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.

Non-tester here.

My dirty little secret? My filthy bathroom. Particularly the grouting and ceiling. I regularly take an old toothbrush and neat bleach to the groutung but it is a pain because it's teeny bathroom with the only loo in the house so cleaning the floor tiles is tricky because Piccadilly Curcus is less busy. I have been known to regrout the floor before guests come The ceiling also tends to get a bit yukky due to a combination of rubbish ventilation and the wrong paint I think. Oh and my bathroom window is a sash with 12 panes and if I don't blitz it regularly it has a tendency to grow black mould. Again the wrong paint I think. I'd like to get it clean and dry enough to repaint but I seem to be fighting a losing battle. And the shower screen. I forgot the shower screen! It's got a limescale problem and I'd love it to gleam.

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

It hasn't yet, as it has been the school holidays and everything is a bit out of kilter but I hope that as I get back in the swing of things I will use the steam cleaner weekly to clean the paintwork in our hall which is always covered in jammy fingerprints and other assorted grubbiness. I will also use it to clean the kitchen, bathroom and toilet floors which don't get mopped as often as I would like.

~ 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
It is great on everyday dirt, a squirt of steam and a quick rub with a cloth and most marks lift right off.

2) limescale in the bathroom
We live in a hard water area and so have a lot of limescale, I found it was great on the taps, which only had a thin layer, but not so much on the shower door or bath.

3) tough grease from the oven hood.
I had really great results cleaning my very greasy oven hood, filthy oven (outside mainly and inside the door) and my hob it looks great. However this has left the little brush attachment with a build up of grease that I can't seem to remove.

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

It was fab on all my appliances in the utility room, they gleamed! Also as mentioned before on woodwork etc.

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

I would, if they had a specific purpose in mind. One of my friends is interested in borrowing it to see how well it cleans her bathroom without chemicals, and I think she will like it, but the price is quite steep.

I haven't been selected but my house has several areas which really could do with a deep clean. With 5 children all at home I struggle to keep up with the grubby bits that they create and am always chasing my tail. I manage to do the areas that are seen with not too much problem, but the bathroom and toilet floors are not as clean as they should be to say the least, but the worst bits are round the edges of the kitchen floor, and especially round the bottom of the dishwasher which get really grimy. I sweep the floor several times a day after meals and although I always sweep up the bits, I'm sure that they get pushed to the edges and make this awful caked on mess just where the skirting meets the floor. It drives me crazy and even scraping at it with a knife is difficult. The baby still crawls around the floor and my DD who is only 2 drops nearly everything she eats so a deep steam clean would be amazing and just what my kitchen floor needs!

I wasn't selected but my bathroom is in dire need of a deep clean! The grout is soooo bad, especially where the tiles meet the bath. I have to keep the shower curtain open permanently over it is just so revolting!

Not selected but really need a steam cleaner!!
My dirty secret is that the beigey grey tiles in our kitchen and dining area are should be white/grey. I have used my mums v old Karcher once and it was like being in a commercial with a clear before/after

My excuses are mucky toddler/Labrador/DH - but really am just a slattern.

To be honest whole house would benefit - bathroom, windows, highchair, oven, dog bed, car seat, BBQ, outside furniture, front door, back door - I could go on and on
(fx to get picked)

My sofa is my hideous secret, the children have spilt milk, juice and wiped lots of sticky fingers over it and it's terrible. it has to be covered with a throw hen people visit. it would be nice to have it clean again.

Not a tester.
I would like the steam to cleaner to clean my oven top/around the oven as I hate doing this and so rarely get around to it. Am also busy with 4mo baby. If I could quickly steam clean it this would prevent my MIL from feeling the need to do it next time she comes around (and would also spare me the lecture on what cleaning products I should be using & how I shouldn't let the dirt build up so much!)

Non tester here.

