Zero Residue Carpet Cleaning in Nashville?

How Sodium Hydroxide Cleaning Solutions Create Soap Residue

Is zero residue carpet cleaning possible in Nashville TN? Can a Nashville carpet cleaning company claim to leave zero residue within your fibers when the cleaning solution itself contains sodium hydroxide?

Airborne cooking oils, human sebum and pet dander, all oil-based soils, are some of the most prevalent soils found within Nashville residential carpeting. When sodium hydroxide is applied to oil (fat) it actually creates soap.

Considering that all cleaning solutions, soils and oils cannot be fully removed when cleaning normally soiled residential carpet, some residue will remain. Moreover, cleaning solutions that contain sodium hydroxide (lye) can actually create soap, and thus, sticky residue within your carpet.

Lye Soap Formula: Sodium Hydroxide (Lye) + Fat (Oil) = Lye Soap (Saponification)

1. Sodium Hydroxide: Active Ingredient 

“SafeWater B is an extremely effective saponifier…an affiliated carpet cleaner organization, uses EAU’s Empowered Water™ generators to create SafeWater B…” “The active ingredient in SafeWater B is Sodium Hydroxide…” After speaking to EAU Technologies, approximately two pounds of sodium carbonate is added to approximately ten gallons of water to produce the cleaner solution.

Source: https://www.eautechnologies.com/technology/primacide-b.html

2. Oil (Fat): Humans, Pets & Cooking Oils

From the article: The Science of Carpet Cleaning: “Probably the least recognized, but most significant source of problem soil that builds on fibers comes from animal and vegetable oils…”   

Source: https://carpet-rug.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/The-Science-of-Carpet-Cleaning.pdf

3. Saponification: The Creation of Soap

“…saponification is a process by which triglycerides are reacted with sodium…hydroxide (lye) to produce glycerol and a fatty acid salt, called ‘soap’. The triglycerides are most often animal fats or vegetable oils. When sodium hydroxide is used, a hard soap is produced…”  

Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/definition-of-saponification-605959

Conclusion

Considering this zero residue carpet cleaning company in Nashville cannot remove all of its sodium hydroxide cleaning solution, then its claim of leaving zero residue is more hype than reality. While the remaining sodium hydroxide cleaning solution is not likely to cause your carpet to re-soil any sooner, choosing a carpet cleaning company based on hype is always a bad idea.

Learn More About Nashville EverClean

Additional Information about Zero Residue Carpet Cleaning

In a YouTube video titled “A Message From the Founders” (https://youtu.be/OWyhzS3wNYw) issued by the company claiming to leave zero residue in your carpet, many of their claims simply appear fanatical. Read through their quotes below to see if you feel their comments have merit.

10:35 – 10:55 “Our…wand is designed to completely rinse the entire carpet fiber with our empowered water, without the fluid ever touching the carpet backing. We recover 95% of our water while completely rinsing out all other soils and previous cleaning products thus faster dry times. There is no residue.”

• The two statements, “We recover 95% of our water” and “completely rinsing out all other soils” contradict each other: If 5% moisture still remains after the cleaning that negates the claim of complete removal. If 5% moisture still remains after the cleaning so does the possibility of at least 5% additional soils, oils and Sodium Hydroxide-based solution.
• “Completely rinsing the entire carpet fiber” without touching the carpet backing is inaccurate considering each carpet fiber is attached and glued into the backing. A similar claim would be to completely wash each hair on your head without getting your scalp wet.

10:09 – 10:32 “The entire industry uses the wrong products to clean with and can’t remove the dirt that is already in the carpet and because their toxic chemicals actually add soiling to the carpets their retrieval systems are wrong every time. Their flood-and-suck or spit-and-shine removal methods cannot completely remove the soiling leaving as much as 30% behind from each cleaning…”

• It is unreasonable to believe that an entire carpet cleaning industry has been doing it wrong for so long when the answer was to simply create Sodium Hydroxide solution out of water.
• It is also unreasonable to claim that an entire carpet cleaning industry cannot remove dirt from carpet.
• Not all carpet cleaners use toxic detergents. For those that do, however, most toxic detergents are diluted to non-toxic levels prior to applying to carpet.
• The company in question uses truckmounted extraction equipment similar to most of the industry yet they claim all carpet cleaners remove only 70% of soils while they can remove 100% of soils.
• No carpet cleaning company can completely remove all carpet soils.

