Mumsnet Talk

I am soo soo confused! I want to buy a steam cleaner. I have two babies and a muddy dog. My priority is the tiled kitchen and dining room floors and i need it to do this well as tiles are fairly rough (and grout!). After this comes the ability to clean carpet/rug as we can get muddy paw marks etc.

Do I need an upright or cylinder one? Make/model? Vax? Karcher? H20 mop? Does anyone know what "which" say as I really dont want to pay the money to find out just for this................... I don't know what to do...................................... and I no real budget - I just want something that works well and does a good job!

I took delivery of one today & oh my, it's going to transform my life I have lots of hard floors, 3 boys & 3 dogs.

Mine is an upright Vax & I got it from Groupon last week. I have steamed one of my floors 3 times today

<Weeps at thought of millions of hours wasted wringing mops out in buckets>

vax do seem to get decent reviews but not sure which one. I guess my concern comes from the fact that mops have limited effect on our floor and I end up on my hands and knees with floor wipes. Worried that a steam mop would be equally useless!

Have you got a link, Sparklegeek?

I SOOO want one, and am gutted to not be trialling the KArcher.
So I am going to hold fire on my cleaning for a bit (wont be hard, after all), and se what MN-ers say about that one when they start putting it through its paces.

I misread this as 'Ahhhhhhhh, steam cleaners' and was expecting a naice tale of clean foors.

Once you've chosen one can you sed a link?

Could do with one myself but am too lazy to actually look for one.

I'm too tight to actually pay for one. Until assured it will be fucking marvellous, change my world, etc, for a few bob.

sparklegeek - which model is it?

and I was disappointed not to be picked for the karcher test! heh ho, I never was lucky!

I borrowed my friends Shark upright steam cleaner. Sadly not the miracle I wanted. Maybe my floor tiles are very bad, but I need something powerful to do the grouting too. Like a patio cleaner
So, watching with interest ...

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004ISZDQG/?tag=hydra0b-21&hvadid=9550949109&ref=asc_df_B004ISZDQG

this one above holds enough water for a length of a task, you wouldn't want a smaller tank, it would be annoying,

I cannot fault the karcher, I use ours daily brilliant, get deal with all the attachments, all are great,

over the years I have used others, but the Karcher are far superior, we use them on building sites, totally reliable, very well made,

only two things to watch out for, never screw the top back on tight when storing, and always leave a little bit water in it, in case anyone does the top up tight, as it can create a vacuum, so you will be unable to open it, if there is a little water in it, you can plug it in and turn it on, for a few seconds, and the lid will release.

I want something to clean the tiles in the bathroom, and the shower screen, with minimum effort. Does a steam cleaner clean those well?

This is the one I got, I paid less on Groupon but unfortunately it's finished on there.

www.amazon.co.uk/Vax-Bare-Floor-Steam-Detergent/dp/B0072E7MEY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363820787&sr=8-1

Not sure how it would do on grout TBH, can't say mine looks any different after 3 practices today (!) but my tiles are nice & clean & it was just sooooooo quick & easy

Can someone explain to me where the dirt actually goes? I thought they were like carpet cleaners that spray clean water and then suck the dirty water back up but apparently they just spray steam. Where does the dirt go? Where???

I got this one a couple of weeks ago. tiny vax I love it. We have a heavy duty one for mega carpet cleaning or wall paper stripping, but have been using this for floors - tiles and marmoleum, shower, windows, and a small cat sick stain on the hall carpet.

It's brilliant. Small, light, packs up tidily. Really happy so far. I'm not sure if it could do pale floor grout, but honestly, even our big one struggled with that (on account of many pets and children).

If you're doing floors it goes on the mop. Windows, you wipe it off, carpet, you hoover it up after - think of it as loosening rather than removing.

So on windows and carpets you have to clean them up after steaming... hmm, enthusiasm cooling...

I bought a Black & Decker steam mop from Argos recently. It's the one with the detachable hand held cleaner so it can be used for kitchen tiles, floors - everything. It's been the best investment ever, very pleased with it so far. One unexpected bonus is that my teenage sons actually like using it - apparently it's because it has a trigger...

Can any of them clean ovens? I hate using oven cleaner so my oven doesn't get cleaned until it gets awful. Now I've watched Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners I want a naice clean oven that looks like it's never been used.

.

Well, yes you do need to do a bit more, but they are gleaming. Our shower was a bit of a revelation. White tiles now actually white, not sort of creamy... and with the windows, it's just wiping up the steam as it condenses, still easier (on our windows at least) than just rubbing away. Also, no chemicals.

stuntnun the link that jennybeadle put on up the page says that one does ovens

They all say they clean ovens but do they actually work? My house is more towards the hoarder style than the obsessive compulsive cleaner style.

I have a thane x5 steam cleaner and I luffs it. DH cleans the oven with it, works brilliantly.

I have a shark and I'm a bit meh about it. It's good on the floor but I can't imagine using it anywhere else. It's not really steady steam, more on and off.

at everyone's steam cleaners. Really want one, but dh is a tight arse!