My dirty little secret is my utility room. Also known as the futility room. It's where the dogs bowls are, and he is a constantly shedding, drooling, mud magnet of a Labrador. He manages to drink some water then swing his head round and spray it all over the floor. The walls have black hair and mud marks everywhere from drying him off after walks. Spills from the recycling box. Dribbles of washing powder and fabric conditioner. Yuck from the spare shoes stored there. Mud dragged in from kids running in and out of the back garden. The Lino is several shades darker than it started life and mopping doesn't appear to make ANY difference. All this gunk also gets trailed through into the kitchen next door, despite my efforts to stem the tide like a domestic Canute.

Would also like to try it on my rather shameful oven and my bathroom floors.

Non-tester..

My dirty little secret is that I need to clean all my floors as I have a baby who has just discovered crawling = nightmare combination. I need something to disinfect and clean up my floors and get into the nooks and cranies my little boy is about to discover round my house

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

Yes - I will definitely use this instead of a mop every time. I have also found as it's so easy to change attachemnts that I've cleaned a lot more things e.g. skirting boards, kitchen cupboards, doors ....

~ 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

Great - floors and surfaces are clean quickly and easily

2. limescale in the bathroom

we don't really have this problem. It workes well on tiles and grout and for getting into bits of the shower door that acn;'t be reached otherwise

3. tough grease from the oven hood.

Vegetarian so don't have the ingrained grease, but I have used on bits of the oven and oven pans. I found which it loosened the grease, dirt it didn;t get rid of it completely. I used a scourer in one hand and the steam cleaner in the other which worked well.

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

wooden doors,

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

My next door neighbour has borrowed it and as a reluctant cleaner she's impressed, I have also mentioned and raved about it to family members. Not sure though, that I could suggest that they paid that money for it unless they were really keen to

On another poine again NOT ENOUGH CLOTHS and also my brush thing after only 2 weeks is really battered and doesn't stay on properly

1. I do use it instead of moping so in that sense it's changed my routine. Even though its quite good in the bathroom and on tiles I probably wouldn't bother to lug it out of the cupboard everytime I wanted to do this. Bit lazy that way and would rather give a once over with a anti bad wipe every couple of days.

2.yes I've tried it on every day dirt and it works well. lime scale - didn't notice moving the lime scale at well. Maybe because we are in a particularly hard water area.

• ovenhood and baked on grease. Does this particularly well and no need for harsh scrubbing or nasty chemicals

Skirting boards and other hard to reach places

If it came up in conversation would you recommend the Karcher steam cleaner: I would recommend it if people had particular areas of large wooden/laminate floors. or for people who wanted to avoid chemical cleaning methods.
Defintely need to supply more cloths though.

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

Yes, my floors are a LOT cleaner now! They were quite manky before, and I look forward to cleaning them rather than dreading it.

~ 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.

1. fine on everyday dirt, gets the job done and blasting muck is quite satisfying.
2. bathroom limescale; it made a decent job of the shower screeen, but we have really bad limescale build up at the bottom of the screen where it meets the seal. I removed the seal and blasted the limescale with the steamer and this and vinegar got the job done. Vinegar alone wasn't enough though, so it has helped, but it didn't so it on its own.
3. the grease on the cooker hood is donkeys years old here, and though it made a big difference after first attemopt, it's taken several goes to get it starting to look very clean again.

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

Yes, used it on the cupboard doors in the kitchen and on spot stains on carpets and they have come up really nicely.

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

Possibly not, though I would probably suggest a cheaper steam mop, as floor cleaning seems to be the best thing about it and it is quite expensive for what is essentially a fancy mop! I would offer to lend them it to see how they liked it before committing to buying one themself.

My dirty little secret is that I have a very elderly, and smelly, ferret living in my kitchen.

I also have a sofa you could swab for a DNA profile. Would a Karcher work on that? I was going to get a new sofa. A karcher would be cheaper...

Does that grubby confession count for the comp?

My dirty little secret is that instead of mopping the whole floor I sometimes just take antibacterial wipes to the worst bits sometimes!

Non tester here.

I have wanted a karcher steam cleaner forEVER so I'd literally pee my pants if I won one (and then steam the floor so it wouldn't matter). I have a 24month old, an 8 month old, builders in and a very messy partner so my whole house could do with a blummin good steaming. But the bits that most shame me are the inside frames of all my upvc windows. I hide them behind blinds but they are utterly disgusting with a build up of years of grime. I reckon steaming them would be about the most satisfying task in the world!

