I have posted before about Young Living’s Thieves Cleaner, and how I absolutely love it. I use it on all the hard surfaces in my home, and have been so impressed with it’s cleaning power, I wondered how it would do on carpet.
I have spot-cleaned with Thieves cleaner before, but hesitated to use it in any machine because Thieves contains lemon oil. So what, right? Well, citrus essential oils attack phytochemicals (which is good when you ingest them and they flush nasty stuff out of your body) so they will actually dissolve plastic. Not good when you are talking about a carpet steamer worth several hundred dollars.
I did some research online and got conflicting reports of yes you can use the Carpet Cleaner in a steamer because it is so diluted down, no you can’t my friend’s mom’s cat’s housekeeper ruined her steamer that way … So I did what any rational human would do and just tried it.
Now, my steam cleaner was a hand-me-down from my mommy, and has had more than one part super-glued back on, so I was going to be able to sleep at night if I dissolved something and had to replace it. I would NOT recommend trying this with a brand-new, high-end steamer because I don’t want you knocking on my door when its ruined. Also keep in mind that using any cleaner, in any machine that isn’t recommended will void your warranty.
So, whats the verdict? My machine did not melt.
I added two capfuls of Thieves Cleaner to every tank of warm water in my steamer, and made sure to empty and rinse it right away. No harm done!
How did it clean? The Thieves cleaner did a great job at freshening the carpet and the Carpet Cleaner loved it, and took care of any pet stains or odors that may have been lingering. However, it didn’t really touch any stains, and there are a few in my kids’ room from various sticky things that they mash into the carpet.
I will definitely be using Thieves cleaner in my carpet steamer again, as they are also recommended by professionals at Carpet Cleaning Knoxville, but will use the same precautions of emptying it out and rinsing it promptly. I do love Thieves cleaner diluted at a 30-1 or 15-1 ratio for spot cleaning the carpet, and will add some straight Lemon essential oil on tough stains.
When I was researching whether or not I could use the Thieves cleaner in my machine I really didn’t find a lot of credible testimonies, so I hope this post gives someone else some clarity when deciding whether or not to risk using it in their machine.
Don’t have Thieves cleaner? You are missing out! Hop over here and get your own!
Tiffany says
Thank you for posting this. I was wondering if I could use my Thieves cleaner this way.