I bought a steam mop which is supposedly superior to ordinary mops since it say it will clean and sanitize the floors with just water. Which is great. Except for no where in my manual does it say how much time is needed for the steam to continuously contact my floor to actually sanitize it. I doubt it happens instantaneously, so how long exactly does the steam have to be in contact with the floor to sanitize it?
Read about the autoclave: Autoclave - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia " … used to sterilize equipment and supplies by subjecting them to high pressure saturated steam at 121 °C or more, typically for 15–20 minutes … "
So see based on that estimate it seems like false advertising saying these steam mops can actually “sanitize” floors in seconds.
What would you want to sanitize your floor? Isn’t that where you walk? Do you sanitize the soles of your shoes?
Sanitizing is not sterilizing though.
Sanitizing means to remove dirt, soil, and some bacteria down to a level where infection is unlikely.
Sterilizing means to make all bacteria, spores and viruses non-viable.
D’oh, that’s right. I remember there being a difference in sanitizing versus sterilizing but skimmed over it in that link. So I suppose it can sanitize.
I only have hard floors in my bathroom and kitchen, and I never wear shoes in either… And given that my dog’s potty pad is in the bathroom, I would like that floor to be cleaned well on a regular basis since it’s where I tend to walk barefoot right after showering.
if you had grime and stuff stuck to the floor the steam, which instantly becomes hot water upon touching the floor, might come off easier than cold water. a bucket of hot water and soap might also work with some movement and it will work better because the grime will go into the water.
I haven’t heard of steam “mops” yet, but I assume you mean asteam cleaner?
The small cleaners for a normal household have been tested and they don’t “sanitize” at all. They don’t reach the required temperature of >120 C, they don’t indicate when the temp. is reached; it takes a long time to re-heat the water because the container is too small; because the steam is not hot enough, it quickly condenses to water.
Summary: you wasted a lot of money on an inferior cleaning product.
First, why do you want to sanitize your floor? Do you have somebody with a compromised immune system living in your household? Had a bout of scarlet fever or similar recently? Work in the sewers and regularly track in shit and feces?
Because normal homes don’t need to be sanitized.
Secondly, the hot steam is most often just luke-warm, which means that far from eradicating bacteria, you are actually making them warm and comfy. Unless you follow behind with a dry mop immediatly sponging up the excess water everywhere. But then you can save the effort and just use a normal mop and normal soap water to get the dirt off, which works well enough for cleanness.
Thirdly, steam cleaners don’t do anything (despite their wonderful ad promises) in removing hard stains like calc. You still need elbow grease or vinegar acid or both.
Fourth, if your floors are in any way touchy, you can damge them using steam, if the steam occasionally gets up to its promised temp. That means: plastic PVC floors, which shouldn’t be scalded; wooden floors, which should be waxed and then cleaned with soap water; non-heat resistant ceramic tiles which could crack from heat. And of course carpets. Which covers most floors in use in normal homes.
Can you still give it back?
I live in a ‘normal’ home and I use a steam mop,not a steam carpet cleaner, it cleans like a dream on my “touchy” laminate and hardwood floors. And after years of use they are still not damaged by the steam mop. You mentioned calcium deposits, just how are you getting scale forming on your floor?
Because steam cleaners are advertised not only for floors - those least of all, actually - but for bathrooms with calc deposits (we have very hard water). They are being touted as “instead of using elbow grease, the steam cleaner does it for you”, which is not how things work outside the (staged) ads.
Again, I don’t know what a steam mop is - when Igoogled it, they looked even smaller than a normal steam cleaner. How much water goes in there, 4 liters? Looks more like a steam iron than a cleaner. How often do you have to refill that? How long do you wait between each refill until it’s heated? How hot is the steam that you don’t damage wooden floors? If the steam is only lukewarm and condenses to water puddles, how much time do you need to mop them up seperatly?