Non tester

My dirty secret isn't much of a secret - the kitchen floor! It gets so dirty I'm ashamed of it! Dd2 has just starter blw, nuff see!

Definitely the floor under the freezer - it gets cleaned once a year when the freezer is so frosted up that chipping away the ice doesn't work any more and the whole thing has to be dragged outside for the 'full treatment.' I wince at the look on hub's and children's faces as they try to identify the furry Cheerios and pasta twirls that have lain there since forever. Sigh - a Kärcher cleaner would make it so much easier to keep on top of things....

Non tester - Since having my daughter I breastfeed/express and one handed feed myself on my sofa. In front of the sofa is the coffee table and between the two is my "dirty secret". I wiped it down the other day and there were cake crumbs, breast milk, baby sick, marmalade and coffee. I was so embarrassed! I REALLY need a steam cleaner to clean my living room so that when new mums with babies come round and they play on the floor, the babies don't find all my cake crumbs or slurp up the split breast milk!

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

No, not really. I still clean with cleaning products, mop etc but now tend to use the steam cleaner to clean the extra bits eg grouting, hard to reach nooks and crannies. It's a bit of a faff tbh.

~ 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.

Good on everyday dirt, but what really happens is that dirty steam is sprayed everywhere.

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

On the carpets on stubborn spots.

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

Yes as an extra if they had spare money, but I wouldn't have wanted to spend over £200 on it.

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 bare to look at? Where would you most want to use the steam cleaner?

Thanks
MNHQ

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

Well I'm mopping my kitchen floor more often as I don't have an annoying bucket of dirty water to deal with. I'll probably clean the outside of my windows more often too.

~ 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.

Everyday dirt, this would mostly be the kitchen floor. The steamer is more convenient then a mop and bucket, especially with 2 young children about. I wouldn't say the floor looks any cleaner though.
I did also use it in my bathroom and the grouting in all the tile work came up much much cleaner than I could ever get it with cif/bleach and a scrubing brush. Things like around the taps are still better off with a cloth however.

No limescale, but the oven hood grease didn't stand a chance. Well except I can only do it a bit at a time because I have to keep taking the cloth off and washing it.

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

On my windows. I did them inside and out and it was so quick and easy. A quick blast from the steam jet got rid of the dried on bird poo, then the upholstery head with cloth on took care of the rest. A microfibre cloth took care of the streaks left by the squeegy.

I also steam cleaned my sons's very grubby down jacket which came up looking just as clean as it did out of the washing machine. But with the bonus of not ruining the feathers.

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

If asked in a conversation about steam cleaners I would recommend the Karcher steam cleaner, but I would also have to point out I have never used any other brands so cannot offer a comparison.

Non tester here, the feedback is fantastic.

Our 'Dirty Secret' are the inside and outside of the windows and doors and sills from the cats and the stains on the carpet which seem to dispel regular cleaning efforts.

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

Yes, it's made it quicker and easier! I now don't use any chemicals, just steam everything to within an inch of it's life! I love how it's so portable aswell, the little wheels on the bottom mean its so easy to pull it around the kitchen and over the laminate floors.

~ 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.

Yes I've tried it on all 3 and was really impressed. The everyday dirt was gone instantly, just needed a wipe over after with a microfibre cloth, the limescale in the bathroom needed a couple of goes to get it completely off, but no scrubbing required or anything. The grease on the oven hood again took a couple of goes but did eventually come up sparkling!

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

Carpets and rugs. I havent tried on any stains as such, but to freshen up the carpets and rugs, it's fab! They look brand new!

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

Yes, definitely. In fact I have a couple of friends who want to borrow it from me and have a go before they go out and buy one. They'll have to wrestle me for it though :wink:

My kitchen could really do with a whizz over with one of these: it's small and cramped and very difficult to clean as a result. The grout on my tile splashback is filthy despite bleach and lots of elbow grease, and I suspect steam would help shift the muck much better than scrubbing alone.

And don't get me started on the oven...!