Kärcher SC1 Steam Stick - Review thread - non testers - chance to win one of your own! NOW CLOSED

[KathrynMumsnet]

This thread is for the 30 Mumsnetters who are currently testing out the Kärcher SC1 Steam Stick.

Kärcher say "The SC1 Steam Stick is the UK’s first handheld steamer that can also be used to clean floors. The Steam Stick cleans deeper without chemicals killing 99.99% of all bacteria just using tap water, making it an environmentally and family friendly alternative to chemical cleaners. It’s an innovative new way to help you effortlessly clean the most difficult and frequent household hotspots; whether it’s cleaning everyday dirt from floors, limescale from bathroom tiles, spot cleaning stubborn carpet stains or eradicating tough, dried-on oven grease."

Non-Testers: If you’re not an official tester but you’d like another chance to be in with a chance of getting a Steam Stick (RRP: £99.99) for yourself then please share on this thread where in your house could really benefit from a deep steam clean? Is there a task or area you always avoid? Where would you most like to put it to use?

Testers: We'll be asking you to add feedback twice - we'd like your first impressions now and once you've had a bit of time to test out your Steam Stick, we will add some more questions.

So, for your first impressions, Kärcher would love to know:

• Where have you used the Steam Stick?
  
• What cleaning chore have you been most pleased with the results from using the Steam Stick?
  
• What were your impressions from the first few uses?
  

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

[marymanc]

Non-Tester: I would like to use the steamer in my bathroom and on the bathroom and kitchen tiles. The dirt and grease seem accumulating there a lot. I have laminating flooring and if suitable I would love to try Kather on them.

[glentherednosedbattleostrich]

Tester

Where have I not used it!! I've cleaned my oven, dishwasher, sink, windows, toys (both plastic and wooden) kitchen cupboards, walls floors, showers, sinks and toilets. When I was done with mine I cleaned my friends showers and oven too!

The best results were showers, the soap scum cleans off so easily, the toys and the floors. It took a coupe of goes to get the oven clean but I'm very happy with the result. It usually takes me about 2 hours to clean the toys (I'm a childminder) but the steamer took half an hour and I didn't have to use icky chemicals and rinse. I was also really pleased with the wall beside the dishwasher which often gets dirty and takes lots of cleaning, it took 5 minutes and looks freshly painted. Brilliant!!

First impression, I love this machine! It has saved me loads of time in the run up to christmas, I've breezed through most tasks.

[FluffyRedSocks]

Tester- I used the steamer to clean our kitchen and bathroom floors and the glass folding particle doors. I was impressed with it on the floors, they felt cleaner than when I had mopped. However on the shower doors they seemed to have exactly the same results as I had with a cloth and some spray! This, however, is probably human error so going to do some research into how to get the best results!
First impression- I could grow to love it!

[Lulabellx1]

Non tester: My kitchen floor! We have chickens.... and a dog. He goes out to do his business and then runs chicken poo all through my kitchen floor. I am forever getting the anti-bacterial wipes out... a steam cleaner would much more effective :)

[rupert23]

Non tester would love to try this on my kitchen floor as my dog loves to run through with muddy feet and the kids follow, Would like to steam it really clean.

[Ziggyzoom]

Non-tester. I would like to give my range cooker and hob and tiles around the hob a good clean. They are greasy and yucky, but I find cleaning my oven difficult due to arthritis.

[bluebump]

Non tester:

I'd use it everywhere as they are so versatile. I guess the main areas of the house would be kitchen and bathroom though as they get the most use and need the better clean.

[Powaqa]

Tester
Where have you used the Steam Stick?
Kitchen floor and the toilet

What cleaning chore have you been most pleased with the results from using the Steam Stick?
The toilet - I was really impressed with just how much steam came out - previous steamer was useless as the steam only came out in little bursts. The Karcher was a constant steam and the toilet was sparkling after a quick wipe with a cloth

What were your impressions from the first few uses? I found the steam mop attachment awkward to use until my husband pointed out that the Karcher could clip directly into the mop attachment rather then use the long hose to attach the mop and the Karcher (doh)! Once I removed the hose it was a doddle. I also like the way it steams at full whack until the last drop, not pfft away for the last 5 mins

Tiles and bathroom later

[miljones1]

I'd love to have a go at my wooden floors - they are filthy and mopping doesn't seem to do the job! I would also like to try my coach - much loved by the dog and children for snacking on!

[DoItTooJulia]

Tester:

I have used the steam stick to clean my sink, my hob, my extractor filters, my kitchen cupboards, my back door, my shower and tiles.

I was most pleased with the extractor filters. The grease! With a it of washing up liquid they came up like new! It worked well on everything. I've never had a steamer before, but I am impressed!

From the first few uses, I love the child lock and the length of the cord. I wasn't nervous of using it with the kids around, because the lock and the length of the cord was long enough that I didn't have to unplug it as I moved around the kitchen. The water reservoir isn't huge, but it's big enough for a hand held one and the safety valve is another nice feature. My thumb did ache from holding down the button for so long, but I guess that's because of how much I used it!

My sister is desperate to borrow it and another friend popped in while it was on and they wanted to borrow it too!

So far, I'm really pleased with it!

[sharond101]

I am a non tester with a sticky fingered toddler and a mucky paws labrador. I desperately need help cleaning as am pregnant and have SPD so making light work of cleaning the floors would be really beneficial to me. I find it really painful mopping. My DH can't help as he had back surgery and also finds it painful. SO dirty floor or sore back - I need a Karcher badly!

