a Chem-Dry carpet cleaner showing why our cleaning is superior to steam cleanersYour health is very important, especially these last few years of a global pandemic. Professional carpet cleaning can improve and protect the health of your home or business when it’s done correctly. It might surprise you to know that traditional steam cleaning is not the best or really even the correct way to clean your carpets. In fact, steam cleaning can actually lead to serious problems for your health. So what is the alternative to steam carpet cleaning methods? John’s Chem-Dry of Whatcom County has the answer!

Our carpet cleaning method is a healthy alternative to traditional steam cleaning. It’s called Hot Carbonated Extraction (HCE) and it boasts plenty of advantages in the carpet cleaning industry. We want to break down those advantages for you in this in-depth comparison.

The Hot Carbonated Extraction Difference

Everything about HCE is different than steam cleaning. The equipment, products, and process may look the same or similar so it might be hard to see the difference initially. Here is some quick information to help make the differences more visible so you can better understand why HCE is the superior method.

The Equipment 

Steam Cleaning: Machines and tools are designed to use excessive amounts of hot water steam to extract dirt and grime from carpets. They pump these massive amounts of water into your carpet at high pressures. This is very rough on your carpets. The machines and pressure can even send dirt deeper down into the carpet fibers and backing.

Chem-Dry’s HCE: Our machines focus on carbonated bubbles, not water. They work by sending tiny but powerful bubbles into your carpet at low pressures to lift and extract the dirt. The lower pressure will be significantly easier on your carpets. 

The Products

Steam Cleaning: Most steam cleaners use detergents that leave behind traces of soapy residues. That residue is often odorous, sticky, and dirt-attracting. This leaves your carpet looking dingier and dirtier after cleaning. The detergents are also built with hazardous chemicals that can damage your carpet rather than clean it. Sadly, those chemicals can also be harmful to your family and their health.

Chem-Dry: Uses a proprietary cleaner we call, The Natural®. The name comes from the natural ingredients within the solution itself. It doesn’t use those nasty soaps and chemicals so it does not leave a dirt-attracting residue. This means your carpets will stay and look cleaner for longer. The Natural® is 100% green and safe for carpets, kids, and pets. 

The Process 

Steam Cleaning: Fills your carpets with gallons and gallons of water leaving your carpets soaking wet. All of the excess water can seep down to the carpet pad and backing which leads to mold. By relying on harsh chemicals and soaps to clean up the dirt and grime, the cleaning solutions often do more harm than good.

Chem-Dry’s HCE: We use 80% less water than steam cleaners. That means that our method won’t leave your carpets sopping wet. The HCE process will lead to faster drying times of typically just 1-2 hours. Plus it minimizes the risk of mold growth. Meanwhile, the carbonated bubbles from our process penetrate deep into the carpets lifts the dirt particles from the carpet fibers. Heat accelerates the carbonation reaction, allowing our specialized equipment to extract both the dirt and the water from your carpets. Of course, our solutions are made up of ingredients copied straight from mother nature so they are safe and non-toxic. Don’t think that means they are weaker though. Our whole process has been proven to eliminate 98.1% of allergens* from carpets and upholstery. All of this makes HCE the healthier, more convenient, and overall superior process. 

Get your carpets cleaned the healthy way in the greater Bellingham area with John’s Chem-Dry of Whatcom County.