Salamander Clean

How long it would take to dry out my carpets after carpet cleaning?

Without a doubt this is the most asked question by my customers when having their carpets cleaned.Surely no one knows with precise accuracy due to the number of factors affecting the drying time,but I will try to draw the whole picture for you.

Which factors should be taken into account when estimating the drying time?

 Carpet cleaning equipment.

A very powerful equipment will suck up more water than a conventional one,hence it will leave drier carpets.

Carpet cleaner's technique.

Some carpet cleaning technicians tend to overlook a vital procedure in the whole process,by not doing some extra dry passes with the cleaning attachment(wand) over the wet carpet,which in turn leads to damper carpets left behind.Some extra dry pass done,- some more water sucked up.  

Degree of soiling.

The dirtier the carpets are, the more water is to be used.Let me give you this simple example.How much of water and soap will use a person washing his/her hands before dinner who has spent the last two hours watching TV. Not much right? What about a person who has spent the last two hours repairing some minor problem on his/her car. Certainly a lot more.So here is the difference, very dirty carpets require greater amount of water to be cleaned which means more water absorbed by the carpet, hence longer drying time.



                                           click on picture to enlarge.

Nature and length of the carpet fibre.

Nature carpet fibers like wool and cotton have much greater moisture retention and absorbency than synthetic fibers,(polyester,nylon) hence the nature fibers will dry  out slower.High piled carpets require more water than short piled carpets.

Room's temperature.

The water tends to evaporate quicker on high temperature.Via winter if the heating system is  on,it would significantly reduce the drying time.

Strength of airflow.

A good airflow is absolutely necessary for fast dry carpets.Open windows and doors will allow an air to be passed over the carpet which in itself creates vacuum beneath the airflow thereby drawing up the moisture out the substrate surface.During the winter the best way to speed up the drying time is to keep windows and doors widely open while the heating is on.

Weather.

The weather is a huge factor when it comes to drying.In sunny day when the humidity is lower the drying time would be much shorter than in rainy day with increased humidity.While the first two factors are up to the carpet cleaning provider,some of the rest factors are up to the customer.Switching the heating on when the weather is cold and keeping the windows open for certain time is  an after service care and depends on us, - the customers.Back to a question though.Having this things in mind I would say 2 - 10 hours drying time would represent high quality carpet cleaning service and good after service care.
Hope this helps

Till later.