Beware! Baby formula may bleach fabrics

[Papa John]

Either I never noticed it before or this is a new booby trap for carpet cleaners?

Got a call/complaint that our cleaning solution had bleached out custies new ottoman. upon inspection it had looked like bleach was splattered on her ottoman. I informed her that since the bleaching is only in one section of the ottoman that it couldn't have been from our solution because our solution is applied over the entire piece. But I was still stumped as to the cause because this hadn't happened in the past. Then 2 days later the same thing with another custy but this time the tech noticed that the bleaching only happened where there was baby formula on the fabric.

Damn I think I bought a sofa from a custy for the same thing a few years ago!

hope this helps and keeps my fellow CC out of trouble.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Is it the product or stomach acids combined with the formula?

 

[Papa John]

In both cases it was where the baby had vomited up the formula so it is a combo of both stomach acid and formula... Also the 1st custy makes their own organic formula.. I plan on calling the 2nd custy to see if they do the same.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Stomach acids can be very strong, we all should be concerned when its a vomit spot.

 

[GCCLee]

The mixture of the pre spray on top of the formula enhanced stomach acids caused the bleaching huh?

Gonna be hard to spot these i''m betting.
Thanks fur sharing!


Sent from da parking garage of dee detention center

 

[Brian H]

I have seen what looks like bleaching on darker fabric when we used an OMS based dry cleaning solvent. I have seen this look even fool some of our more seasoned crew leaders. Many years ago it even fooled the owner of another company I had worked for, who was a graduate chemist and was an industry pioneer in stain removal.

Actually it has been the residues of the formula, milk, dog slobber, body oil, etc. that the solvent couldn't remove. As I understand, the solvents remove the fatty portion of the stain, leaving behind a whitish residue. The white residue is much more noticeable after the cleaning and the initial reaction is that the cleaning "bleached" those spotted areas.

When I go out to inspect these spots, I usually will take my pocket knife and lightly scrape across the fabric. There will be residue on the blade that is simple enough to show to the customer. They are much more willing to go along with a reclean when you show them the residue.

A very light shampooing followed by extraction or low moisture hot water extraction is usually enough to remove the remaining residues.

Thankfully with the new low moisture tools, we don't dry clean any where near as much fabric as we have in the past.

 

[Desk Jockey]

OMS can take some time to evaporate, especially without air movement. I can see where it would darken areas until it dries.

We use solvent based protectors for upholstery and it does as you mentioned until it cures.

 

[Papa John]

The Spots were orange after the cleaning and the fabric is Tan, so I dont think it was residue. I recleaning it with last step to see if it was a ph issue and nothing changed. The spots look the same as if acne medicing was spill on the fabric. the solution was Ultra TLC and a ph of 8.5. I'm wondering if the bateria from the vomit had incresed so much that the ph of the stain changed from acidic to Alkiline causing the dye to be removed?