How to Remove Grease Stains from a Carpet?

In My Humble Opinion
1

We just replaced the compressor on one of our air conditioners. The service we use, we’ve dealt with for years, and they’re usually pretty good guys and very careful. But accidents will happen, and while carrying the old compressor out through the wife’s dressing room, one drop of grease dropped onto a carpet of sort of a cream color. That’s black motor grease.

So does anyone know how to get the stain out? It’s not very big, just a single drop, but rather noticeable. I tried our regular carpet shampoo, but that didn’t work. The company sent over some stuff they use to clean their carpets and which they felt sure would work, a clear liquid smelling like detergent, but no, that didn’t work either. In fact, that liquid seemed to make it a little worse. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

EDIT: And yes, I know how to spell “how.” It’s late at the end of a long day. Could a Mod please fix the typo in the title? Thanks.

2

Changed the title for you as you asked.

3

Thanks. Just turned midnight here, and I’m a bit bleary-eyed.

4

I would just cut the stained section out and patch it.

5

That reminds me of TV commercials I saw back in I think it was the 1960s. For something called the Viking Carpet Cookie Cutter. You just cut out the piece like you were cutting out cookie dough and drop a new piece in. I’ve always had my doubts about that. Not sure I can get that done here.

6

A stanley knife (craft knife, whatever you want to call it) ought to do the job. Is there a hidden bit of carpet - under furniture or whatever - that you could cut a piece out of? If so, use something like a tin can or a pint glass as a template, cut out a circle and swap them over - giving you the chance to wash the stained piece more thoroughly than you could in situ, if you want.

Make sure you orient the pile in the same direction, and as long as the carpet has a relatively deep pile, it should blend in pretty well.

7

This sounds like exactly the sort of operation I screw up royally. Is there really no way just to get the stain out?

8

Try Oxyclean. I have never had it take the color out of anything but you might want to go gently at first to be sure. So far it has never failed me with grease although I am dealing with clothes not carpet. I make a paste and let it sit for a while, then wipe it away and rinse. Worth a try before you start cutting.

If it’s a little spot there’s another way. When I was in the car business if a mechanic got a little something on a customer’s car’s carpet they would trim off some fibers from a hidden part of the carpet and just glue them on top of the spot. Worked very well if the carpet had some texture to it.

9

I had to google Oxyclean. Not sure if we have that over here. But gluing some fibers onto the spot sounds like something I won’t screw up if all else fails.

10

Citric based cleaners seem to break up grease pretty well. It could be orange oil, lemon oil, etc.

Simple Green ( http://www.simplegreen.com/ ) is sold in automotive section as a degreaser.

11

I’ll check the auto section in the stores and see what I can find.

Thanks, all!

12

Also (this should be obvious but I’ll say it anyway), when dabbing at the stain, go from the outside towards the middle, to avoid spreading it.

13

I like a product called Hot Shot.

14

Buy a can of brake clean from napa and then very quickly dap with a towel. Get the stain pretty wet but not enough to soak through to the backing.

15

I’ve heard beer will take it out. I heard that from some drunk guys who just spilled beer on a carpet, so they must have known what they were talking about.

16

Thanks again, all. We’ll look for some of this stuff or something similar this weekend. If all else fails, we’ll probably try the fiber-gluing trick.