[cleanability]

Right I dont scotchguard suites very often so have never bothered with a mask. I usually make sure ventilation is good ie window open etc.
Anyway, and I'm sure I read that it happened to someone on here last year, I've never had a reaction to evitably breathing some of the fumes in before.
Satuday afternoon I scotchguarded ( when I say scotchguarded I mean of course with something similar to scotchguard, I get mine from Craftex ). I didnt even do the whole suite, just the cushions. Come midnight Saturday night my temperature shot up and i had an acute shortness of breath. Have never ever felt so ill, thought my time was up. Felt ok Sunday morning apart from shortness of breath. Monday shortness of breath got a bit better. Today I'm back to normal. So its gotta be breathing in the scotchguard fumes that caused my problems. So the moral of the story is wear a bleeping mask when scotchguarding a suite EVEN IF YOU'VE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM BEFORE WITH THE FUMES WHEN YOU NEVER WORE A MASK.

Chris

[Kev Loomes]

Understand what your saying. We should all take health & safety seriously. But, I rarely if ever wear a mask whilst protecting fabrics/fibres I know, naughty naughty.

What protector did you use? I use their teflon one (both water & solvent) and have never had a problem. Ive used quite a few different ones over the years and never suffered - yet! I know the solvent ones normally smell a lot more but as long as good ventilation is there it should be ok. I must admit though, I wont let the custy (or animals) in the room whilst Im doing it.

Im sure you are fully up to speed and dont need me telling you how to do it, but if not, here's a tip:
Try not to think of the protectors as a 'carpet protector' and a 'fabric protector' Its always dependent on the fibre type to which the subsequent water/solvent protector should be used. Fibre content and backings etc should all be considered before applying anything. The water one (almost odourless) would normally be used more though as when you are cleaning and protecting you are using water anyway in the cleaning process, so makes sense to use this one (its cheaper too )

[cleanability]

Actually I'm in the dark with protectors. I've always thought its always the water based/dilte with water protectors for carpets and the smelly aerosol cans for suites. So any guidelines info would be welcome.


Chris

[Mark Roberts]

If your using a solvent protector it can give you something called wet lung. And yes that can and has killed carpet cleaners.

[Kev Loomes]

Ooh, better consider wearing the mask then

Chris

Hope this helps:

Water based protectors arent that great on polyprop for instance and cant be used on silks or viscose (viscose fabric will weaken and distort permanently if water is applied). Try to use the solvent even after wet cleaning a polyprop carpet.

Solvent based protectors must not be used on any bonded flocks or bitumen backed carpets for fear of de stabilising the glue involved in the construction. So use the water one.

[AJB]

Someone i know put himself and his wife in hospital when applying
Craftex Fabric protector. The problem is usually atomising the spray
instead of using a fine droplet.

They suffered stage 1 respiratory failure, symptoms being like a very
bad dose of the flu.

they spent a week going into hospital every day to sit breathing oxygen
whilst the blood levels of the solvent were monitored.

This is not a problem with just Craftexs gaurd.
I've never had a problem using a pump up sprayer and ensuring doors and windows are open.  I always tell the customer to leave them open until that distinctive solvent smell has gone completley.

[the red carpet]

Not relevant to the h+s issue, but i did wonder earlier, would it hurt to add a drop of deodouriser to a water based protector??