What is dry cleaning

Cleaners have a variety of fluids that they can use to remove stains from fabric, which act in a different way than the water that you might use. However, it's important to alert your cleaner to everything that you've spilled on the clothing, because the residue from those substances can cause trouble during dry cleaning and worsen the damage to your clothing [source: Captain Dry Clean ]. If you don't know what to do when a stain happens, call your cleaner and ask him or her what to apply.

Despite the name, the clothes don't stay dry during dry cleaning. They actually get wet! While there are many brands and makes of cleaning machines, they are all basically the same in principle and function. The basket is mounted in a housing that includes motors , pumps, filters, still, recovery coils, storage tanks, fans and a control panel.

In all modern equipment, the washer and the dryer are in the same machine. Doing this makes it possible to recover nearly all of the perc used during cleaning, which is better for the environment and saves the dry cleaner money.

As the clothes rotate in the perforated basket, there is a constant flow of clean solvent from the pump and filter system. The solvent sprays into the basket and chamber constantly — not only immersing the clothes, but gently dropping and pounding them against baffles in the cylinder as well.

The dirty solvent is pumped continuously through the filter and re-circulated free and clear of dirt that gets trapped in the filter.

As an example, a typical machine might pump solvent through the clothes at a rate of perhaps 1, gallons 5, liters per hour. The most commonly used solvent is perchloroethylene, known in the industry as "perc. If a cycle lasts for eight minutes, the clothes would be doused during mechanical action with gallons liters of solvent.

This is more than adequate to thoroughly clean the clothes. The next cycle drains and rapidly spins the clothes to expel the solvent and then goes into a dry cycle by circulating warm air through the clothes.

The remaining fumes and solvent are vaporized by warm air, condensed over cooling coils, and then passed through a secondary air control to get the solvent out. The distilled solvent is separated from any water that may have remained in the clothes or system and returned to the tank as distilled solvent.

Since any moisture that may have condensed into water during the process floats on top of perc, it is relatively simple to separate it. Regardless of which solvent the dry cleaner uses, the quality of cleaning, the degree of soil removal, the color brightness, the freshness, the odor and the softness all depend on the degree to which the cleaner controls his filter and solvent condition and moisture.

Quality control can vary day to day unless the cleaner is constantly attentive to these factors. Post-cleaning spot removal is another part of the quality control process. Post-spotting, as it is called, uses professional equipment and chemical preparations using steam, water, air, and vacuum. Post-spotting involves a fairly simple process for removing a stain. If the stain had water in it to begin with bean soup, for example , then it takes water or wet-side chemicals to remove the stain.

If the stain was on the dry side grease, oil-based paint, tar, nail polish , it takes solvents or dry-side chemicals to remove the stain. In home laundry, most wet-type stains come out during the washing process. Grease does not.

The opposite is true in dry cleaning — it will leave the wet-side stains intact after the cleaning cycle. On the other hand, the solvent removes grease and oils during the cleaning cycle. The exception to this rule involves incorporating a "charge" of specially formulated dry-cleaning soap an anhydrous emulsifier into the cleaning cycle. The dry cleaner will examine your clothes after cleaning is complete to see if any stains remain. If they do, post-spotting tries to get them out.

A conscientious cleaner will remove the overwhelming majority of soil and stains, but there is always a small percent of very stubborn stains that may not be entirely removed for a variety of reasons, such as:. The final phase of dry-cleaning operations includes finishing, pressing, steaming, ironing, and making any necessary repairs to restore the garment.

This is the least mysterious process since most dry-cleaning stores have their professional finishing equipment in plain view of customers. Once the clothes are cleaned, they are pressed or "finished. The pressure comes from the head of the pressing machine, while steam is diffused through the bottom. Most machines not only emit steam, but can vacuum it out as well!

The demand for environmentally safe products has increased in recent years as a result of government regulations and greater consumer awareness of environmental issues. As a replacement for perc, alternative solvents have been developed, including ones that utilize silicone and chemicals from corn, as well as hydrocarbon-based solvents [sources: NY.

The EPA and organizations such as the Toxics Use Reduction Institute at the University of Massachusetts Lowell have encouraged dry cleaners to move to a process called professional wet cleaning, which uses water and biodegradable detergents in computer-controlled machines.

Garments are then finished with tensioning and pressing equipment [sources: Onasch , Turi. According to the institute, some cleaners who've switched to wet cleaning have reported savings in energy costs and water use as well [source: Turi. While some in the industry have been skeptical about whether wet cleaning works as well as conventional dry cleaning, proponents say that advances in wet cleaning systems can handle most fabrics [source: Hay ]. Sign up for our Newsletter! It proved to be safer and clean better.

Other cleaning solvents have been added, including hydrocarbon, Green Earth, and others that are currently being introduced and tested. A dry cleaning machine is similar to a combination washer and dryer, only larger. The clothing is loaded into these machines and the solvent is gradually added to lift and flush away the soil. After the cleaning cycle, the solvent is drained and extracted through a spin cycle. Once the clothes are finished extracting, the drying process begins. Perc has a serious downside, in that it's been linked to a range of different health risks.

In , the EPA phased out the use of perc in cleaner shops situated in buildings where people also live, and the state of California is in the process of phasing out its use altogether. Though perc is still being widely used, other more environmentally friendly solvents have been developed in an effort to reduce risks to workers and the consumer. In addition, a process called wet cleaning, which utilizes water and biodegradable detergents in special computer-controlled machines, is advocated by the EPA and environmental organizations.

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Want to know what happens to your clothes after you give them to the dry cleaner? Do they actually stay dry? In dry cleaning, a special petroleum-based solvent is used to wash clothes.