fiber ID?

[Rick J]

Question on telling difference btw a nylon and a poly? Of course a vacant rental. BUT nicer, and nicely cared for.
Had a clean . On first impression thought it a nylon. Nice fluffy soft. Brown tufted and with more face pile than normally seen in a rental. Not the steel wool stiffness of olefin. Whole place was as new , almost. But of course a little worse in the walkways, and the typical small area just where the sofa had been. Of course right in the middle of living room, and in a spot highlighted by a window. !! Prescrubbed with 175, .. Couple of times. Using different stuff. Last try was with BP Traffic Slam , which is supposed to be better on polys/and olefin.
That one area I could not bring back. Which made me rethink it being nylon. pille was slighly distorted, and darked , not the terrible uglied out we are used to but noticable enough.
and yes also used RSF!!! alkaline rinse . did not have the RSF Spiked

Cut a few fibers and it seemed to sink in water. BUT not completely.

Is there something out there that is a cross btw poly and nylon?
pics are of the same area from both directions. Hope I did it right.

 

[wandwizard]

My first guess w/o testing is that's polyester, not olefin or nylon. When doing that float test for olefin you need to squeeze the fiber in the water. If it's nylon or polyester it will sink instantly. Olefin never sinks. Both olefin and nylon burn with a blue base and orange tip. Polyester is only orange. I find it hard to describe the smell of nylon other than saying to me it smells like hot plastic whereas olefin smells pretty much like asphalt. I've been meaning to buy some formic acid to test nylon since that is probably the easiest and best way to test for nylon. I rarely feel the need to test for fiber type on carpet so for me, it's not that big of a deal. I do a burn test if needed and occasionally the float test. Here's a brief video on formic acid. Btw, the trouble you had cleaning that carpet is also a good indication it's polyester. Nylon is almost always easier to clean and personally I'd rather clean olefin than some of the poly crap out there these days.

 

[Rick J]

I used to carry formic acid, but have not in a while.
My thought also on it being poly, but the fact that it sank, sort of in water led me to question that.

 

[wandwizard]

I used to carry formic acid, but have not in a while.
My thought also on it being poly, but the fact that it sank, sort of in water led me to question that.

I've tested all types of fibers with that float test. Only olefin won't sink at all. Every polyester and nylon I've tested sank immediately as soon as I squeezed the water out of it. Just putting the fiber into the water won't give a good test even if it's nylon. It will float quite a while until squeezed then it will either float or sink like a rock instantly.

 

[wandwizard]

I used to carry formic acid, but have not in a while.
My thought also on it being poly, but the fact that it sank, sort of in water led me to question that.

I've never used formic acid for nylon testing and after reading this I think I'll just keep it that way. Don't really need it anyway. The sds on this convinces me to steer clear of it. Health and fire rating of 3. You definitely don't want to get this stuff on you. It might be ok if you're very careful with it, but I don't feel I need it.

http://www.dudadiesel.com/msds/formic.pdf

 

[rob allen]

They are now making poly nylon blends

 

[rob allen]

We have formic acid testers.

 

[OxiFreshGuy]

It looks polyester to me. But then again, who knows anymore.

 

[sbsscn]

You could have cleaned a blended fiber. I run into that once in a while. Just by looking at it I just cannot tell but im thinking Polyester. or now days Ive seen solution dye nylon

 

[wandwizard]

They are now making poly nylon blends

Guess I'll have to burn it twice just to be sure!

 

[Rick J]

Had to go back . They did some additional work and needed the carpet restretched. LO and behold , since it was up, there on the back- PET Poly!

 

[Jim Davisson]

A green pad will help restore the traffic pattern on that poly. Here's two photos that show it.

 

[PATRICK YANELLO]

A green pad will help restore the traffic pattern on that poly. Here's two photos that show it.View attachment 77790View attachment 77791

My, that looks, good, perfect. Cleanfreak.com green pads on the way.

 

[Jim Davisson]

Bonnetpro revive pads are similar in results and are harder wearing in my opinion. I don't order liquids from North of the Mason Dixon line in the winter so my next Bonnetpro order will be contain more revive pads. Winter ordered liquids are rendered useless imo.

 

[Jim Davisson]

BTW, that was a portable job...

 

[Rick J]

A green pad will help restore the traffic pattern on that poly. Here's two photos that show it.View attachment 77790View attachment 77791

Yes, thanks to Jeff I usually use a green pad, shower feed hot, and strong. For some reason that day I had my brush, which I haven't used for quite a while. (because I started using a green pad!!!)
I was kicking myself for it!!!

And just last week I got another case of green.