What is dry extraction carpet cleaning?
February 1st 2004

So what is dry extraction carpet cleaning? It is a method that uses a controlled amount of moisture water, detergents and safe solvents applied in a such a way to clean the carpet and leave it dry and ready to use. Mike Egerton managing director - Host von Schrader - discusses the technique Advocates of wet cleaning methods often reveal that dry extraction methods are not really dry. Thats hardly a secret! Dry extraction methods arent dry, as in paper dry, they are moisture controlled. To properly clean a carpet, we must use water, detergents and solvents. So the dry extraction process is not dry, but since a much smaller, more precise amount of liquid is used, the end result is a dry, clean carpet. How can the carpet be dry and clean? To really understand this, we must first understand the soil in the carpet. The biggest portion (around 85%) of the soil is dry, and is removed by thorough deep vacuuming. Dry extraction methods emphasise the vacuuming step as the most important step in cleaning. Lets remove as much of the dry soil as is physically possible before we add any cleaning liquids is the key. The remaining 15% of the soil is oily or greasy and cannot be removed by vacuuming. The secret of dry extraction is that the cleaning liquids are used only where they are needed to attack and dissolve this oily soil. Minimise Moisture The dry extraction method uses the same cleaning agents that all the other methods use. The difference is in the amount used and the delivery system. Dry extraction cleaning uses a mixture of water, detergents and safe solvents to satisfy the chemical component; and those components are delivered through an absorbent medium. The deep, thorough brushing of the carpeted area satisfies the time and agitation components. Some cleaning methods use heat but dry extraction is used at room temperature. What Happens At the Carpet Level? The necessary cleaning agents are mixed with a soft, natural, absorbent base; this blend is called the cleaner. This cleaner is applied to the carpet and scrubbed through the yarns with a special machine. The cleaner acts like the big sponge you use to clean a wall or your car. It is the delivery method for the cleaning chemicals and for the soil to be absorbed. It delivers the liquid to the carpet, dissolves the soil and traps the soil until you remove it by vacuuming the cleaner. When you clean your car, your hand provides the mechanical action; in dry extraction cleaning, its the machine. This machine supplies the mechanical action. The machine usually has two counter-rotating brushes that circulate the cleaner through the yarns. This brushing or circulating action is the most important part of the cleaning process as it ensures that the cleaner has an opportunity to contact all the dirty surfaces of the fibres in the carpet. If the cleaner doesnt touch the fibres, it doesnt clean them. The cleaner applies the necessary liquid to the fibre surface, the liquid dissolves the soil, and the cleaner reabsorbs that soil and the liquid. The result is clean, dry carpet. All thats left is the extraction (vacuuming) procedure. Vacuum, and Use Carpet Immediately Some systems incorporate vacuuming and pile lifting in a single piece of equipment; others use standard vacuuming equipment. Either way, the key is proper and effective vacuuming to remove or extract the cleaner that now hold all the carpets soil (including dust, mould spores and allergens). Proper vacuuming includes using equipment with a built-in agitator, such as a beater bar, to move all the cleaner into the vacuums air stream. Alternatively, the HOST Freestyle and Liberator machinery incorporates vacuuming, pile lifting and cleaning into one machine. When this vacuuming is done, the job is done. And the carpet is ready to be used immediately. Smart Cleaning With dry extraction, you can clean only the parts of the carpet that need cleaning, such as the traffic areas. (If you think about that, the idea will be revolutionary, but also revealing.) Since little moisture is involved, it is easy to clean an area and blend it into surrounding cleaner carpet. No watermarks or streaks, minimal residue and the soil is efficiently extracted. And this type of cleaning can be done at any time, day or night, even while people are walking on the carpet. This unique ability, in fact, makes dry extraction ideal for facilities that are open 24/7; areas that most often need cleaning do not need to be closed to traffic. Imagine turning a hotel room in 10 minutes, cleaning the carpet in a retail store just before it opens, refreshing the carpet in a restaurant in between the lunch and dinner crowd, cleaning up between events in a hospitality facility, refreshing the carpet in a show home during the day. The possibilities are endless. Maintenance Is the Real Cleaning Smart Cleaning leads to the maintenance of that very expensive asset, carpet, often prolonging its life by many years. Effective carpet maintenance is accomplished when soil is controlled and removed through a vacuuming/cleaning schedule that is based on actual foot traffic: Clean where the cleaning is needed. The method you use must be able to truly remove soil effectively from those precise areas where the soil is found, while leaving the carpet in a condition that allows for more traffic. This is exactly what dry extraction does. It removes the soil efficiently with a minimum of moisture, leaving little residue and leaving the carpet dry, clean and ready to walk on. When dry extraction is used on a regular basis, the carpet is clean and stays clean every day. Therefore, the big job of wall-to-wall carpet cleaning is not necessary. Smart cleaning indeed!!

More articles from Host Von Schrader: