Steam Cleaner - is it worth getting one?

silly_moo

silly_moo wrote: »

I hope someone here can help me. I know absolutely nothing about steam cleaners and to be honest never even heard about them until yesterday when I stumbled upon this thread.

My understanding is that they spray steam to loosen dirt and then you need to wipe this dirt with a cloth. How does this work on carpets? Would I need to wipe my carpets with a cloth? And can you tell me how they could help clean the bathroom? Are they really so much better than water, vinegar and a sponge?

Went ahead and got Vaporetto Pocket. I'll be able to see for myself if it's really worth it. And if not then at least it was cheaper than the "proper" big steam cleaners.

LouLou

From reading around, the pressure rating (Bar rating) is important with steam cleaners. Not sure if the smaller devices are as powerful?

tattycath

I've been looking to buy a steam cleaner for a while. We went to see DSL yesterday and she had bought one but only used it once-it's a vax compact steam cleaner-she said it was brilliant for what she wanted to do but found it difficult as she has arthritis. She was going to sell it but as we showed an interest she said we could have it. She paid over £80 for it but was selling it for £30. To cut a long story short i gave her £30 for it but she gave it back and insisted we had it as a gift.
So far i've only done the kitchen floor but it did an excellent job-looking forward to getting stuck in on some more cleaning

QueenB.

My oh and i have been looking at getting a steam cleaner recently. We have a particulary old bath room with alot of tiles and nooks and crannies and the condensation problems lead to alot of mould. It takes ages to clean properly and really needs a huge clean once a week, which it such a time eater as we have 3 full time jobs between us and 3 kids one who is disabled plus all the other demands of family life, i am hoping a steam cleaner would really help with the upkeep of the bathroom and be useful elsewhere so this thread has been interesting to read, i may just have have to go for it. Will update when i do.

Yorkshirelass_2

jammy_dodger wrote: »

i have just taken the plunge after much deliberation and ordered the polti950 shall report back when it arrives, thanks for all the good advice here

Did you get one and what do you think?

Considering this or the Polti comfort.

squeakysue

Does anyone use one of these, I was thinking of getting a little handheld one for doing jobs around the house, could save on chemicals in the longrun? Does anyone recommend them and for what jobs? TIA x

tjak

I convinced myself to buy one a while back, but only used it twice. It was such a faff to set up that I never bothered. It sat under the stairs for a while and then went back on ebay.

I find microfibre cloths and small quantities of stardrops does the trick on most things.

carefullycautious

I love mine for cleaning the cooker bathroom and floors. Its like a mini cylinder hoover.

The only thing i have found is that there is no way i can reuse the cloths that go on the floor cleaning part as they are really manky but i bought extra ones so just throw them away.

squeaky

Yep

I'm very pleased with my cheap and cheerful model (£29 at time of purchase) and I've seen a more expensive one (about £120) in action and it beats the socks off my little thing.

Everything around my cooker, walls shelves etc., eventually starts to look a bit manky - and the steam cleaner makes getting it all back up to scratch effortless.

Same for the cooker innards.

It's especially good on tile grout.

As for defrosting the freezer - it's fabulous...

..I run the freezer down quite low, and also reduce the fridge contents. Then, on D-Day, or should it be DF-Day?, while my steam cleaner is heating up I transfer the remaining freezer content into the fridge. Turn it off. Get to work with the steam cleaner on the ice with a big bathroom towel folded right at the bottom of the freezer and my washing up bowl sitting on it. Once done - put everything back in the freezer and turn it on. From start to finish I've done the job in twenty minutes flat before now

Anyway - we have a long running thread full of comments and information:- Steam Cleaner - is it worth getting one?

So I'll add your query to it later.

rhcp

I bought one a few years ago. I don't use it much, probably should use it more often. I mainly use it to clean the toilet!