Deep Cleaning Extractors and Systems

Professionally clean your carpet for superior results

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. 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. 

Carpet cleaning is now rocket science

The CRI Seal of Approval program tests the effectiveness of deep cleaning extractors and systems. To qualify for the Seal, extractors must meet stringent standards in all three test categories:

• 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 three levels. Extractors that exceed average soil removal levels receive a Bronze Seal rating. Those achieving higher soil removal level receive a Silver Seal rating. Extractors that remove the highest level of soil earn the CRI Gold 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.
• Texture retention — The extractor 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 the following:

• 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 they 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.

Additional technical testing information

Testing for soil removal: To test for soil removal performance, the independent laboratory uses a “designer” soil that has properties similar to soil found in carpet across the United States. A significant new element to this testing protocol is the use of x-ray fluorescence (XRF) technology, which was developed by private industry and enhanced by NASA for the Space Shuttle program. XRF enables the laboratory to identify and quantify the various compounds found in the soil. Using the XRF analyzer, laboratory staff measure the starting concentration of each compound applied to the carpet sample (following ASTM protocols) and, following cleaning with an extractor, then quantify the precise amount of soil removed.

Testing for residual water: To measure how well an extractor recovers water, the test carpet sample is weighed before and after the standardized process to determine how much water remains.

Testing for texture retention: Finally, surface appearance change in the carpet pile, as a result of extraction cleaning, is measured using CRI’s five-point Texture Retention Reference Scales, which provide a visual aid in assessing appearance change in carpet.

• X-Ray Fluorescence and Cleaner Carpet: If you want to learn how x-ray fluorescence was adapted for space flight and carpet cleaning, download this PDF (PDF 50 KB).
• See the XRF Test in action! View the video (Windows Media Format 17.69M) of the Seal of Approval XRF procedure, which tests how well a machine removes 

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» Learn how to submit an extractor or system for testing.