Even if you’re washing your sheets frequently, there’s a good chance your mattress is full of dust mites, dander, and dead skin cells. Mattresses aren’t something you can throw in the washer or easily take to the dry cleaner, so Clean Sleep brings its cleaning machine to your bed.
The company will appear on tonight’s Shark Tank. It’s pitching its fleet of Clean Sleep machines, which are essentially trucks converted into mobile mattress washers. Two cleaning specialists arrive at your home, take your mattress to the truck, vacuum it, do spot cleaning, and wipe it down with an enzyme cleaner to get rid of stains and odors. Then they load it in the truck, where it undergoes a five-step process: It’s hit with ultraviolet light, dry steamed, vacuumed again, exposed to infrared heat, and treated with an ozone generator. While ozone generators have been found to be ineffective air purifiers and can have adverse health effects, according to the EPA, they can kill insects, some studies have shown.
Clean Sleep promises that in about 15 minutes, your mattress will come out of the truck dry and sanitized. The cleaners will then put it back on your bed. An appointment with the Clean Sleep machine costs $120, and there are a variety of add-on options available. You can have your mattress treated with an antimicrobial substance for $15, for example. Right now, Clean Sleep is only operating in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
If you’re not local, you can do your own mattress cleaning. Start by vacuuming to get rid of those dust mites and other debris. Clean any stains with the appropriate cleaner: hydrogen peroxide for blood, an enzymatic cleaner if your cat (or you) peed on the bed. Make sure you dry the area thoroughly; using a hair dryer can help speed up the process. For odors, you can cover the mattress in baking soda and let it sit for an hour. Then you get to vacuum again. Now’s a good time to flip that bad boy over, too, which you’re doing four times a year, right?
