How Do Industrial Carpet Cleaners Work?

There are several types of industrial carpet cleaners, each with a different mechanism of extracting and removing dirt from carpets. Some of these are very well known while some are new technology that may grow into the standard of industrial carpet cleaners. The following is a list along with brief descriptions of some traditional and innovative new carpet cleaning machines and methods.

Steam Cleaning

This is the most popular type of industrial carpet cleaning. Steam machines are used along with alkaline treatments, detergents, and agitating mechanisms, like a brush. After pre-treatment carpets are blasted with hot water and detergents that dissolve dirt in carpet fibers and bring them to the top. The steam machine then extracts the dirt and carpets are left to dry.

Encapsulation

Polymers have been developed that can crystallize around dirt particles and dry up on contact. These particles are brought to the top layer of carpets with cleaning solutions and rotary machine brushes and can be immediately extracted. This is a favorable, though generally new, process because there is little to no drying time, less moisture to encourage bacteria growth, and easy to use equipment.

Bonnet

This is a method of carpet cleaning used for surface cleaning, and does not usually reach into deeper layers of carpeting. After a mixture of club soda and cleaning detergent are applied to carpet, a buffer similar to that used on hardwood is run over it to agitate dirt particles and absorb them. Buffer pads need to be cleaned or replaced regularly to be effective, making this a less favorable method than others.

Shampoo

Shampooing carpet is similar to shampooing hair, in that you apply the water and shampoo, lather or agitate using rotary brushes, and then rinse and vacuum. The process requires a significant amount of drying, and is not as favorable versus the encapsulation and other dry cleaning methods for carpet. One upside is that dirt particles trapped in synthetic detergents after they dry can be vacuumed away later, eliminating the problem of leftover dirt and leftover residue.