Hot Water Extraction Or Steam Cleaning

The term steam cleaning is misleading since true steam is never used to clean carpets (the high temperature would do serious damage to carpet fibre and backing). portable or truck-mounted equipment is used to spray hot water and detergent solution into the carpet pile at a high pressure and then is immediately extracted (vacuumed out) along with the suspended soil particles. Some machines may have rotary brushes or another agitating device to work the solution into the pile and loosen.
Soil
Factors that affect the results of this method are operator skill and knowledge, solution temperature, spray pressure and vacuum power.
Pre Spray
spraying solution on the carpet (particularly very soiled areas) some time before extracting some “truck-mounted” units are simply portable units bolted onto the truck. the best truck-mount machine would be powered by the truck’s engine and not your residential electric supply. These units tend to have stronger vacuums and remove more moisture than portable units. Anytime a rotary brush is used the potential for carpet fibre damage exists if the type or use of the brush is incorrect.
Shampooing
In this method, detergent solution is released onto the carpet through openings in a rotary brush, whose rotary action converts the solution into foam and works it into the carpet. Once dry, vacuuming removes the residue containing loose, encapsulated soil. At times, chemicals may be added to the detergent solution to reduce odors, retard soiling, brighten colors and/or speed drying. If the vacuuming is not done thoroughly and effectively, the residue left in the fibres can act as a soil magnet causing re-soiling.
Combination Of Hot Water Extraction And Shampoo
As the name implies, this method uses both hot water Extraction and Shampoo. This process is particularly effective for cleaning highly soiled carpets, with heavy oil/soil build -up, the process has two Steps
Shampoo using rotary brush to loosen soil hot water Extraction using water rather than detergent solution to remove shampoo Some units may combine both steps. It is usually more expensive because of added labor costs. read more...