The time has come to clean the carpets in your home. You pull out the carpet cleaner, the hoses, the stain remover and the cleaner. You look through your cabinets and discover you are out of one thing—defoamer. Defoamer is a key chemical in cleaning carpets, upholstery and other objects with a carpet shampooer or cleaning machine. The chemical keeps the dirty water and cleaning solution mixture from foaming. You don't have to run out and buy a bottle of defoamer. You may already have a defoaming ingredient in your kitchen.
Defoaming – Salt
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Set up the carpet cleaning machine or shampooer as you normally would and add your cleaner. Then add 1 tsp. of table salt to the dirty water accumulation tank. Do not add the teaspoon of salt to any other tank on the machine or shampooer. You want to defoam the dirty water/cleaning solution as it is being returned to the carpet cleaning machine or shampooer.
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Use the machine normally and dump the dirty water accumulation tank as needed. Do not let the accumulation tank overflow with water. Use another teaspoon of salt each time you dump the accumulation tank.
Defoaming – Soap
If you don't have any table salt on hand, use 1 tsp. of dishwashing soap. The dishwashing soap will break down the carpet cleaning solution as it is returned to the carpet cleaning machine or shampooer. Add the teaspoon of dishwashing soap to the dirty water accumulation tank. Use another teaspoon of dishwashing soap each time you dump the accumulation tank.
Tips
Once you are done using the carpet cleaning machine or shampooer, take apart the machine and clean the parts with hot water to remove the table salt or dishwashing soap. You want to wash every part that can be removed. Leaving the salt or dishwashing soap and carpet cleaning solution in the machine will cause a build up if left to dry. You want to make it easy on yourself the next time you use the machine.
Dry the carpet cleaning machine or shampooer parts with a clean dry cloth or towel before storing the machine.