[avery64]

Non-tester. Reading these reviews has made me realise that this is a gadget that I could really make use of to lighten my housework load. Now retired and increasingly less mobile with only one good knee to get down on and a dodgy back floor cleaning sounds as if it would be a doddle :)

[Flapdoodles]

Non-tester: I really need help with cleaning my shower. The shower doors are semi circular and so a nightmare to clean, the runners along the bottom are impossible to clean and permanently covered in soap scum/gunk. A friend told me a steam cleaner would be the answer to my cleaning problems and reading the above reviews, this steam cleaner seems to be the exact gadget I need!

[mjmooseface]

glentherednosedbattleostrich How have you used yours on your oven? Do you mean inside it?! (Sorry if that is a stupid question, I have NEVER used a steam cleaner before!!)

Non-Tester: I would use the steam cleaner on my kitchen, pantry and bathroom floors - they are laminated - as well as on the hallway floor as that is where the pushchair lives after being for a walk!

I would also use it in the bathroom and on the kitchen sink.

The places in desperate need of a good clean are the oven (hence the above question!) plus the space between the oven and the kitchen tops as well as down the sides of the fridge! If it would work, I'd get it out to clean the outside of the windows too!!

The reviews so far have got me really wanting a steam cleaner - they sound great!

[annarack99]

Non-tester: Would love to try this on my cloakroom floor, which gets really grubby and is awkward to clean as the room is so small.

[DurhamDurham]

Non-tester: I would give my utility room a really deep clean. It is the most neglected room in the house, by the time I have cleaned the kitchen I've had enough and so the utility room just gets a cursory going over. I would love to empty everything out ( throw/recycle at least half of it) and give the floor, the sink, the tiles a really through clean.

Thank you.

[furrymuff]

Non-tester: Oh, now I've read this I really want to try it! I would use it in my shower, which is currently minging - the tiles have come loose so the water gets behind them and I keep having to get rid of mushrooms! It needs a really good steam clean and then re-sealing - I would love to try the Steam Stick to see if it helps to cure the problem!

[Ohwhatfuckeryitistoride]

Tester.
My first impression was very sturdy, I used a polti one and the long attachment was flimsy. Connections are easy and secure. I've mainly used it on my kitchen floors and tiles, excellent results. I was especially impressed with the little brush on the grouting, looks like new. Only criticism, and I know it's due to to portability, is that the tank is soon empty.

[teddygirlonce]

Hi Tester

My first impression is easy to assemble and idiot-proof - not renowned for being very savvy with such products. I've found it quick to use and it's worked wonders (and saved back strain) cleaning the lino floors in the kitchen and bathroom. Haven't found it totally effective yet cleaning the shower and grouting but possibly not using the right end bits. More excuses for housework ahead of me over the Christmas season!

[Catpawprint]

Non tester: would love it for my wide hall floor which gets dartmoor mud and pavement dog poo tramped into it by children.
My semi circular shower screen grooves are a disgrace.
My baby's high hair. The straps are an embarrassment but are fiddly to get off into the washer.
My oven. My mildewy porch.
The sofa that a nit ridden playmate rubs his head on (aaaarrrggghh).

I really have steam stick envy now!!

[Catpawprint]

Wood, not wide. It's a bungalow not a palace!!

[IAmNotDarling]

Non-tester : I would love to use this multipurpose steam cleaner on my own home but to attack my father's manky bathrooms and kitchen.

He's lost mobility due to a knee operation and has neglected his housework. I live 100 miles away and visit when I can to help keep on top of things.

The kitchen has thick grease on the floor to ceiling tiles, applicances and the oven is minging! I would hope that the hand held and the floor attachment will help me to reach the higher parts more easily.

I would also like to steam clean inside of my car and the child car seat which is sticky and a bit gross. I'm running out of adjectives for dirtiness now!

[michelleblane]

Non tester.
I really need to try one of these on our hall which has travertine marble tiles. By the time the dog and kids have wandered in, it is muddy, dirty, with grotty, grimy grout. When I scrub it, it looks beautiful. I think the steam stick would make life easier. The wooden kitchen floor, the grotty limescaled bath, the utility room......the list is endless of where I would use this.

[thewomaninwhite]

Aha, I have been looking for this thread!

Tester here.

• Where have you used the Steam Stick?
  

Bathroom and kitchen so far. I have not attempted the oven yet but will do :)

• What cleaning chore have you been most pleased with the results from using the Steam Stick?
  

I was really pleased with the shower doors actually as you can really see the difference. I wasn't expecting that as nothing I have tried until now has made much difference at all. I was also really pleased with the taps as it really got rid of the grubby bits around the edges. I was appalled with myself in equal measure though!

• What were your impressions from the first few uses?
  

It was really easy to set up although the instructions look scary simply due to the large nature of them. Ironically it's only a few pages in English so not hard to figure out at all. It was just the initial impressed when I took them out of the box.

The steamer heated up really quickly and I could hear it working which I liked (I am strange). I also agree with another poster who mentioned that they liked the fact that the steamer worked at full capacity rather than petering out at the end. It was ferocious but in a good way. I have been really impressed until now and it has certainly met all the good things that I have heard about Karcher products so far.

I am going to try the toilet next and also the oven. I know that I will be ashamed by the dirt in the oven. We will see how that fares compared with the usual cheap cleaners that I used to soak things in overnight.

Thanks for MN and Karcher for letting me try this. I will be lending it to famly too to try and it is fab.

[thewomaninwhite]

Sorry for typos in the post. I have not been drinking. It was been a rather long day :)