How does dry cleaning work?

Answer 1

Cloths are put in a machine with a HIGH grade Kerosene solution.
The cloths can be put in dryer or hang to dry for a day to get the smell out.
I`m sure somewhere on the Internet you can learn the history on dry cleaning. Long time ago someone found out kerosene would clean their cloths and that's how dry cleaning got started.

Answer 2

Clothing is cleaned by chemicals only over water and soap.

Chemicals are steamed, pressed and sprayed on to remove stains, refresh the clothing, etc.

The research is still out but many say the chemicals in dry cleaning will cause cancer over time.

Answer 3

Idea is somewhat same as your wash machine. Chemical and mechanical action clean garments. Dry cleaning machine use solvent instead water and different detergent made for solvent.
Unlike wash machine, drain dirty water and use fresh water every time, DC machine uses same solvent over and over again. You never dump the solvent, you just add on. This can be possible because the machine use filter and still to clean dirty solvent to 100 % pure solvent. (same idea as distill water)
all new DC machine is closed unit. one machine can clean, extract,and dry without transferring garments from washer to dryer; no solvent can comes out from unit.
there are few solvents for cleaning: Perc, hydro carbon, and stoddard solvent are most common. Perc is the one cause cancer.
With out going into tech. detail I hope this will explain little.
PS: What to look for when you choose cleaner ? Find cleaner who maintain good solvent quality (Change filter regularly and running still all the time) You wouldn't wash your clothes in dirty water would you ?

Answer 4

the clothes are put in a special chemical that cleans them- so actually they don't remain dry the entire time, it's weird, when you remove the clothes from the chemical, they come out perfectly dry.