1/23/2012
The 4 elements of cleaning
There are 4 elements of cleaning whether you are cleaning carpets, upholstery, dinner dishes, or the space shuttle.
They spell the acronym CHAT
Chemicals
Heat
Agitation
Time
The chemistry is very important. This is the surfactants, builders and soaps that are used to make reactions happen or happen much more quickly. Usually these speed up the work of water, the number one solvent in the world. Water dissolves and carries away soil, contaminates, and impurities. Without water most cleaning is impossible. Dry solvent cleaning does work on textiles, but it isn't near as effective as using water would be, they just use it because some objects will be harmed by water.
Heat is by far the most important component. I have tried cleaning dishes without dish soap, but with water that was so hot I had to wear gloves. Heat does work by itself but when added to chemistry, things really start to happen. By the way the efficacy(the ability to clean) of a detergent doubles for every 17 degrees above 160 degrees. In our cleaning our water comes out hotter than boiling, so it is many times more effective than cooler water would be.
Agitation is scrubbing. Have you ever pressure washed your car over and over, and then wiped some grime off at the end on your towel? A little bit of physical scrubbing goes a long way.
Time is letting it set. This is known as dwell. This gives the chemistry time to work.
In our exclusive 12 step cleaning process we take maximum advantage of all 4 elements of the cleaning pie.
We prespray with First Step. This special chemical solution breaks down soils and oils without attracting like soap does. The problem with soaps is they attract soil. You are supposed to attract the soil with the soap and then wash it away. However, it's very difficult is rinse that out of a textile so it ends up resoiling. I could write a whole article on just how First Step works but I'm not a PhD chemist like my dad, and you probably aren't either.
We allow dwell time for the chemistry to break down and emulsify the soils and oils. Next we extract with our rotary jet extractor that provides physical agitation making 875 cleaning passes per minute. Our water is actually hotter than steam and it's only a liquid because it's under pressure. This process allows maximum soil removal with over wetting the carpet and without leaving a soil attracting residue.
We are here to serve you, and there is nothing we would like better. We just won our 6th Best of the Best UB award, and would love to celebrate by serving you!
Thanks for your support'
Matthew Richerzhagen
President
Clean 'n Dry LLC
Clean Trust Certified Master Textile Cleaner