John
Whilst I would admit that it may be deemed necessary to use a product like Chemspec's High Heat on trashed wool carpets (VERY trashed wool carpets that is), given that there will be inexperienced technicians reading your post I feel that it is perhaps a little irresponsible to make such a general statement as
......I tried it last week and was really suprised how well it works on wool carpets.... As you are probably aware John, a product of a pH upto 10.5, and probably buffered too, can cause irrepairable damage to wool fibres. The dye's own buffered acidity will be compromised, leaving it open to colour degredation either immediately or more likely later, especially at subsequent cleans. The 0.4% of lanolin typically present in wool carpet yarn will be removed, allowing the fibres to be dried out and become more brittle leading to accelerated wear of the carpet. There will also be other problems such as the hand or feel of the carpet when dry.
We often hear of technicians who clean wool fibre carpets using inappropriate chemistry. OK, on the day, there may not be any apparent damage to the carpet, but believe me, damage has occured. The International Wool Secretariate, and more lately the Woolsafe Organisation, employ trained scientists to come up with ways to clean wool textiles safely. I'm sure that most of us would never dream of laundering our expensive Gant woolen pullovers in High Heat or similar, so why our customers carpets?
Cleaning wool carpets well and cleaning them safely is a learnt skill. I feel that the Woolsafe Training Course by Chemspec Europe that I attended a few years ago, was the best and most important course I have ever attended. It made such an impact on my knowledge and understanding of cleaning not only wool, but synthetics too, that I am now able to clean almost every carpet to Woolsafe standards, regardless of carpet, yarn or system type.
Even the most heavily soiled wool carpets will respond to correct Woolsafe cleaning procedures, the only limitation being the amount of time available to carry out the clean. My advice would be that if there is not sufficient time available to clean a carpet correctly, a written, and acknowledged, notice should be issued informing the prospect/client of the reasons for adopting non-recommended methods.
Safe and happy cleaning
Ken
