Does anyone know how to get cooking oil out of my carpet? I had about a liter of cooking oil that didn’t have the cap screwed on right, and it fell and the whole thing spilled. I had a mat and it soaked through the mat and into the carpet. I left it like that because it didn’t seem to be a problem, but after about a week the heat made it start to smell. I use the black ice air freshener and that pretty much covered up the smell, but now the smell bothers me and I have an ugly black stain on my carpet. I used the Interior 1 Multi-Purpose Cleaner but it didn’t take out the stain entirely… I’m wondering if anyone has a holy grail stain remover or should I just give up? at least it doesn’t smell anymore, for now…
Also, the carpet is a beige color, so when I say ugly black stain I mean an UGLY black stain … I’m embarrassed.
THe best spot carpet cleaner I have found is Awsome carpet cleaner from, the dollar tree. It comes in a red trigger spray bottle. It cleaned the grease and oil stains out of the tan carpet of a minivan that had been used to haul used auto parts and chassis grease that I had tracked onto our new dusty rose carpet the day it was installed.
A gallon of now rancid cooking oil is going to take a lot of cleaning !
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Thank you! I will try that.
“Folex” is about the best stain remover I’ve found. Hard to find but Lowes has it. Yeah the problem is that it is now rancid and it has likely soaked into the carpet pad underneath.
I’d start with diatomaceous earth. It’s inert and the most absorbent stuff. Pour it on, when it’s soaked, vacuum it up with the shop vac, repeat until it absorbs no more. Then apply a solvent.
It’s cheapest at a tack shop; in Albuquerque, I buy 10 pounds for $15 at Dan’s Boot and Saddle food grade! (Don’t eat though; it tastes awful.)
after the d.e., I would recommend Goo Gone. It’s a cleaner specifically targeted at oil-based stains.
Hardware store.
Be careful with solvents like Goo Gone. They work well, but might also extract the dye out of the carpet. Check a hidden area of the carpet to make sure whatever solvent you choose won’t change the carpet color or dissolve the threads in the carpet.
I typically start out with a mild solvent then move up to more aggressive fluids if the mild stuff doesn’t work. Rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) is mild and almost certainly won’t attack your carpet. I’d classify Goo Gone as aggressive and wouldn’t start with it. It is a great solvent for home use, though. You will need to thoroughly wet the area you want to clean to get the oil into solution with the solvent, the sop it up with paper towels or suck it up with a wet vac. If you use the wet vac. Check the label to make sure vapors I never the wet vac won’t ignite. Probably not since the temperature is so low, but anything that burns can be problematic.
First, the oil has to be sopped up.
Pig mats are an excellent sorbent for this.
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200680233_200680233
Once as much oil has been sopped up from the carpet, soak the area with aerosol brake parts cleaner.
Lay more pig mats over this to sop up more oil.
Repeat this until the carpet dries and there’s no stain.
Tester
This is edible oil, not machine oil. Straight dish soap will emulsify it better than volatile organics, not be a danger or poison. Sopping it all up first is the place to begin.
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Then use regular carpet shampoo, or auto carpet shampoo, suck it up with a wet vac, and use Folex if there is still a stain. Random knows his chemistry.
I hope it’s Filippo Berio extra virgin!