Chemical pneumonia from carpet cleaner

[junker39]

Hey guys, just a word of advice for anyone using carpet cleaner in an enclosed area. DON'T. My better half decided the carpet in the dining room needed some TLC and broke out the little hand held steam cleaner and got a couple cans of foamy 409 cleaner. Well, a total of three ER visits at this local hospital and one to a bigger hospital and she was in ICU for a week with chemical pneumonia from the carpet cleaner. She'd quit smoking a few days beforehand, which the Dr said probably contributed to the problems. Not the smoking but, the quitting. Seems the lungs were in the process of of trying to heal from the smoke damage and she gets a wammy from the vaporized cleaner. She's out of the hospital now and staying with a daughter for a week or two, just to be closer to a decent ER is case she needs it. I'm going to open all doors and windows and use plain ole water, without the steam, and see if I can get what's left out of the carpet. It wasn't a real good holidays for us but, she's getting better and my Dad, 91, is getting grouchier. Thanks. Later.

 

[Yankee Transplant]

That's terrible to hear .. glad she is on the mend though.. as for your Dad Im sorry to hear this to , Maybe 2015 will be a better year for us all ..

 

[junker39]

Thanks, YT. All is getting better.

 

[Sam_Fear]

Well... good she's getting better. As for Dad, we all get grouchier as we get older - I'm guessin' he's earned the right.

I'm sure as a guy that welds, you know vapors can get ya. Never thought about it, but steam vapors are probably 10 times worse since the steam will open up the pores.

Hope she can be home soon.

 

[Old Iron]

Thanks for the heads up and hope she's going to be alright.

 

[26Troadster]

glad she's better. i often wonder about the chems we use daily. my baby brother that i was raised with (mom's) was losing his hair all of a sudden, turns out he had traded some off road diesel for some cleaner (don't ask i don't know why) he had been using it for about three months. he got out of the shower and when he dried his hair most came out in the towel. the stuff he was using is called naphtha, i had never heard of it i don't guess, but i know it's name now. yall be careful with these things.

 

[junker39]

26, naphtha is the main ingredient of lighter fluid. It's used for a lot of other things too. Out in the plant, we have to wear slicker suits and supplied breathing air to be messing with the lines or valves that carry that. It didn't used to be like that. Just open the drain line and fill your zippo up. It's experiences like your brothers',( and my O.L.s'), that have gotten our awareness up and made us decide that some things we thought were safe, aren't.

 

[kenny c]

while on the subject, mixing cleaners like bleach and detergent will give you pneunomia. also heat chemicals come with risk. another on I've read about is using brakeclean to clean a part before mig welding is bad. apparently the argon and the brake clean combine to create a nerve gas called phozgene the at the least cause grave illnes to death. be very carefull and use as directed.

 

[donsrods]

I hope she does well, and thanks for the heads up. We just bought a carpet cleaner (got tired of renting Rug Dr.) and we cleaned our carpets for Christmas. We were all sneezing, even the cats. I did use plain water for the second wash to try to get some of the suds out, but it still was noticeable.

You try to be clean and that is the result !

Don

 

[26Troadster]

26, naphtha is the main ingredient of lighter fluid. It's used for a lot of other things too. Out in the plant, we have to wear slicker suits and supplied breathing air to be messing with the lines or valves that carry that. It didn't used to be like that. Just open the drain line and fill your zippo up. It's experiences like your brothers',( and my O.L.s'), that have gotten our awareness up and made us decide that some things we thought were safe, aren't.

i knew i had heard that name somewhere, just couldn't remember where, and would rather say i don't know what it is then say i do.

 

[26Troadster]

while on the subject, mixing cleaners like bleach and detergent will give you pneunomia. also heat chemicals come with risk. another on I've read about is using brakeclean to clean a part before mig welding is bad. apparently the argon and the brake clean combine to create a nerve gas called phozgene the at the least cause grave illnes to death. be very carefull and use as directed.

bleach and ammonia mix will kill you, some people have made bombs with it.

 

[jfg455]

bleach and ammonia mix will kill you, some people have made bombs with it.

That makes essentially mustard gas which will fill your lungs with water and you will drown internally. read the labels before you clean anything with more than one cleaner!![S