If you have decided it is finally time to invest in a commercial carpet cleaner to help keep your carpets more attractive and sanitary, then you should learn all about your carpet cleaner options. There are several commercial carpet cleaner types on the market today, and each has its unique advantages and disadvantages.
Read on to learn about three of the most popular commercial carpet cleaners available today, how they work, and their unique benefits.
Hot Water Extractor
Hot water extraction is one of the most common carpet cleaning methods in use today due to the consistent deep-down clean these machines provide.
A hot water extractor injects or sprays hot water mixed with a detergent solution deep into the carpet and then extracts this detergent solution back out with a powerful vacuum. Tough stains can be pretreated before use of a carpet extractor, and some machines have an extra rinse feature that can be used to further rinse cleaning solutions out of the carpet to leave less residue behind.
This carpet cleaning method provides many benefits. First, hot water extraction is the best way to clean away dirt and contaminants that are deeply embedded in carpet fibers and backings.
In addition, a wide variety of carpet cleaning solutions can be added to most machines, so you can choose the cleaning solution that works best with your specific carpet materials and the type of soil it typically collects. Some cleaning solutions even kill a wide variety of bacteria and viruses to make carpets more sanitary.
The main disadvantages of this carpet cleaning method is that it can leave carpets damp for several hours after cleaning, and the trace amount of detergent that is typically left on carpets after using a hot water extractor can attract new soil.
You can increase the chance that your carpets will dry relatively quickly after cleaning them and potentially reduce detergent residue by choosing a machine with a high water lift rating. Machines with higher water lift ratings offer more vacuum suction power, so they remove more water and detergent from carpets than those with lower water lift ratings.
Encapsulation Carpet Cleaner
Encapsulation carpet cleaning is considered a dry, or low-moisture, cleaning method that differs greatly from hot water extraction. The encapsulation cleaning process begins with vacuuming the carpet to remove debris. Then, a special encapsulation solution is sprayed onto the carpet surface and left on the carpet surface for about 10 to 15 minutes.
Next, the solution is worked into the carpet fibers with a special machine equipped with cylindrical or rotary brushes.
As the encapsulation solution is worked into the carpet, special crystallizing polymers encapsulate soil particles to remove them from carpet fibers and prevent them from re-attaching to these fibers during the agitation process. The carpet is then allowed to dry before being vacuumed with a traditional vacuum cleaner to remove encapsulated soil particles.
Encapsulation carpet cleaning offers many unique benefits that differ from those provided by hot water extraction. First, this carpet cleaning process can be performed much more quickly than hot water extraction. In fact, some experienced carpet cleaners can clean up to 3,000 square feet of carpet per hour using this method.
In addition, carpets cleaned with low-moisture encapsulation technology dry very quickly, since much less water is applied to carpets during this cleaning process. Also, since no traditional detergent is applied to carpets during encapsulation cleaning, no detergent traces are left on carpets to attract new dirt and debris. In fact, encapsulation cleaning solutions tend to repel dirt to help keep carpets looking cleaner longer.
The main disadvantage of encapsulation carpet cleaning is that this carpet cleaning method is not ideal for extremely soiled carpets. A hot water extractor can get these carpets much cleaner than encapsulation cleaners can.
Bonnet Carpet Cleaner
Bonnet carpet cleaning differs greatly from both hot water extraction and encapsulation carpet cleaning methods. A bonnet carpet cleaning machine is not intended to accomplish the deep-down carpet cleaning that most carpet cleaning devices aim to achieve. Instead, bonnet cleaners are used to remove soil from high-traffic carpet areas quickly to improve carpet appearance.
Bonnet carpet cleaners have a similar appearance to hard floor buffer machines. However, instead of floor buffing pads, these machines are typically equipped with carpet cleaning pads made from polypropylene, rayon, or cotton.
To use a bonnet machine, first saturate a cleaning pad in your desired carpet cleaning solution. Then, attach it to the machine and slowly move it across the surface of your carpet. The cleaning pad rotates and agitates the carpet surface to remove dirt as the machine moves.
The benefit of a bonnet carpet cleaner is that you or a staff member can pull it out and use it to remove surface carpet stains and dirt quickly and easily when necessary. However, if you do purchase and use this carpet cleaner type on a regular basis, remember to also clean your carpets with a hot water extractor or encapsulation cleaner on a periodic basis to remove deeply embedded dirt that bonnet cleaners simply cannot remove.
If your business is filled with carpets, then you can keep your carpets cleaner and more sanitary after you invest in your own carpet cleaning machine(s). Contact the cleaning experts at Bens Cleaner Sales Inc. to purchase a carpet cleaning machine and cleaning solutions today.