WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Is Dry Cleaning Actually Wet?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam here with a classic episode

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<v Speaker 1>from what host who came before? Christian Sager. This is

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<v Speaker 1>a topic we stumbled on a few years back and

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<v Speaker 1>just had to do an episode about because it turns

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<v Speaker 1>out that dry cleaning isn't dry. So what is it? Hey,

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<v Speaker 1>brain stuff, it's Christian Sager. Have you ever wondered how

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<v Speaker 1>dry cleaning is actually dry? Well, you're about to know.

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<v Speaker 1>You're about to know how dry cleaning works a little bit.

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<v Speaker 1>So dry cleaning, here's the thing. It's not really dry.

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<v Speaker 1>It's actually using liquids. It just doesn't use water, and

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<v Speaker 1>that's why they call it dry cleaning, which, yeah, it's

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<v Speaker 1>pretty stupid, but look that's just the case. In the

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<v Speaker 1>old timey days, dry cleaning used to use a solvent

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<v Speaker 1>called kerosene. You might light your heater with it in

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<v Speaker 1>your home, especially if you live in a rural area

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<v Speaker 1>and you don't have electric city. But people figured out

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<v Speaker 1>that kerosene is not that great for clothes, especially once

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<v Speaker 1>we had something called para chloral ethylene or perk in

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<v Speaker 1>dry cleaning vernacular. This is the solvent that's most commonly

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<v Speaker 1>used today. It's probably highly toxic. And there's a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of dry cleaners out there that you'll see say they

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<v Speaker 1>use greener methods. Now, when you see that, they're usually

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<v Speaker 1>using liquefied carbon dioxide, which is a lot greener than perk,

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<v Speaker 1>and which is again a highly toxic solvent, but it works. Now.

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<v Speaker 1>A dry cleaning machine looks a lot like a combination

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<v Speaker 1>washer dryer that you might see, you know, an industrial

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<v Speaker 1>sized one, and it is a finely tuned instrument. What

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<v Speaker 1>the dry cleaner will do is throw your clothes in

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<v Speaker 1>there with this perk or whatever solvent it is that

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<v Speaker 1>they're using, and they heat it to a perfect eighties

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<v Speaker 1>six degrees fahrenheit. Anything more than that it's just going

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<v Speaker 1>to destroy your clothes, and anything less than that it

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<v Speaker 1>might not have the cleaning ability that you wanted to have.

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<v Speaker 1>And it's going to agitate it and take the perk

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<v Speaker 1>and filter it out and reuse it. And then when

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<v Speaker 1>it's finally done, all of the perk is going to

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<v Speaker 1>be captured and reused and sequestered before they even open

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<v Speaker 1>the door, because you don't want this stuff going into

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<v Speaker 1>the atmosphere and then voila you have a dry cleaned

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<v Speaker 1>wet shirt that has been cleaned with industrial solvents, and

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<v Speaker 1>that is dry cleaning. And yes, it's wet still, but

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<v Speaker 1>at least it's not water. Today's episode was written by

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<v Speaker 1>me and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this

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<v Speaker 1>and lots of other topics, visit how stuffworks dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>Brain Stuff is production of my heart Radio. For more

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