Cleaning carpet after radiator leak

Winter is almost here, radiators are on, and.....oh....the radiators are leaking!

We had two radiator leaks to clean up last week. Both had leaked near the flow valve, this is often an indication of a worn seal. Old seals will eventually wear, especially after a long summer without the radiators being used the seals can dry out and crack.

It is important to work quickly when you notice a leak form the radiator. The water is often quite old and will stain the carpet, the less time you give it to penetrate the carpet fibers the more successful the stain removal will be. Use of a good carpet spot cleaning solution can help with remove the stain. Have a look at our website for our professional Carpet Clean and Spot remover.

Another issue is the quantity of water, a few drips are quite easily removed by dabbing the area with a clean cloth. However if the leak went unnoticed for some time you may have a substantial patch of water that will have soaked down to the under layer.

Carpets left wet for too long are at risk of:

   - Rot
   - Developing an unpleasant smell
   - Shrinking - if you have a wool carpet

To avoid these issues you till want to dry the carpet out as quickly as possible. You could hire a carpet cleaner, such as a rug doctor - however these are not very powerful and may draw up mainly the top level moisture, leaving the the under layer still very wet. If this is left wet under the carpet, issues could arrive. A professional carpet cleaner with a truck-mounted system will have far superior suction power and will be able to draw much of the moisture all the way up form the lower levels of the carpet. Then, using the industrial carpet dryer much of the residual moisture will be drawn up. The area may still be a little damp to touch at the end of the process however this is very minor and will soon evaporate.