NOW CLOSED Kärcher steam cleaner feedback thread: Non testers – win a steam cleaner (RRP: £219.99) for yourself by letting Kärcher know your home’s ‘dirty secrets’

[AlexMumsnet]

This is the thread for the lucky 30 testers who were sent a steam cleaner by Kärcher and our currently using it to do the spring clean.

Kärcher say their Steam Cleaners "revolutionise home cleaning, tackling any and all frequent and difficult cleaning tasks with professional results and abolishing the need for hours of endless scrubbing! Our steam cleaner is a natural and environmentally-friendly solution that provides a family-focussed alternative from chemical cleaners that aggravate allergies and are harmful to children, killing 99.99% of all common household bacteria without the need for detergents"*

Testers are trying the SC 2.500 C

Testers: we'll be asking you to add feedback twice - we'd like your first impressions now and in a week we will add some more questions.

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

~ Did you find setting up the Steam Cleaner easy, were the instructions helpful?
~ Where have you used the Steam Cleaner?
~ What were your impressions from the first few uses?
~ What cleaning chore have you been most pleased with the results from using a Steam Cleaner?

If you're not an official tester but you'd like another chance to get a steam cleaner (RRP: £219.99) for yourself then please share on this thread where in your house could really benefit from a bit of a deep-steam-clean. What's your home's 'dirty secret' ? the place where you've let the grime build up and now can't bear to look at? Where would you most want to use the steam cleaner?

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

*When thoroughly cleaning with the Kärcher Steam Cleaner 99.99% of all common household bacteria will be killed on common household hard floor surfaces.

My 'dirty little secret'? My son's room. He's a falconer, sometimes he has 'birds' home. Of the feathered variety. Need I say more?

Non tester.

Dirty little secret? The seals around the shower tray. I've tried and tried to shift the grime, and it doesn't lift .

Non tester here & one that would like to live up to my username

My biggest dirty secret has to be my oven. Oh my, I can't face it Luckily I don't have to put up with it for too much longer as we're moving in 3 weeks - but I do feel I should make a bit of an effort with it for our buyers.

Am not too sure whether the fact that I have four ovens in my new kitchen is a good or bad thing....

Non tester here..,

My home has a few dirty secrets! One is the wooden floor in the dining room, swept occasionally but never mopped I would love to see what a steam clean would do to it!

Another is the grouting and sealant in the bathroom, it's got black mould which won't come out despite lots of scrubbing with v harsh chemicals. Maybe a steam cleaner could shift it?

Non tester here my dirty secret is our shower cubicle. My dream would be to have another bathroom for guests which would never get used by the general family, which I could just keep spotless at all times. I am secretly pleased when I have friends staying who are short sighted and remove contact lenses/glasses before stepping into our shower!!

Non-tester who'd love to win one: my kitchen is crying out for a deep clean and this'd be a massive help.

the bathroom floor is lino and always seems to be grimey, especially the corners which a normal mop doesnt clean very well, so could really do with a good steam clean

What dirty secret does my home have? The whole thing!!! It's tidy enough but the shower stalls could definitely use a great big blast of steam, as could the hob, and the patio wondows!

Non Tester here, my dirty secret is our kitchen. I have a 16 month old and a mental dog, they do not make for a clean floor. It was lovely until they both came along now my lovely beige tiles and white grout are brown. In fact I could just cry looking at it.

~ After a few uses, has your Steam Cleaner changed your cleaning regime at all? If so, how?

I find that I can get more cleaning done in the short time that I?ve got. Whereas before I might have just mopped the floor, I often give the cupboard fronts, hob etc and quick going over as well. It dries quickly too. I can give the bathroom a quick once-over much faster that I could previously as I?m not faffing with different equipment, which is really handy as I have to fit cleaning in while ds naps.

~ Have you tried the Steam Cleaner out on any of the following? If so, please tell us what the results were like: 1) everyday dirt 2) limescale in the bathroom 3) tough grease from the oven hood.

It?s good on everyday dirt. The kitchen floor is visibly cleaner than when I do it with a mop and bucket.

I?ve been less impressed on bathroom limescale. We live in a very hard water area and I still need to use some kind of descaler to get rid of it.

