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.

[HazeltheMcWitch]

Oh, no bother Grockle. Thanks for that link. I've seen that one advertised on late night tv. Have been sooo tempted. It says you can steam clothes. Testers - can you steam clothes with the Karcher?

Also, that one that Grockle linked to (H2O Mop) also sells fragranced oils to add to the water... Anyone else tried that? I'd probably freestyle it with essential oils, if I had a steamer. 'Cept I don't yet

[CheeryChickChickChickChicken]

Non tester
Shower room tiles, from floor to ceiling, supposed to be white .... They're my nightmare cleaning area. I prefer to clean the loo than all that grotty grouting! The shower screens are not far behind... Plus the kitchen/utility tiled floor could do with a good blast too!

[LaVitaBellissima]

Non tester

My dirty secret is underneath the washing machine and behind our American fridge freezer, both are just too heavy and I can imagine they are just filthy underneath and begging them

[wannaBe]

a warning about the h2o mop - it has a tendency to work for a weekk or so and then cease - I bought one from qvc a while back, it died after about three uses, and when I checked the reviews a few months later this seems too be a common occurrence.

[FannyPriceless]

Non-tester here...
Our dirty secret is the sofas in our sitting room. Our poor guests have no idea what they are sitting on. We've had them since we met, and when we had the DC they were due for replacing but we said "Oh let's wait until the kids are through the messy stage, then get new ones." We are now having trouble figuring out when this 'messy stage' is supposed to end so the sofas remain. They have been subject to all sorts of unmentionable stains and spills which we have ineffectively dabbed at, then turned the cushions over / placed cushions over the worst bits. Seriously shameful!

[Stinkyminkymoo]

My poor husband discovered upon marrying me that I was a horsewife, not a housewife.

As a result, our floors are in desperate need of a jolly good clean with the wonderful mix of dog, horse and my postpartum hair. The whole house is a 'dirty secret' even though my poor husband (who's desperate for a steam cleaner!) hoovers everyday after work even though he misses the cobwebs.

[lemontwist]

I'm a non tester...
My dirty secret is my kitchen floor. It has big stone flags that are quite uneven. It looks lovely when its clean but that takes a lot of effort to get into all the nooks and crannies. A quick sweep and a mop just don't cut it which is no good with a 2 year old, a one year old and two very fluffy cats.

[HazeltheMcWitch]

Oh no. wannaBe - thanks for that.
Hmm, will keep reading the Karcher feedback in that case!

[forbetterorworsted]

Not so much my dirty secret but my parents'! My mum does all the housework but it's harder now that she's getting older and my dad and brothers are no help! So I'm planning to go down one weekend with my husband and we'll clean all the grotty places she doesn't have time for - the blackened carpets, sofa upholstery, bits behind the toilets and the damp in the bedroom. The damp in particular would benefit from a steam clean now that they've sorted the leak!

[Elkieb]

I'm a non tester but my secret shame is the oven. I hate cleaning it but maybe the steam would take the grind and the grime out of it?!

[HormonalHousewife]

Another non tester here...

My dirty secret is this

when we moved into this house a year ago DH promised we could have a new kitchen. A year on and for lots of reasons mainly cost we are still in the planning stages.

The kitchen is clean, it had to be because the previous owners had 2 huge bull mastiffs which lived in the kitchen and utility and I needed all trace of them to be gone.

However what I havent yet tackled are the walls and i know they will be minging Its a very large rectangular kitchen and at both opposite ends are exposed rough brick walls, 70's style. A feature wall some might say

One brick wall has the cooker on it too - so lots of lovely grease marks for the fur to attach too

I hate them and ultimately they will be plastered and smoothed over and I will have a sleek modern minimal style room of beauty.

But for now the brown brick walls are staying. It would be lovely to know they are clean and non sticky

[ShatnersBassoon]

My dirty secret is my stainless steel cooker hood. The matte steel hides an impenetrable layer of greasy dust

[BoysWillGrow]

not a dirty secret as such but still pretty mank is my upstairs toilet, the floor tiles behind the toilet and behind the door are disgusting. Hairs, pee, dust, random bits of lego and god knows what else is down there. It only gets cleaned when we have guests over, if we know in advance

[thestylethatdecadesforgot]

Non-tester here!

