Fabric softener as Defoamer

Plus, all of these geniuses seem to know a lot about throwing chemistry terms without having much understanding of what they mean or how they work.

You don't mix anionic and cationic products as it creates an insoluble compound. That is why the fabric softener goes in the rinse cycle and is not mixed in with the detergent. Many carpet cleaners know just enough about chemicals to get into trouble. They know ph and solvency and a few other terms but nothing else. If you don't understand how bleach "bleaches" (oxidation/reduction), how buffering agents work, or even simple things like why you shouldn't clean an iodine stain with ammonia, then you probably should either learn or just don't experiment. I doubt any of the people here throwing around the words cationic and anionic have ever even heard of  zwitterionic

I would only use the former from a carpet supplier store I'm not sure about using detergent never heard of that but I would keep it safe because it seems like if you use detergent it would be a lot of soap inside of the carpet so I would go with a defoamer

S R C wrote: I've just Brought a new carpet washer. I first went over the carpet two times with hand hot water and cold water in the Reservoir just in case. I was amazed at the dirty water. Not so much dirty water when I used their carpet shampoo. I came on here originally to find out if I could use fabric conditioner in my machine my carpet is older so no stain protection left) I am wondering if doing a quick clean water will be enough, I may try one day but not today as I have a paint stain.