We don?t have an oven hood.

~ Is there anywhere else that you've used the Steam Cleaner where you've been impressed with the results?

I found that, by improvising with an Ecloth over the larger attachment, the windows can be done really fast. We have a very sunny room which is particularly unforgiving and I had previously tried them with the microfibre cloth that was included and it was very smeary. I?m also more likely to do them as I don?t have to lug the steps out as I can easily reach with the longer handle.

I cleaned a dirty old plastic trike that had been left outside in all weathers and some children?s garden furniture and it loosened all the dirt very easily so I just had to wipe it down.

~ If it came up in conversation, would you recommend the Kärcher steam cleaner to a friend or family member or not?

I think it?s expensive especially as you have to buy extra cloths if you really want to get maximum use out of it. I?m not sure how well it compares with other steam cleaners. If someone cleaned a lot and they had a lot of money, I would as it is versatile, but with caveats.

non tester here. I have lots of dirty secrets but the primary one is my ensuite shower. Yuk :( I do have a water softener which helps enormously but even so the grout gets so mucky or even yucky. I cant reach the top of the shower cubicle easily so that grout has mould on I. I don't like using the strong cleaning products like viakal. They are good, but I would rather use elbow grease and steam.

non tester- still hankering after one
The grouting on the bathroom floor tiles - it's as grey as the tiles !

Non tester here and my dirty secret is the cupboard from hell in the kitchen.
It's one of those corner cupboards that you once carefully placed all your rarely used cake tins and random things which you never need and can't get to cos it's dark in there and you have to get down on hands and knees and bend your whole arm and body in, past cobwebs and scuttly things.

Last week I was brave enough to open it and found a bag of growing potatoes some of the roots were several feet long and they must have been there for a long time.... my useful housekeeping tip of the week is that a small cup of apple juice placed in cupboards nicely catches little black fruit fly things.

NOT A TESTER: All my dreams would come true to be able to steam clean behind the toilet and bathroom sink, My gorgeous little boy grew into a minging teenager :)

Non tester who has already mentioned her house's dirty secrets, but would also like to say that if we were to be allowed a shot of a Karcher steam cleaner we would also use it on the underside of the wall cupboards in the kitchen. The reason the underside of the cupboard is so yucky is - am embarrassed to admit this, but you did want dirty secrets - because of the deep fat fryer we use to fry our chips. DH 'took agin' oven chips years ago and we fry ours, this means that the kitchen needs properly cleaned quite regularly. And I want a steam cleaner to do it with!

I have tried with a different steam implement (ok, it was a wallpaper steamer). I would really like to try a proper steam cleaner!

My manky oven is a disgrace, could do with a good steam clean x

Forgot to say, am a non tester

Not a tester

would love to be able to clean out my wall oven using a cleaner and the my cooker hood which is really sticky and grimey.

thanks

Non tester. I was thinking my wet room is impossible to clean but now realise my oven is worse. Haven't actually cleaned it in 8 years. Embarrassing

Non-tester here too.

My biggest dirty secret is the space between the cooker and the units - I'm too feeble to move the whole cooker and don't know about the wiring, gas pipes etc. There is SO much food stuck in that gap and I've tried hoovering, inserting a ruler with on hot cloth wound round it, a feather duster but it's greasy and it's disgusting.

Also living in period property dust just seems to breed and my husband has a phobia of the vacuum cleaner.

My dirty little secret has to be the bathroom tiles.. I got a lovely new bathroom 3 years ago and have just been a total neglectful slattern since then. I would love to blast it with a steam cleaner as not sure how I could Len it otherwise it has got so bad

Non tester here too. Dirty secret isn't very secret, it's my kitchen floor and thus plain for everyone to see. It's covered in vinyl that's older than I am, I hate mopping, I'm bad at mopping, and it looks awful. I hoover it and halfheartedly wipe at any stains with a mop, but I know it's not properly clean.

"Dirty little secret" places - there are many I try and ignore but the muckiest one has to be under the table in the lean to, it's where the recycling boxes are kept and there's quite a few sticky patches -yeuk!!!!!