Don't Confuse Your Water Bottle and Spotting Bottle!

[Jim Pemberton]

I received this email from a veteran cleaner with decades of experience and more street smarts most.

Hi Jim,

I did a nice little job in Guys Mills today for a Mennonite group.
They have a Christian school there and I was doing three of the rooms.
They had some water intrusion so I was using Rust Remover and I
also finished off with some Hydrocide. it really did a nice job.
Anyway, about half the way through the job I reached down to take a drink from
my water bottle and grabbed the Rust Remover instead. I hit shock level when
I realized I had just taken a big gulp of God Knows what.
In a panic a grabbed for the water bottle and started taking gulps and ejecting it straight
out all over the carpet. About the fourth gulp I looked up to see a little
Mennonite woman standing in the doorway looking at me foaming at the mouth.
She quickly disappeared down the hallway and I wondered what she must be thinking.

I composed myself and spit the next five or six mouthfuls into the vac hose.
I resumed cleaning when a supervisor showed up to ask me how it was going.
I stood there with my entire front soaked and said, “ great”. he said ok,good, and left,

After I finished I had the opportunity to go over the job with the head-man and I explained
to him what happened just in case somebody told him his carpet cleaner was on drugs.
Needless to say that will NEVER happen again. I just had to share that.

 

[Desk Jockey]

LOL

Funny, scary and embarrassing!

 

[Willy P]

YIKES! It wasn't hydrofluoric or he wouldn't be around. Straight to the hospital is where he should have gone.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

YIKES! It wasn't hydrofluoric or he wouldn't be around. Straight to the hospital is where he should have gone.

No kidding....I made a panic call to him the moment I got the email Willy.

He's the typical 60+ owner operator who would chew his foot off if caught in a bear trap and keep working without complaint. I couldn't get him to go no matter how I pleaded, but a few days later he says he's still feeling fine.

Yeah, good thing it wasn't the old Erusticator we all knew and loved way back when.

 

[Mikey P]

Their's a reason we clean carpeting for a living..

 

[GCCLee]

Good Gawd..................




Like Really FOAMING at the mouth?




Cannot imagine the horror from either view point!! And why I leave drinks in the Rig !!!!!



Take a moment to gather yourself and go get a drink! sheesh

 

[renegade_cowboy]

I read a story a few years ago about a little boy dying because his dad had some tile cleaner in a water bottle laying on the backseat floor.

 

[J Scott W]

A great argument for using safe rust remover. Since it was Jim Pemberton, I imagine T-Rust.

 

[Willy P]

No kidding....I made a panic call to him the moment I got the email Willy.

He's the typical 60+ owner operator who would chew his foot off if caught in a bear trap and keep working without complaint. I couldn't get him to go no matter how I pleaded, but a few days later he says he's still feeling fine.

Yeah, good thing it wasn't the old Erusticator we all knew and loved way back when.

No surgery,or no injury ever came close to the pain I went through when I got it on my fingers, but it was Reynolds Rust Out I found out why fingernail removal is used as torture. That and the incision of both finger tips to the bone for calcium injections. All fine and dandy until the freezing came out, then I found the prescription the doc gave me needed double dosage and that was like attacking an elephant with a toothpick.

I grew up a lot that day with proper chemical usage and safety. Now butyls on the other hand.......

 

[Royal Man]

I say this story sounds like bs to me. Where is the bs meter?

 

[Jim Pemberton]

I say this story sounds like bs to me. Where is the bs meter?

Dave I assure you this guy is as honest and truthful as they come. The BS stories I sniff out are better and more entertaining, but as such I don't share them

 

[FB7777]

If anyone can sniff out BS its Dave

There's a entire volume of work authored by Brokum here on Mikeysboard just waiting to be catalogued

 

[dealtimeman]

Wow some just can't take a good story, that's too bad.

Thanks for sharing Jim.

 

[Shane T]

I've never seen rust remover in any type of bottle that one could get a drink out off.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

I like spotters of any kind to be in distinctive containers of unique shape and color to avoid mistakes.

In the case of rust removers we still use Whink. It also has an insert that only allows a small directed stream. One issue is the "pocket sized" shape---DON'T put it in your pocket.

My gripe with some spotter kits is the dozen identical red bottles. The rust remover in that kit is an accident waiting to happen...among others.

 

[Willy P]

And thgis is why I use Ultrachem Clean- it removes rust easily in a diluted prespray form without the trauma and drama of acids.

Crusty rusty car carpet a little agitation and BANG! flush it out