subject: Dry Cleaning Methods Are Numerous Though [print this page] Carpet dry cleaning, although it has increased in popularity, is still not the most popular cleaning method. This is because there are numerous disadvantages to dry carpet cleaning and only one real advantage. The advantage to dry carpet cleaning is that it is, of course, dry very quickly. Most dry carpet cleaning methods will have the carpet dry and ready to use in about one hour. Wet cleaning methods however are beginning to get close to this time. Many steam cleaners can get carpet dry in around one hour.
The disadvantages to dry cleaning methods are numerous though. The main disadvantage is the limited soil removal. Because dry carpet cleaning uses so little water, it has limited soil removal capacity. This means that if you have a moderately to heavy soil load in your carpet, you will have unsatisfactory results with dry cleaning. Another disadvantage to dry cleaning is that it often depends on heavy solvents to make up for the lack of moisture being used. This is particularly true with dry powder cleaners bit applies to all methods to some extent. The solvents being used can be quite irritating to some people.
Proponents of dry carpet cleaning will usually try to scare people away from wet cleaning methods by saying that steam cleaning will soak your carpet or that the pressure just pushes everything down into the carpet. This is simply not true. If dry cleaning systems were really effective, every company would use them. After all, why would a steam cleaning company spend $20,000 on a truck mounted steam cleaner when they could spend $3000 on dry cleaning equipment. They do it because steam cleaning works better, plain and simple.
Still, some people will be dead set on using a dry cleaning system. This is generally because they have had an experience with a bad steam cleaning company. If this is the case in your situation, here is some information on the most common dry cleaning systems.
Bonnet Cleaning This is probably the most popular dry cleaning system on the market. In this system the operator will first dry vacuum the carpet. This step is critical because of the lack of an extraction step. After vacuuming the carpet, the cleaner will spray a solution on the carpet and will absorb the solution with a floor pad made from cotton or synthetic materials. They will spin the floor pad with a machine similar to a floor buffer.
Dry Powder Cleaning With this method, the cleaner will first dry vacuum the carpet and then will spread a semi moist powder on the carpet. The powder is then agitated with a machine that uses counter rotating nylon brushes. The powder absorbs soil and is then allowed to dry. After the powder dries, it is vacuumed from the carpet. Spotless Carpet Cleaning|Steam Carpet Cleaning
