Tell me about steam cleaners please

[throckenholt]

I have seen them mentioned on MN, but don't know anyone who has one.

I have some vague idea that I can use them to clean a tile floor, but also tile grout, the oven, shower surrounds etc. Is that true ? How do they work on plastic (thinking of the seal bit around the shower tray/door) ? Is the steam too hot for some things ? How do they work in hard water areas - do they need distilled water ? Do they anything to get rid of hardness on taps for example.

Step away from the oven!!!

I blitzed mine on tuesday with my karcher steam cleaner, looked amazing.
Turned it on last night to warm up and blew the ring main.

In a hard water area I would use filtered water, they are good for helping to dislodge limescale on taps etc, you still need to scrub a little after steaming.

They do a grand job on shower surrounds, fine to use on the seal, but don't over do it. Nothing much will improve grotty tile grout, the steamer may lift it a bit, with a little nylon brush attachment, but tbh, once the grout looks iffy you are best off removing and replacing.

thanks for that. The grout is fine in itself, but in some places it is a bit discoloured (hardness or mould - not sure).

So presumably cleaning a glass oven door would be ok, but stay away from the fan or any of the electrics ?

bump - any recommendations or advice on which to avoid ?

Don't waste your money. I haven't found a steam cleaner to give better results than how I was cleaning before.

Can you get mould spray for the tile grout?

I'm not in the UK but I have mould spray that I just spray all over the bathroom and on the rubber bits, leave it for 20 minutes and rinse it off and all the black grot just comes off. It's really easy.

I love my steam cleaner for doing the toilet. So much wee comes out of the cracks. DS doesn't have good aim I'm afraid.

I have never seen mould spray like that - the stuff I have tried is next to useless.

Interesting about the toilet - I never thought of that use. IME most boys have poo aim and it takes a looooong time for it to improve.