Deep Cleaning Extractors

Why use professionals?

Regular professional cleaning is as important to your carpet as having a trained mechanic perform routine maintenance on your car. What vacuuming and spot cleaning miss, extraction cleaning should fix. Through the Seal of Approval program CRI tests deep cleaning extractors and deep cleaning systems: the ones professionals use. 

The extractor is the machine, while the deep cleaning system is the combination of that machine and a particular cleaning solution, following a set procedure. Extractors that you can purchase for home use are for cleaning spots and spills and are designed to remove surface soil only. Although your carpet may look better after an interim cleaning, the embedded soil remains and periodic deep cleaning is still recommended. These units may be handy, but CRI does not approve them at this time.

Testing criteria

The CRI Seal of Approval programs tests the effectiveness of deep cleaning extractors and systems. To quality for the Seal extracts must meet stringent standards in all three test categories and are awarded a gold, silver or bronze certification depending on how well they remove soil form carpet.

• Soil removal — CRI uses NASA-enhanced x-ray fluorescence technology to measure the precise amount of soil removed from the carpet, and soil removal efficiency is rated on four levels. Extractors that exceed average soil removal levels receive a Bronze Seal rating. Those achieving higher levels of soil removal receive a Silver or Gold rating. Extractors that remove the highest level of soil earn the CRI Platinum Seal of Approval.
• Water removal — The extractor or system must remove most of the moisture resulting from a wet cleaning process. Dirty water that remains in the carpet could be a source of fungal growth and could prolong the drying process.
• Fiber surface retention — The product must not harm the carpet pile.

If a system is being tested, additional test criteria are included and mirror those from the Cleaning Solutions protocol. These include:

• Rate of resoiling — This ensures that the product does not attract dirt to the cleaned areas faster than the rest of the carpet.
• pH — A more neutral pH ensures that carpet dyes and fibers are not adversely affected.
• Optical brighteners — None is allowed, as optical brighteners can leave some patches of carpet lighter than the rest.
• Colorfastness — Products must not be so aggressive that they cause a color change in the carpet.

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» Learn how to submit an extractor for testing.