- steam cleaner
There has always been a huge debate over which cleaning method is best for your carpet, steam cleaning or dry cleaning? In my 13 years in the carpet cleaning industry, I have been exposed to both sides of the fence, having worked for dry and steam cleaning companies.”Shaw Industries” is the largest carpet manufacturer in the world, if you go to there site, they will suggest having your carpet steam cleaned. Do you think they would recommend steam cleaning if they thought that dry cleaning would reduce the amount of claims? Steam cleaning has received bad press, which really started back in the 70’s when steam cleaning was just evolving into a popular cleaning method.
Carpet machines back then weren’t very efficient, leaving the carpet wet for 24 hours or more. Dry cleaning companies used this as a selling point for their services. Times have changed drastically, steam cleaning machines that are mounted in vans produce very hot water and are extremely efficient in water recovery, leaving the carpet dry in 4 hours or so.
If carpet cleaners use an extra dry stroke while cleaning, dry times can easily be less than two hours and with new extraction devices, the dry time can get even lower. So how do dry cleaning companies sell their services now? The fact of the matter is, sometimes steam cleaning can be dry before dry cleaning! Dry cleaning is inferior to steam cleaning in every aspect. It does a poor job of removing soil and it leaves chemicals in the carpet which can cause yellowing from the high ph.
If more dry cleaning customers had their carpet steam cleaned, chances are, they would never go back.
