[Robin Ray]

I'm sure the craftex is great and I will get some next time round however I had some rust to remove today, 12 spots on a white wool carpet from the studs on the bottom of a suite. I used prochem rust remover and it worked fine.

[Paul Pearce]

Craftex rust remover is Hydroflouric Acid, Prochem's is Phospheric Acid both are around pH1 which has nothing to do with the strength of a product. They both work, just at different rates. However what you should look at is the safety aspect of the products you use. Hydrofluoric acid is toxic, it etches glass, it is used as an anaesthetic and it will disolve calcium i.e. your bones. So if you are using it then make sure you wear gloves, don't breath in the vapour and for goodness sake don't let it out of your sight.

Prochems rust remover yes is slower but it is safer, although wear gloves as with any spotting chemical. The big thing is you need dwell time, sometimes we are in a hurry for things to work. You may need to rinse and re-apply. Many of the rust removers sold today will be phospheric acid based, if you look at the products in some soft drinks you'll probably find it in them also. That doesn't mean to say you can use 7 up or Coca Cola to remove rust stains.

[Robin Ray]

Hi Paul welcome to CIU

Today the Prochem Rust remover took 3 applications and a cup of tea to work , rinsing after each application. I think the dwell was the most important thing.

[Kev Martin]

The problem is everyone today wants speed! 

It is so refreshing to read the post from Paul.  Dwell times are very important with all chemicals!  The sad thing is,  advice is given regularly like "Slap Hypo on"  "Bang some Nitromors on it" "Get some builders brick acid"  etc.  I am a great believer that anyone using any chemical should fully understand exactly what the chemical is and moreover the consequences of misuse. 
A cleaning company used an acid cleaner in the USA.   The fumes from the acid were picked up by the air conditioning system and every bit of metal in the building went rusty.  (Think about it!  every computer, chair screws, door plates, cutlery, tools, sink, desks etc).  They caused US$23,000.000 worth of damage to a 30 storey building in 36 hours because they didn't understand the consequences of misuse.  Closer to home a company misused a bottle of Builders Acid on a porcelain floor in a public building in North Wales and every single  Handle, Kickplate and Handplate had to be replaced on every door in the building and they had to replace the reception desk which had a stainless steel base running round it.  The shocking part was that all the damage caused to the upper parts of the doors was caused by the cleaners wearing rubber gloves  which had acid residue on them.  Finally when they finished the floor was no different because they didn't know what they were doing and some bright spark had said  "Use Builders Brick Acid it sorts anyfink mate!"

The moral of this post is next time someone says use this or use that make sure you understand how the chemical works and the consequences of misuse, lack of correct PPE, inhalation, fumes, disposal and how to neutralise accidental spills.  I am positive most of you must have seen the demonstration of Coca Cola either cleaning money overnight or dissolving a junior tooth in 48 hours and that is essentially diluted phosphoric acid with a DWELL TIME

[John Kelly]

Good post Kev. There is a distinct lack of knowledge and concern regarding chemicals throughout certain sectors of the cleaning and building industries. Maybe there is a need for specific training on chemicals, their types and constituents and the care in using.
Most courses deal with PH but I think thats about as far as it goes.
I did one course recently where the instructor was using solvents without gloves although he did mention that you should wear gloves when doing this. I had to take him to one side and have a word in his ear about the error of his ways.

[mark shannon]

Craftex with extreme care to yourself and others works very well and we are only talking about the odd spot here not a whole floor. Prochem although safe I find even with a decent dwell just doesn't work in majority of cases.

[stuart_clark]

I think craftex has followed on from Stapro, I used Stapro twenty years ago