Steam Cleaners

[Maverick]

Anyone any experience of steam cleaners at all? Looking to purchase something for around £50 for cleaning upholstery in a boat and can also be used for the carpets and seats in the car.

 

The car has light coloured upholstery which has become stained with dirt and possible dye from jeans over the years.

 

Argos have a Morphy Richards one at this price but uncertain if it will do the job as I believe it just uses steam and no chemicals. http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/part...AM+CLEANERS.htm

 

Would a wet and Dry Vac be a better option where some sort of cleaning agent can be added?

 

Anyone with any experience of these gadgets your opinions would be most welcome.

Edited May 2, 2008 by Maverick

[wotnot]

Anyone any experience of steam cleaners at all? Looking to purchase something for around £50 for cleaning upholstery in a boat and can also be used for the carpets and seats in the car.

 

The car has light coloured upholstery which has become stained with dirt and possible dye from jeans over the years.

 

Argos have a Morphy Richards one at this price but uncertain if it will do the job as I believe it just uses steam and no chemicals. http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/part...AM+CLEANERS.htm

 

Would a wet and Dry Vac be a better option where some sort of cleaning agent can be added?

 

Anyone with any experience of these gadgets your opinions would be most welcome.

 

I had a Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning business doing domestic and commercial work. I rarely used steam 100C+ other than some pubs/restaurants as it is as risky as boiling you cashmere sweater. None of the cheap DIY kit is much good as most will overwet and dont have the lift in the vac motors to extract from the resulting sopping wet fabric.

 

I wont try to pass on training and experience on a forum like this, but I will run through a possible solution to get round the small jobs that you want to do.

 

1. you are not washing the fabrics so the objective is the absolute minimum of wetting.

2. find a cleaning supply company and buy a neutral cleaner such as Prochem Fabric Restorer which unfortunately

comes in 5 ltr containers so will last you for years (costs about £17).

3. buy a couple of microfible cloths (£1 shop) and "borrow" a few terry towels.

4. mix the correct ratio of chemical to hand hot water in a bucket, wearing the wifes (if you havent got your own)

marigolds wet a microfibre cloth and wring it out.

5. hold or peg the cloth against a hidden part of the fabric for a couple of minutes to see if the colour runs or the

fabric reacts to the moisture/chem.

6. if all is OK wipe over the fabric using the micro cloth as dry as possible and rinsing frequently avoid overwetting.

Do a complete panel at a time and dont rub too hard as you can do damage.

7. wipe over with a Terry towel to remove as much moist as possible.

8. repeat the process this time using clean water.

9. if you can borrow a wet vac you can try and extract some more moisture.

[sueb]

Thanks for this advice. I could never understand where the dirt went when it was steamed.

Sue

[wotnot]

Thanks for this advice. I could never understand where the dirt went when it was steamed.

Sue

 

Its really called HWE (Hot Water Extraction). Spray on a cleaning solution at over 100 psi and immediately suck it and soiling up with very powerful vacuum motors.

[sueb]

Its really called HWE (Hot Water Extraction). Spray on a cleaning solution at over 100 psi and immediately suck it and soiling up with very powerful vacuum motors.

Carpet shampooers do this but steamers just give out steam, they don't suck.

Sue