Carpet steam cleaning, as offered by professional carpet cleaning companies, is more accurately called hot water extraction. The steam is a result of a temperature difference between the hot water jets and the surrounding environment. Carpet steam cleaning services use specialized wands connected to a portable or truck-mounted machine. The wand uses pressurized hot water jets to clean and rinse the carpet. The wand is also connected to a powerful vacuum system and has an area that comes behind the hot water jets and “extracts” most of the water and chemicals used, if any.
Commercial steam carpet cleaning works on the same principle. It is the most thorough process for cleaning high traffic and soiled commercial carpet. Based on the type of carpet, soil level and location requirements, slightly higher pH chemicals might be used and even more effort put into leaving the carpet as dry as possible.