Steam cleaners - are they worth it? Have they made life easier/cleaner?

[crosshatching]

Morning all,
I've been pondering getting a steam cleaner for a while now. But I want to get a good one and that means a decent amount of outlay. Have they made cleaning your home more effective? What do you use them for? There's loads of grimy grouting in my house that needs scrubbing and bleach periodically - would a steam cleaner help?

All feedback gratefully received. Thanks in advance!

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I have had 2 and both have broken so I am giving up on them now!

I have had 3 quite expensive ones and all broke after about four to five months. One burned out and stank. Then I picked up a cheap one with triangle had and it has been brilliant. It cost about £40. They make life easier and I hate using a mop just rubbing dirty water over floor. A steam mop get off dirt without chemicals. It leaves the floor dryer after using it, not wet like a mop. Just plug in and go as have very long leads. I use mine on wooden floors in lounge, dining room, hall, on tiles in kitchen and on vinal in downstairs cloakroom. I can do all of it in less than 20 mins.

I have an old Shark lift away model, steam cleaner, it’s brilliant, it must be at least 7 years old now, works beautifully on my tiled floors, and dries really quickly too.

I liked mine until I short circuited my oven by too much steam cleaning.

We have one, it cleans brilliantly…when we use it. It mostly sits in its box tbh. By the time I’ve filled it up, plugged it in and heated it I could have sprayed and cleaned. My oven specifically says not to use a steam cleaner on it and there really isn’t much else so grubby that a spray and wipe won’t clean tbh.

As for grout, I spray flash with bleach on my shower tiles twice a week and leave it. I rinse it off hours later and never have to scrub at all.

I bought a steam mop recently and really like it, can do my entire downstairs really quickly and like pp it doesn't leave the floor wet, and gets spills and stains up really easily!

Can you link the good cheapie one you’ve got @caringcarer?

Mine mostly gathers dust. I got it for floors and the grout lines. It was ineffective on the grout lines, and shortly after starting using it I read a number of horror stories on here about them causing Amtico floors to lift (which makes up 80% of our downstair's flooring). I still very occasionally do the floors on the coolest setting when they need a deeper clean, but that's once in a blue moon. I now use one of those spray mops mostly, which takes even less time to set up ready for use and dries just as quickly.
I have tried using the steam mop on carpets and upholstery too, but found it didn't do anything except make it a bit damp.

This is really helpful, thanks all, a really mixed bag of experience!

No, I have two which are hardly used, first one was an Morphy Richards 9 in 1 Amazon deal at about £30 and second one was free VAX one with a Vax carpet washer, The first one hasn't made much difference to the floor but wasn't too bad for upholstery, the Vax I haven't used yet, I have put both in the garage though as they were in the way.

I have a fairly decent karcher one, it was going to change my life. Turns out, expensive toys don't change the fact that I'm just not that into cleaning and tend to leave it far too long and no amount of expensive gadgets will change that.

I used it a few months ago for the first time in over 5 years...
It does a good job of steam mopping the textured lino in the kitchen, but it still requires quite a lof of physical effort. So a scrubbing brush and detergent would likely work as well/better. Not supposed to use it on the laminate floor.
Yes you can blast dirt with it, but it still needs physically removing with a cloth. Didn't work on grout. Steam cleaning furniture appears to do nothing but sanitise the dirt.

I would not, on balance, recommend it.

I’ve had one for a few years but find it hurts my back to do floors with it (I don’t ordinarily have back issues) so it gathers dust in the utility now.

It was handy for defrosting the freezer before I got a frost free though

I've got the big yellow one (karcher??) and used to love it but its a hassle to get out and assemble and the floor cleaning attachment broke. It's still great if you need a jet of steam tho, no other way to get into the hinges of toilet seat 🤢

I got a triangular floor mop free with something and I use that for cleaning floors but really you have to remember you're basically using one hot cloth to clean the entire floor without rinsing so whilst it dries fast and the heat kills germs and breaks down dirt faster you're still just wiping a dirty cloth round. I take mine off and rinse it periodically.

In all honesty I rarely wash hard floors, the only thing that touches them is out slippers/socks so don't care much!

It would deal with your mouldy grout, but so will bleach or better still a specific mould spray.

I have a Karcher steam cleaner - it's expensive but worth it. Has been going 10 plus years.

It has an attachment which blasts grout and nooks and crannies and it's worth it for that. It shifts dirt.

They're ok but not life changing!
I've had two, they are good if you have pets and I steamed the floor and it seemed cleaner. But they don't last very long. Breaking after a few months use.
I just use an emop now and have a few spare heads. Spray the floor, mop and then chuck it in the washing machine. Floor dries quickly and the mop head is easy to clean. It's just a flat cloth that velcros onto the handle.

Hi there I've just binned my steam cleaner 😎 good old scourer and elbow grease 💪 does it 😱🥺😓doesn't it???😳yes??my wee granny would be kicking up the daisy's if she could read this 😅👍

I broke my oven by steam cleaning the inside of it, i think water got into the electrics so not a fan.

I have had this problem with Lakeland steam mop. I ached the whole day afterwards.
I would also like a steam cleaner that is ready assembled and perhaps not so many gadgets. we need high temperature steam, a glider for carpets cloths perhaps but I never used most of the extras. Anyone know of a ready assembled steam cleaner, compact and simple.

For day to day cleaning a cloth and spray bottle are quicker.

For really dirty jobs it spreads grease from one place to another.

Unbeatable for defrosting the freezer though.

Thanks. Anyone had a new boiler fitted. 4 beds 2 baths. What was average price and how did you make your final decision. phew, had to deal with some strange people!!