steam cleaners...

[mrsred]

i have been searching steam cleaners on here, but thought i would ask before buying one for some advice. I want one that will clean our tiled floors in kitchen and bathroom, and run over the carpet although appreciate it wont deep clean carpet. I would also like it to be versatile enough to steam clean oven, hob, shower, sink etc, and maybe steam curtains and sofa.
I have had a look at the x5 from thane direct which seems to come with lots of attachments, and possibly i would only need to purchase a few more cloths. I have also looked at a polti vaporetti one, but it seems that with this one, you would need to buy lots more bits to clean each different area.
Is it worth the signifiantly extra money, or will the x5 do the job just as well?
Thank you!

Hi there I recently got a Polti Vaporetto Evolution kit which came with all the attachments (in Feb when we moved house) and I have now done all those things with it. (I don't have carpets but have cleaned a couple of rugs) - it is a bit fiddly to start with til you get used to it but I absolutely love it - I am literally looking for things to steam now.

So far I have used:

Mop attachment to clean laminate flooring (great).
Thorough clean/disinfected kitchen in new house just moved into, including all the baked on grease/grime around the cooker hood and around the cupboards (fab - bit of elbow grease required).
Cleaned loads of tiles - old builtup limescale etc (effortless).
Defrosted a freezer with it (about 50X quicker).
Cleaned 2 fridges - blasts out all the built up old food etc (old one coming out of and new one going into that had been in garage for awhile)
Cleaned and decontaminated bathroom in new house including a manky toilet - now spotlesss.
Cleaned all the venetian blinds and radiators - were filthy, now spotless.
Cleaned some old furniture from my grandmother's house -smelt a bit mustly/old ladyish - now fine.

Mine also came with an iron attachment to turn it into a steam generator iron - use every other day - was almost weeping at how much easier ironing and now, for the first time in living memory, I HAVE NO IRONING PILE!

Only thing I haven't tried yet is the window cleaning attachment.

If you get one let me know - I have lots of hints and tips - eg I thought you had to wait for 15 mins or so for it to cool down to refill when you've run out of water but in fact you don't.

I have laso watched too many you tube videos of "things to do with a steam cleaner" - sad, I know - but I do love it. Makes cleaning faster, easier and more fun. ALso gets rid of smells. Love it.

DISCLAIMER: I am a bit of a clean freak so you may not love it this much!

PS The only other thing I bought for it was a couple of packs of extra cloths and sockettes for when they're in the wash.

How much are they ? They sound fab- but i couldn't use on my floor as its karndean (ie not sealed vinyl) but would like to try the window-cleaning bit!

Thank you befuzzled can i ask where you bought from, i have searched for evolution kit, and they seem to come with large and small brush, 120 lance, hose etc, have you managed to do all that with these accessories? I have seen triangular cleaning brush and also small brushes with nylon or brass bristles, would i need these too? Love the idea of you tube for ideas on what to use them for and a quicker freezer de frost sounds great, mine is in desperate need, but whilst weaning baby its currently full of things i really dont want to defrost!

I either got it from

www.go-electrical.co.uk/polti-vaporetto-evolution-steam-cleaner-in-green.html

or

www.freenetelectrical.co.uk/polti/steam-cleaning/vaporetto-evolution/product-1498/

I can't remember which I went for in the end, sorry, and cant find the confirmation email.

but I think I actually ended up with this one which is same as above with the steam generator iron I think - I didnt actually realise I had ordered this but it is fab - if you don't already have one I would recommend getting the steam cleaner/ steam generator iron in one with this. I actually don't dread ironing now.

www.freenetelectrical.co.uk/polti/steam-cleaning/vaporetto-evolution-kit/product-3120/

I think I paid 160 odd so think I may have got this on a special offer at the time. But I think it was go electrical. One seems to be cheaper for the accessories at the moment.

One I stopped laughing / being freaked out at the Stepford wives at these hilarious 80s videos, they are quite useful to see how you can use them. I tend to blast everything with the 120 degree tool on it's own without a brush as this is the most powerful I think. You definitely can do everything wit the supplied accesories (iron optional) - I can see no need for the triangular brush really,wallpaper if you want to strip wall paper only I guess. I may get the pressure steam lance to complete my cleaning powers for radiators etc but I don't think it is really necessary - I blasted out 8 years of dog hair frominside the radiator tubes in the kitchen with the goot old 120 degree tool.

It only comes with one little brush for the 120 degree tool so I did buy a pack of 3 extra as I don't really want to use the one I put in the loo for the kitchen and they were cheap www.go-electrical.co.uk/polti-accessories-colour-brush-paeu0071.html and I did buy some extra sockettes and cloths as it only comes with one of each for when they are in the wash www.go-electrical.co.uk/polti-cloth-and-sockette-pack-for-italian-models-paeu0208.html. And because I am sad and have no lifelove it and want to keep it nice (have heard a few rumblings about them conking out after awhile) I bought some extra sachets of the anti limescale stuff for the tank (comes with a couple)

The only claim on these which I don't think is really as good as they make out is on the taps to remove limescale - I still had to use a bit of limescale remover. It was quite heavily encrusted though so probably fine for maintenance.

I don't work for Polti I promise you! (haven't got the right helmet head and shoulder pads)

Oh and I chose this model pretty much at random - not sure one of the cheaper models wouldn't do as well as long as you got a similar set of accessories (MUST have a 120 degree tool and large brush I'd say) - apparently they must be at least 4 bar though to do the business.

phew - HTH someone

Wow! Thank you for all the info, will keep you posted on purchase, poor dh has had a fit after checking our bank balance today after our holiday, so wont be this month!