Brian Gaff has brought this to us :
If a carpet of the normal house kind ie not one meant for a bathroom, which
are designed to get wet, gets wet, how is the best way to dry it and stop it
from rotting?
May seem daft, and I know that if its polluted water from a naff central
heating leak or a flood where more than just a bit of rain is involved its
probably a throw it away job, but it was just that I do have the odd accident
with fluids and wondered if simply using a fan heater on it or throwing it
over a radiator might do the trick. I'm interested in stains and smell, in
the main.
Brian

I used to look after a certain banking chain and the banks often had
floods on carpets. Sometimes several inches deep in water. The usual
procedure was get guys with pumps in, then industrial wet vacs, then
several industrial dehumifiers, fans and heaters.

Worst case, was a bank flooded by a burst pipe from the tenants floor
above, a foot deep in the basement and that was out of operation for
just one week. It went unnoticed for days, because of a Christmas
break.