Hot water extraction vs carbonated carpet cleaning

How the carbonated method works

A carbonated solution is applied, the carbonation acts as a physical lifting and agitating mechanism to bring soil up off the fibre surface, brushes agitate it, and the loosened material is extracted with a lower volume of water than conventional extraction.

For a light refresh that is a perfectly sensible design. It dries fast and it leaves no surfactant film in the pile, because these solutions are commonly formulated without soaps or detergents at all.

Pressure, and what it reaches

Carbonated systems work at relatively low pressure. That makes them a surface-and-fibre clean, which is what they are for.

For urine that soaked through the backing into the padding and down to the subfloor, pressure is what carries treatment to that depth. Spiker injects at around 700 to 800 PSI to saturate the pad and subfloor, then flushes until the rinse runs clear.

The chemistry point, stated fairly

This is a mechanism difference rather than a criticism. Breaking the bond between oil and fibre is a chemical job, and alkalinity is what does it.

A solution formulated specifically without surfactants is, by design, lifting particulate physically rather than emulsifying oil chemically. On a lightly soiled carpet that is often enough. On a carpet carrying years of body oil and cooking oil, the oil film is the thing that has to come off first, because it is what sand sticks to.

The acid rinse

Spiker uses alkaline chemistry to release the oil and then neutralises it with an acid rinse, extracting both back out. That is what stops a carpet resoiling within weeks, and it is the precondition for protector bonding to the fibre rather than to leftover residue.