Carpet Cleaning

Want your house cleaned? Hire a maid… - DeLonghi ST100P Steam It Canister Vacuum

DeLonghi ST100P Steam It Canister Vacuum Key FeatureDesignCanisterDirt CaptureSteam MotorVoltage110 - 120 V ACAmperage12.2 A...

You would save yourself a great amount of frustration buy NOT purchasing this product. - DeLonghi ST100P Steam It Canister Vacuum This steamer came with different attachments to clean a variety of things. The yellow button that holds the atta...

First of all, this listing is wrong. This product is not a vacuum cleaner, but a steam cleaner.

After watching countless infomercials about the wonders of steam cleaners, then doing lots of research online to see if the claims were at all true, I decided to try for myself and see what all the noise is about. My research told me I needed a vapor cleaner, not a steam cleaner, but since the difference in price was anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand, I settled on this product.

Some of the reasons why I chose this particular product were:

a) It is large enough to be used for up to 45 minutes at a time. I figured if I was going to be cleaning the shower or the floor, I did not want to have to wait 15 minutes for the steamer to cool so that I could refill it, only to wait another 15 minutes for it to heat up again. This unit holds 1.5 liters (most hand-held units like on TV are less than a liter, some even less than a half liter…), so even though I will still have to wait for it to cool down and heat up again in order to refill it, that will be required much less frequently. (Besides, I don’t think I’ll really want to spend more than 45 minutes at a time cleaning with a steamer anyway);

b) I found it listed in a high-end catalog with a product guarantee, so I thought, ‘If they would stand by it, it must be worth something…’;

c) I found a floor model on Ebay for a great price, and that clinched it.

This model is a yellow canister-shaped steamer that sits on 3 caster wheels. The tank has a child-proof safety cap to prevent accidents. The on/off switch lights up to tell you that the unit is on, then goes off when it has reached the correct temperature and pressure. It has a hose which, though not detachable, has a tension protector to help prevent damage to the joint between the unit and the hose. On the end of the hose is a handle with an on/off switch that controls the steam. It comes with two extension tubes, a floor brush with a cloth, a triangular detail brush, a squeegee, and a detail nozzle with a small, removable, circular brush.

[I did not receive the floor brush or cloth, so when (and if) I do, I will update this review. That issue is still pending with the Ebay seller.]

In order to fill the unit, you need two items not supplied: a funnel and some way to measure 1.5 liters. The tank opening is too small to properly fill without a funnel, and there is no water level indicator. (You could try filling it by holding the unit under the faucet and listening to hear when it sounds full, but I can’t imagine anyone who would recommend this.)

The instructions are very sparse and contain little more than the basics of how to fill and turn on the unit, the standard safety warnings, and a basic description of what the various accessories can do. Nowhere does it tell you the most effective way of getting the accessories to actually perform these tasks. Essentially, everything you touch with this unit must be followed by a good wiping with a clean towel in order to pick up the dirt/grease/soap scum it has loosened. Invest in some cleaning towels from Wal-mart or Home Depot–just some plain, cheap cotton towels.

So, after carefully filling it and turning it on, then waiting the prescribed time (12 minutes), I began by tackling the shower.

First I tried the squeegee attachment on the glass door. In addition to being slightly awkward (since it is attached to a hose), it really didn’t do anything to remove the soap scum.

Next, I tried the triangular detail brush. When I used the bristles, I was able to scrub the soap scum off while the steam melted it. However, the soap scum immediately did one of two things:

a) stuck to the bristles of the brush, requiring the brush to be cleaned periodically with the detail nozzle; or

b) re-solidified in place on the door.

I found that if I scrubbed a small area, then turned off the steam, then wiped and polished vigorously with a clean cotton towel, the final result was, indeed, quite nice. I didn’t have to use any chemicals. But I did have to apply a fair amount of elbow grease. And the pressure I applied to the brush in order to scrub the melted soap scum off caused the bristles to bend and distort.

Next, I tried the small, circular detail brush on the grout, which had some mildew stains. I immediately found that this detail nozzle is very loud! (Steam cleaners were invented by the same people who make Cappuccino machines, so think how loud the steam nozzle is on those, and you get the idea.) Since the other attachments had several holes for the steam, they were relatively quiet. But with only one hole in this detail nozzle, it was like having a fire hose. The pressure was great for blowing dirt out of crevices (like the jets of my whirlpool tub), but even with the brush, it did nothing to remove the mildew stains from the grout. The pinkish “I’m-threatening-to-become-mildew” came off, but the grayish black blotches did not even get lighter.

After that, I decided to tackle a few spots on my carpet. Since I didn’t have the floor brush, I used the triangular detail brush and a small cotton towel.

Absolutely nothing happened. I mean, the carpet got damp, but aside from that, the spots are still there, just the same as they were before. After hunting online for some guidelines on using steam cleaners to clean carpet, I understand that I need to use a spot remover first, then the steamer, then a vacuum. Sounds to me like just as much work, if not more, as what I already had to do before I got the steam cleaner. Why bother?

Lastly, I decided to tackle the gas rangetop. Using the same method in the shower, I used the detail brush to scrub the dirt and grease off, then used a clean rag to wipe it off and polish the surface. It did a pretty good job, but not any better than just a warm, soapy washcloth would have done. It did not remove the caked-on grease that surrounds the burners themselves.

As I already mentioned, I was unable to try it on my wood floors, but after trying it on most of the other tasks I really wanted it for, I am totally unimpressed by this product. I imagine that as steam cleaners go, it is probably a pretty good one. I was able to do all of what I described above on one tank, which was convenient–I did not have to keep refilling it. I did, however, turn the steam off whenever I wasn’t using it (while I was wiping), so it lasted a good long while. It was not particularly difficult to use in terms of its design. I was happy with the safety features, and I never once got burned by the steam, nor did any of the parts become overheated while I was using them. I was disappointed that the brushes so easily became distorted; however, I was applying a good deal of pressure at first, which I subsequently tried to avoid doing. Perhaps this is why I was unable to remove some of the tougher grime on the stovetop, because I was afraid of mangling the brush.

I am not sure whether I would say that this purchase was worth it. I will continue trying, to see if it gets easier with practice. Maybe somewhere I can find some pointers on how to use it more effectively. But in terms of everyday cleaning which I had hoped to use it for, I don’t think it makes the tasks any easier, and it was unable to perform some of the tasks I thought it would (like cleaning the stained grout and the carpet). I guess to get more cleaning power and less moisture, I would have to shell out the big bucks for a vapor cleaner. I doubt I will do that anytime soon.

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Tags: chemicals, machine, machines, steamer