WEBVTT - Is Dry Cleaning Actually Wet?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>it's Christian Seger. Have you ever wondered how dry cleaning

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

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<v Speaker 1>to know how dry cleaning works a little bit. So

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

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

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

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<v Speaker 1>but look, that's just the case. In the old timey days,

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<v Speaker 1>dry cleaning used to use a solvent called kerosene. You

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<v Speaker 1>might light your heater with it in your home, especially

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<v Speaker 1>if you live in a rural area and you don't

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<v Speaker 1>have electricity. But people figured out that kerosene is not

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<v Speaker 1>that great for clothes, especially once we had something called

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<v Speaker 1>paar chloral ethylene, or perk in dry cleaning vernacular. This

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<v Speaker 1>is the solvent that's most commonly used today. It's probably

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<v Speaker 1>highly taught toxic. And there's a lot of dry cleaners

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<v Speaker 1>out there that you'll see say they use greener methods. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>when you see that, they're usually using liquefied carbon dioxide,

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<v Speaker 1>which is a lot greener than perk, and which is

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

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

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

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<v Speaker 1>and it is a finely tuned instrument. What the dry

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<v Speaker 1>cleaner will do is throw your clothes in there with

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<v Speaker 1>this perk or whatever solvent it is that they're using,

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<v Speaker 1>and they heat it to a perfect eighties six degrees fahrenheit.

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<v Speaker 1>Anything more than that it's just going to destroy your clothes,

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<v Speaker 1>and anything less than that it might not have the

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<v Speaker 1>cleaning ability that you wanted to have. And it's going

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<v Speaker 1>to agitate it and take the perk and filter it

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<v Speaker 1>out and reuse it. And then when it's finally done,

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<v Speaker 1>all of the perk is going to be captured and

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<v Speaker 1>reused and sequestered before they even to open the door,

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

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<v Speaker 1>And then voila. You have a dry cleaned, wet shirt

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

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

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<v Speaker 1>it's not water. Check out the brain Stuff channel on

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<v Speaker 1>YouTube and for more on this and thousands of other topics,

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<v Speaker 1>visit how stuff works dot com,