[terrymaloy]

I was wondering if anybody could explain what may have caused the following.
On Friday morning I cleaned a customers wool rug beige slight pattern and she was more than happy with the result. Later that evening I got a txt saying her rug was turning pink   

Having been in the business 15 years this was the first time I had heard of such a thing. I messaged her back and said I would pop round in the morning.
I did a quick search on this forum and found this had happened before on both carpets and upholstery. To remedy the situation they advised using bicarbonate of soda which should get rid of the pink.

I turned up at the customers house and sure enough her rug had pink patch all over. Armed with my diluted bicarb I got to work spraying the affected area and it certainly started to look better.
Ive been cleaning her carpets for years and she was ok about and havnt heard back so I guess everything is OK.

I recently changed my cleaning powder to Formula 90 and am now scared to use this stuff again on anything wool or light carpets for that matter.
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks

[Mike Halliday]

I don't That's an idicator dye (acid dye)problem (that you see on some fabrics)  the shape is all wrong  that staining is in lines following a path,   acid dye stains are like  large patches.

It looks like a child has gone mad with a felt tip pen and then it has been spread out by unsuccessful cleaning.

If it is an acid dye then a test with a high ph chemical like ammonia will  immediatley   make it disappear

[Steve Chapman]

I seem to remember the pink come from cleaning on the acidic side so alkaline solution would improve not make it worse......

[Mike Halliday]

Yes the pink is a reaction to acid based cleaners so Using an alkaline detergent would not cause it to happen,  that fact that Terry has just changed to using f90 is probably a coincidence

[DB]

Mike

Ammonia will usually not correct it long term...plus... too strong an alkali can turn fibres green ...its all about balance

[DB]

I forgot to ask.... I would like to bet the light colour on the rug is a natural fibre

[Mike Halliday]

Mike

Ammonia will usually not correct it long term...plus... too strong an alkali can turn fibres green ...its all about balance

I was not suggesting ammonia as a cure .......Hence the use of the  word 'test'

 I would not use ammonia to correct it just give an indication of the cause,

[Raj]

I forgot to ask.... I would like to bet the light colour on the rug is a natural fibre

Bicarb of soda!!!! Hhhhmmmmm

[Mike Roper]

I would say that the rug is one of the modern ones made of acrylic not wool. I have found that if you clean with an acid side rinse in the tank you can get this pink colouring. As already said alkali should remove it.
Mike

[terrymaloy]

I would say that the rug is one of the modern ones made of acrylic not wool. I have found that if you clean with an acid side rinse in the tank you can get this pink colouring. As already said alkali should remove it.
Mike

Which alkali detergent would you recommend ?

[stuart_clark]

It could be urine flare up, I only saw it once on a natural wool carpet , a local carpet cleaner waded in with a fairly high ph alkaline product without neutralising the carpet first

[stuart_clark]

Terry
I use Chemspec Unclean on wool carpets its also a Woolsafe approved product

[Dave_Lee]

It looks to me like a red wine spillage, see how there is a big blob in the grey/black area. That's where the main lot landed and splashed forward from there? May have been 'surface' removed and hidden by soiling, or chemically hidden (not removed) only to re-appear when next cleaned.
When a suite I cleaned turned pink over the course of 5 months, I rectified it by spraying with Bi-carb. However I cleaned it using a self neutralising alkaline solution, not acidic.
Dave.

[John Kelly]

Doesn't look like wool to me. Either Acrylic or Viscose. If its Viscose then it shouldn't be wet cleaned. Do a burn test.