2 other cleaning solutions,
Folex or color safe bleach,
they've worked for me on doggie stains.

gam51, do any of the stains come back after using alcohol? That has been a problem for me using various methods. The last method I tried was using oxiclean, thus far stain has not returned but it's been only a couple of weeks.

Stains that keep coming back means the "carpet pad" has absorbed the stain and it is wicking back up into the carpet.

The only way to stop this is to replace the carpet pad, then have the carpet steam cleaned or replace the pad and carpet.

We had our stained carpet steam cleaned, but, the stain wicked back up from the stained carpet pad.

We are trying something other than replacing the carpet pad due to dirty roof water flooding the ceiling/carpet.We put down a 2 ml thick plastic (paint drop cloth) over the existing carpet pad wall to wall past the stained area (half the room). We will now have the carpet steam cleaned and see if it works. My husband has been cleaning the stained area with vinegar water off and on and the stain is now only faint. This has helped tremendously, however, the carpet backing still has some stain that wicks back up. I believe steam cleaning will clean the carpet backing and the plastic will be a barrier between stained carpet pad and carpet backing.

Our carpet is good, better than new carpet on the market these days (other than the stain!).

Will see if it works, better than spending boo-koodles of money for new poor quality carpet.

When I was at Walmart the last time I spotted some small bottles of spot remover for various kinds of stains. Since we had a friend spill spots of coffee with cream and sugar on our whitish carpet I assumed the version for oily stains would work. It did. Now the spots are whitish against our dirtier off-white carpet That was a Karbona product and it really worked on the cream and the coffee stain.

Why don't you use reg carpet cleaners. I keep a bottle of Resolve carpet cleaner for spots. They won't get a deep stain but will remove regular stains. Why take a chance with vinegar or alcohol. Carpets are very expensive to take a chance with.

Anytime you spill something you need to grab a towel, lay it on the liquid and step on the towel and do a little dance. LOL If you rub you are just rubbing it in. I had my house cleaner knock over a plant and it sent damp dirt all over the floor. I told him just to leave it I will take care of it when it dries. The loose stuff vacuumed up the light stains I got off with a wet rag.

Rubbing Alcohol with white paper towels are quite useful . Stains disappear completely.

Ron Matthews

I am a chemist & worked for many years in the production of carpets as well as other textiles. If at all possible only use soaps, detergents or other commercial/over-the-counter cleaning agents as a last resort. Even if effective, these products will leave a residue even after thorough rinsing (a washing machine will remove most of the residue for normal textiles - shirts, pants, etc.). The soap residue attracts dirt. Water, water combined with rubbing alcohol & full strength rubbing alcohol are very effective cleaning products, especially for carpets where it is difficult to rinse. For a carpet stain, thoroughly wet the stain with either water, water & rubbing alcohol or full strength rubbing alcohol, then take 4-6 thicknesses of paper towels (several thicknesses of toilet paper also works well) & press them onto the stained area - do not wipe, scrub or try to "wipe up" the liquid. Leave the paper towels in contact with the stained area & let it air dry (it my take 1-2 days). This will allow the liquid that it in the carpet backing to wick up into the paper towels as the paper towels or toilet paper dry. If the stain persists, repeat the procedure. I once spilled an entire can of wood stain on a new nylon carpet - none of the above methods worked & I knew a water based detergent would be useless. I used a wood finish solvent called Kutzit - they make a liquid & a gel version - the liquid version works best. I tried it out on a small spot of carpet in the closet to see if it would discolor or harm the carpet - it did not. I used the Kutzit just like described above - only over a larger area & I used cloth cleaning towels instead of paper towels or toilet paper. It really worked well - so well, that my wife didn't notice it - I told her about a year later. If none of the above methods work, then explore any or all of the detergent based cleaners you think might work. Use the same method described above - wet it, cover it, let it dry - do not rub, scrub, or wipe. From personal experience, I have never found a pet stain remover that worked as effectively as water &/or rubbing alcohol. For pet stains, the sooner you get to the stain, the better. If none of these methods works, try the method described above by Marc del Mariana - his information is extremely accurate.

I've been using alcohol/water for some general cleaning and would like to try cleaning an area rug with a rented carpet cleaner and alcohol. Just to clarify: The alcohol replaces the detergent in the process, not the water also. Right?

Club soda is a good spot remover too.

I just tried Folex and it worked great the first two times -- once on cat puke and once on oil based dressing.

I find the soapy cleaners attract more dirt after using because they are sticky, rubbing alchohol or
vinegar work best and don't leave residue.

Running alcohol in a carpet machine is a serious fire hazard. Alcohol vapor can be ignited by a spark from a switch or a motor.