5:45 – 6:05 “Now when you put empowered water to that textile, it acts just like a detergent, but when you clean it back out we can get it all back out and it leaves absolutely a zero residue base. That carpet is clean just like it was from the factory- brand new and it appears brand new.” 

• Used carpet fibers become scratched causing light refraction known as graying or abrading. It is impossible to clean used, scratched carpet fibers to “factory brand new” standards.
• Getting “it all back out” and “it leaves absolutely a zero residue” is misleading as some of their solution remains in the carpet after the cleaning.

Other video (https://youtu.be/pfkNUOk6PEE), 00:23 – 00:33 “We simply use empowered water [Sodium Hydroxide-based solution] that goes in, grabs the dirt out of the carpet fiber – and that fluid acts as a detergent without the chemicals, without the residue.” 

• Sodium Hydroxide is a chemical.
• Sodium Hydroxide-based solution leaves residue if not fully removed.

7:02 – 7:17 “It is true that carpet cleaners offer a service of cleaning carpets; unfortunately, that is not what they actually do. While their methodologies allow them to pick up some debris, the fact is their process is to stir the soiling around… “

• The Hot Water Extraction method removes soils from the carpet and places it into a waste tank, not the carpet.
• Carpet cleaners remove significant amounts of soil, not “some debris.”

8:45 – 8:59 “Our unique cleaning fluid. It is called electrolyzed oxidative water. We create this water through a proprietary machine. It is non-toxic and replaces the soaps and detergents that are used by all other cleaners.”

• Their proprietary machine splits a water molecule so hydrogen atoms bond to added sodium molecules to create Sodium Hydroxide, yet the company refers to its cleaning solution as water.
• It is likely non-toxic because it is highly diluted; however, Sodium Hydroxide in concentrated form is not only toxic but caustic.
• Not all carpet cleaners use surfactant-based detergents.

8:59 – 9:09 “When detergents are left behind from cleaning, that detergent acts like a literal dirt magnet where carpet actually gets dirtier faster after each cleaning.”

• This was mostly true decades ago when carpet cleaners used tallow-based soap to clean carpet. Today’s detergents do not include soap, but surfactants that do not contain oils or tallow. When cleaned by a professional carpet cleaning company, residue is not an issue.
• Everyday living delivers significantly more soils than any residue from detergent that might be left behind.

9:09 – 9:25 “Our cleaning product is called empowered water, and it is able to emulsify oils and clean carpets as if it were a soap or a detergent. This water allows us to not add more toxic chemicals to an already overloaded carpet fiber avoiding the dirt-magnet problem.”

• Saponify, the creation of soap from lye and oil, is a better description rather than emulsify.
• Most carpet cleaning detergents that are toxic are also considered non-toxic when diluted as instructed prior to use.
• Considering everyday living and gravity, carpet itself is a “dirt magnet.”

9:33 – 9:43 “[The Company] is committed to using green products. Everything we use is green and non-toxic. This allows us again to separate ourselves from the competition.”

• This company uses the same chemicals to most carpet cleaners as stated within their training manual: T-Rust (rust remover: contains toxins), P.O.G. (Paint, Oil, Grease remover: contains toxins), Red Dye Remover (contains toxins), Citrusolv (detergent: contains toxins).

Conclusion

The amount of possible residue from surfactant-based detergents is insignificant when the service is done by an ethical and professional Nashville carpet cleaning company. Moreover, the soil that accumulates with everyday living is far greater than any residue that might be left behind. I hope this article sheds light on the ongoing marketing hype of zero residue carpet cleaning.