Steam Cleaners: do you love 'em or what?

That's interesting about no cleaning agents. I had a disaster with a spill on the carpet last week and rushed to get out my hoover wet-vac. I had run out of carpet shampoo, so jsut went ahead and used it without. It did as good a job, and I did the entire room. The water came out black, as it always does, and it looked as clean in the morning as it does with the shampoo.

I'm going to jsut use it without any cleaner from now on, unless there's a really bad stain.

I'm not sure exactly how much my machine cost, but it was between $500 and $700. I don't know how I managed without it now, we've made up the money with not having to hire cleaners or get a service, eg when we moved recently we did carpets in both houses, it would have cost a fortune to hire someone.

I'd check how a regular wet vac works without chemicals before shelling out too much money.

Thanks for the reply, britishmum!

The thing is, those steam cleaners do way more than just vaccuum cleaners. They have little hoses with tiny nozzles that shoot superheated steam out. These are excellent for cleaning toilet lid hinges, the rims of spouts and handles on sinks, around the elements on the stove, etc. You can't do that with a vaccuum cleaner!

Oh, and the Steam Buggy and Steam Shark retail for less than $200. It's just that fancy one I saw at the home show that was so expensive.

Bwhahaha I love how we all sound like ads sometimes.

I was wondering if you could put vineger in those. I see people mentioning vinegar and was wondering if any of you might know if you can put it in a steam vac.

ARGH! Now, I'm kicking myself b/c I got one of those for Christmas last year and wanted a vacuum-type steam cleaner instead. I returned it and never even tried it out. I bet I would have loved it. I guess I'll have to re-buy it!

I have the Bissell Steam mop ($55 at Costco) and love what it does to my hard floors!!! )

I have the Eureka Enviorsteamer. I got it for about $40 at K-Mart( I know, what am I doing there) Anyways, it is GREAT for my hardwood and tile floors. NOT FOR CARPET. You dont have to use any cleaners, the steam is so hot, it dienfects the surface after like 7 seconds of holding the steam on it. And it gets all the funk off the floor. There is a cloth pad that soaks up the dirt on the bottom of the broom(totally washable)My aunt has a Orreck handheld steamer. Like the one you are talking about. It is awsome, she cleans her groute, toliet, stove, sink, tub, tile, ect... Any non-poreous material. I suggest looking around, check ebay, they proabley have the best deal. Good luck in youe endevours, I deffintley suggest getting one.

I have two kinds, one which is a steam mop for floors and I LOVE IT!

I also bought a Eureka HOTSHOT handheld steamer for cleaning bathrooms, etc without chemicals and hate it. I think it is a good idea but the HOtshot is so small you have to literally fill it with a funnel and tube the size of a small drinking straw. It only holds about 1 cup of water so it is only good for a small job. I can clean 1 bathroom with it but have to wait for it to cool down to refill it (which takes considerable time to let water dribble in via a straw). I have found that it works really well on the sink/tub faucet areas but doesn't seem to do much for the porcelin. Does anyone else have this problem. As far as the toilet, I think it still needs a good scrubbing with vinegar, the steam doesn't do much. The handheld cleaner is scary, the steam is so hot and powerful, it is very dangerous. If you inadvertantly got a hand in the way, watch out.

As far as the claims of killing ecoli, sterililzing, etc made by the manufacturers I think they are misleading the customers. To really kill the bacteria and spores it takes prolonged heat of 10-20 minutes, not just a shot of hot steam.