Steam Cleaners

[126coupe]

Any suggestions on a good quality non Chinese steam cleaner?

[id10t]

Not sure if chinese or not but the Bissel ones have given us good value - never breaking, but we're on #3 in 20 years. First got to be unusable after we lent it out and it got filled with sludge and not cleaned - too much fine silt mud everywhere now that it is dried and nastified. Second one we still have but can't find the resivoir container for, #3 is 2 years old and still working like new.

[legion]

I've found that "steam cleaner" can refer to two very different things.

1) A machine that heats water past its boiling point and sprays steam.

I've used one of these for peeling wallpaper, getting spots out of clothing, and de-wrinkling clothing. They can cause damage to certain materials. They are also only generally suitable for small projects. (It would take you years to clean a carpet with a consumer grade one, and a professional-grade one is cost-prohibitive.)

2) A machine that uses whatever temperature water you dump into it with some detergent and spray and then sucks the water out of carpeting.

I've rented some of the big Bissel's, and own a Bissel SpotBot.

Before SpotBot: "Crap, the cat threw up. Guess I'll go collect the carpet cleaner, then dab and spray for the next 45 minutes, and again tomorrow after more of the stain comes up."

After SpotBot: "Crap, the cat threw up. Guess I'll go grab the SpotBot, set it on the stain, and set it for 'set-in stain'. It will beep in 20 minutes when it is done, and I will put it away."