I just don’t see any advantage in time or effort for floors in a normal home with such a tool, where you refill, wait for heating, steam, get condensation, mop up the water, wait, steam, repeat… instead of just bringing a wet mop and soap water to get the dirt off; rinse and clean with clear water; take a dry mop to soak up left-over water. Done. No electricity necessary, no waiting time. Clean enough unless you have extremly special issues. No more elbow grease than normal, even less, because you don’t have to carry the heavy steam mop.
Steam that’s not hot enough will work worse for that than vingear acid cleaner which works well enough for sanitation. (I assume you have looked at the easiest solution of moving your dog’s potty pad elsewhere, but there is not enough space?)
I would use a special mop for the dog’s potty area to get rid first of the dirt with soap, and a second wipe with vinegar acid cleaner to sterilize. Do it regularly, and you should be fine.
Well take a look at what you are missing, and you are really over stating the difficulty of using the simple steam mop.
According to this site, we have one brand that sanitizes in one second, and another that takes 8-15 seconds.
An ad video by the company that sells those things doesn’t impress me at all. I know how those videos lie and fake. Both observations in the real world and tests by Stiftung Warentest (the consumer advocates) say that the wonderful claims are overblown.
But hey, if you think it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread, wonderful for you.
Why do you trust the company who sells these things? Are they required to measure objectivly the temp of the steam and the time it takes, or can they make things up as they like to. Consumer advocates, who are neutral, do measure the temp. of the steam, and they continually find temp.s far lower than advertised.
The linked site is for ConsumerSearch, which gathers and evaluates reviews and other product information, from which it issues its own recommendations and reviews. It does not sell the items; it mentions typical prices and lists numerous vendors who sell the products.
As to the source or accuracy of the claims there, I don’t know. I imagine someone could find the source with some time on Google.
It hardly matters. As soon as you are done ‘sanitizing’ the floor, the air will be in contact with it, and air contains all kinds of germs, viruses, pollen, etc. that will promptly de-sanitize the floor. To say nothing of the dog walking on it with his dirty paws, or you in dirty shoes, etc.
But if this so-called sanitizing give you psychological comfort, go right ahead.
I use a shark. http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=steam+mop+shark&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=6728802816412981846&sa=X&ei=SfprTeLnJI7TgQfTqITLCg&ved=0CEYQ8wIwAw# I don’t really care if the floor is sterilized or not - I just know the thing is a thousand times easier than usual mopping, and I don’t have to choose between stinky ammonia and dulling build-up.
My huge kitchen/eating space/front hall tiled area takes about 20 minutes to mop with this thing (refilling twice and changing mopheads 3-4 times.) Going back and forth to the sink/bucket took a lot longer, didn’t clean as well, and wrecked my back every time.
The only time I really cared about sterile vs clean was when the Celtling was crawling. That was a PITA and I’m glad it’s over! LOL!
I would like to know where you get your information at with your 1 through 4 claims to the contrary of steam cleaners working or not ? There are alot of different steam cleaners on the market and some do tell you when they are at or above 120 C. For someone who never heard of them you sure post alot of negatives to the contrary of them working or not. And is the above url the link to the test that you are relying on so heavily ? Haven’t looked at it yet but I imgine it was a test on one general steam cleaner. They have used steam cleaners for centuries on suits and other garments too delicate to use harse chemicals on. It does clean, can sanitize and steam also can sterilize. While I admit sometimes you also need to scrub heavily soiled items then mop up the excess grime, it doesnt necessarily stomp out the benefits of using steam to clean. And to say it quickly condenses to water. Water heated up is steam and when the heating elements are removed it returns to its normal state…water along with dirt it removed which does need wiped up. Alot of people sanitize their homes thats afterall why people clean I would imagine.
zombie or no
this is an international forum and people on different continents will have different products and experiences.
steam is useful if it stays steam or at least hot water. that is more easily done with a small object. with a floor there is a massive capacity to absorb heat. with a carpet there may be different action locally with the residue being immediately extracted.