What Temperature Should the Water Be in a Carpet Cleaner?

We all know that cold water is not as efficient in dissolving substances, as is hot water. Cleaning is actually a chemical process where the physical properties of a substance is transformed from one state or condition to a different one, in order to make it easier to manage or extract the soiling agent..

In this case, what we actually want to do, or manage, is to create a condition where we make it easier to remove dirt or soil from our carpet.

The best way to do this is to make it soluble, that is, to turn it into a liquid, so that we can suck it out of the carpet easily. There are many methods we can use to do this. Most people prefer to apply some sort of chemical or cleaning agent, but some people prefer to use hot water or steam alone.

Personally, I prefer to use a chemical, because I find that is the most effective way of getting soils into solution.

In any case, it is always easier to clean with hot water, than with cold water.

The best cleaning temperature range is between 120 – 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

I usually apply the chemical using water at a temperature of 120 – 150 degrees Fahrenheit.

This is the temperature range that I find to be most practical. It is hot enough to be effective with most carpet cleaning solvents, but not so hot that it will damage some carpet fibers or create a personal burn hazard.

When I first started cleaning carpets, I would go to the store and rent a portable carpet cleaner. I would then add “soap” and proceed to attempt to clean the carpet. As you can imagine, the results were not too impressive.

I soon learned that I need to heat the water in the carpet cleaning machine. So I did that and had much better results.

The problem though, was that the water temperature decreased fairly rapidly during cleaning, especially during winter, and of course, cleaning efficiency decreased proportionally. It would become much harder to get the carpet clean, and I would have to try to compensate, by using more concentrated or different chemicals, agitating the carpet fibers more vigorously, or waiting longer to extract the cleaning solution.

Carpet cleaning is most efficient and effective when you can use a machine that comes with a heat-exchanger that allows you to set and control the water temperature at optimum levels.

For more cleaning tips call AJS Carpet Cleaning, Inc. at 801 368-0705.