I see an infomercial on tv that shows this wonderful device that you just point the end of the hose at dirt and it goes away, but they don’t answer any questions such as 1) wouldn’t this hot steam break your window and mirror glass if you used it, because of the sudden hot heat? 2) do you have to use distilled water or else risk all that calcium and iron buildup that I have from my well water? 3) do I have to keep filling it with water every few moments like I have to keep emptying the little chamber every few seconds with my handy little vacuum cleaner I got because of another infomercial? 4) is it really steam or just hot water vapor
(the exhibitors say, “Look at that steam coming out!” when I happen to know that steam is invisible and the whisps of fog you see are actually the hot steam making the water in the air around it show itself). 5) does it work?
My definitions of steam and water vapor are reversed from yours, but it’s the stuff you see on the commercial. The same stuff that seems come out from a steam iron. Very hot droplets of water suspended in air, not very transparent. I will call this “steam”.
It does work, very well.
I use distilled water but the instructions said I don’t need to.
Once you turn it on, you get two or three minutes of steam. Then you let it cool down. Then you refill it. Then you can get another two or three minutes of steam. You cannot turn the steam on and off at will. You can turn the appliance on and off at will, but it takes time for the steam to start or stop.
I have only used it once and that wasn’t on a window or mirror. I have the same concerns as you regarding the thermal shock and so I will try this.
Remember that this results in water condensing somewhere. OK for kitchen or bathroom, but I wouldn’t use it in the living room.
It would be very easy to injure yourself will this thing.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was rather solidly built.
I gotta start previewing…make that never try this.
This may be a little off-topic, but since your question is whether or not you should buy a steam cleaner, I’d say my answer depends on your living arrangements. If you have a combination of carpets/ rugs in your house/ apartment in conjunction with 1) a pet that would ever walk on said carpet 2) children or 3) sloppy houseguests/ roommates, then the answer is YES.
We got a Bissel Spotlifter (the Dustbuster version of their ‘Little Green Machine’) for our wedding. At first I thought, ‘what a worthless gadget this is’. Then I watched the cat vomit a yellow-orange streak of food on the carpet, and a friend spill soda on the same carpet, and I was forever eternally grateful to the person who got us that thing.
I bought one, didn’t use it & sold it.
For one thing to use on rugs you have to get some stupid cleaner fluid soap crap that costs like $25 gallon & doesn’t do all that much.
Rent one, if you want.
I’ve never heard of the one you describe.
I own a Bissell Big Green Clean Machine. I think they are discontinued. I LOVE it! It holds alot of water, both outgoing and incoming. It really sucks, which is good, in this case. I bring home a lot of puppies, so I really use it.
You guys are talking about a different type of steam cleaner. I hope the mods won’t mind if I mention the brand name. We are talking about the SteamBuggy which is sold on TV. It is a container of water that gets very hot. It has a hose with a wand at the end. Steam squirts out of the end of the wand. It is very hot and moves with a lot of force. The steam takes a one-way trip. The SteamBuggy does not recover the steam. You need a sponge in the other hand to wipe up the mess as you make it. It will dislodge filth from the tiniest crack.
You must use only water in it…no cleaners allowed. As with my steam iron, the instructions say that tap water is ok. But I only use distilled water in both.
I reread the directions. It says do not use it on cold glass or the glass may break. It doesn’t give an exact temperature. It comes with a glass attachment. I am still concerned about breakage so I am not going to try it.
I see the SteamBuggy as very good for stove, kitchen sink, toilet and bathtub. But for windows or mirrors, a couple of paper towels and a squirt bottle of glass cleaner seem to do the trick. Even if I had heatproof glass, why would I fire up the SteamBuggy to clean a window or mirror? It’s not like I shit on my mirrors or anything.
One final thought…it is larger than it seems on TV. That chick who demos it must be big enough to play nose tackle in the NFL.
Steam is neat stuff for cleaning. The stuff coming out the end of the pipe is best thought of as a non-pressurized steam and air mixture, because there is no way in hell that the little bulbous thingy is an ASME certified pressure vessel, which would be required to make any real steam. Part of the reason it cleans well is that it is an excellent way of transfering a lot of heat and water, which disolves most stuff.
The theory is then that the really hot water, now mixed with icky stuff, evaporates into the surrounding air. If you are cleaning something particularly nasty then don’t breathe deep around these things, and you might want to wipe surrounding stuff down afterwords.