Dali painting with its liner hanging in
long stalactites, and running out into a puddle on the floor,
said "Blimy. Never seen one do this before gov".

--
Andrew Gabriel

On Thu, 16 Jun 2005 12:52:43 +0100, "Mary Fisher"
wrote:

Fortunately the pigment doesn't attach itself well to fibres,

Hmm. You've never seen the result of a steel pin being left in damp cotton.

Natural fibre though - whole different situation from synthetic, which I
assume this carpet will be (possibly with some wool).

Also steel will stain worse than already oxidised iron, if you leave it
around long enough and moist enough.