My dirty not-so-secret is the windows, we rent and they are single glazed upvc. So instead of keeping the heat in,they just look like they do and are covered in mould. I have scrubbed them all but over winter they get really bad again and need doing but it's so time consuming. I bet the steam cleaner would do a great quick job!
Also the grout behind the bathroom taps has discoloured and the limescale on the shower screen is so hard to get off.

The worst things are the marks on the walls and the sofa, I dread to think what bacteria are lurking in the sofa!

[OneHundredSecondsofSolitude]

Right. I've finally had a chance to bust it out

I've not read the thread because I am easily influenced

Here are my initial impressions

~ Did you find setting up the Steam Cleaner easy, were the instructions helpful?
Yes, putting it together was easy. When I first turned it on the steam all came out through the maintenance plug thing because it wasn't tightened up brook me a while to realise it wasn't meant to. I wish the key to the parts was on the outer side of the flip out bit in the instruction book so you don't have to keep flicking back and forth
~ Where have you used the Steam Cleaner?

The kitchen sink
The glass from the oven door

~ What were your impressions from the first few uses?

I'm not sure if I'm missing the point or misunderstanding how it works (I'll go back and read through the thread and probably see that I am). The decades old limescale on the stainless steel sink was unaffected. I appreciate the instructions say to soak in vinegar first. A few stains have also been unaffected. It's not all shiny. Are you meant to squirt steam / wipe / steam / wipe? I'm not sure. Just steaming seems to have little effect. It did produce some frankly alarming stuff from the overflow hole. Not sure I wanted it out. It may have been better off staying in there

The oven glass was admittedly really very bad. I started with just the gun thing, used in conjunction with a cloth it was pretty effective on the edges. The really thick stuff not so much. I switched to the small brush which quickly became totally gunged up. Not sure how I'm meant to clean the brush

The kids are terrified of it

Dp initially was enthusiastic, it's a new gadget after all, but quickly declared a cloth and a bit of washing up liquid equally effective. At the moment I'm incline to agree although I think I may need to experiment to get the best out of it, either that or it's a bit sledgehammer to break a nut

~ What cleaning chore have you been most pleased with the results from using a Steam Cleaner?

Give me a time, I need to try it out a bit more

[peronel]

Non-tester...
So many secrets, where to begin. The worst has to be the garage - everything just gets dumped there and the floor's manky! Steam cleaner to the rescue?

[WildThong]

Tester here, further to my previous feedback, today I steamed my orchid which is quite old and it looks shiny and healthy again.

Eh...that isn't a euphemism by the way

hazel yes you can steam clothes and curtains but there is an extra attachment for that which you need to buy.

[pussinwellyboots]

Non tester here. The secretly filthy parts of my home that I would love to attack with a steam cleaner are the oven and hob and also all the fiddly parts of the bathroom such as behind the sink and loo and also the tiles and grout. I would LOVE to win one of these.

[bluebump]

Non tester...

My bathroom is probably the room that requires a bit of a going over with a steam cleaner, the loo, sink and bath/shower areas are always kept clean but the tiles are not as shiny as they should be and there is a limit to how high I can reach to clean them!

The absolute worst bit of my house is actually my sofa and even a steam cleaner can't sort that out. Needless to say I don't put my hand down the side to retrieve remotes and toys unless I have gloves on! Bleugh.

[OneHundredSecondsofSolitude]

Non tester here .... But dare I mention that oh-so-hard-to-reach space behind the loo that accumulates fluff and spiders etc.

And the area around where we keep the shoes ...

Sighs happily at the concept of something to clean these hard to reach places!

See this ^ is perhaps where my slight....disappointment is a bit strong, but no, if you to that you'll be left with damp cobwebby dust. It doesn't vaporise dirt, it just loosens it so yiu can them wipe it away, with hindsight I think my expectations were far too high. I wanted vaporisation!

[OneHundredSecondsofSolitude]

With floors, this I'd probably something I should know by now, but I have the same with a mop: so I swish swish, then the cloth is filthy. Do I carry on with the same cloth for the rest if the floor? With my microfibre mop I've bought lots of cloths so I can switch mid clean. Do I need to go the same here or can I keep on and to the whole floor with the same cloth?

[PessimisticMissPiggy]

Non-tester...

My dirty secret is my manky grease covered exposed brickwork in my kitchen. I've tired to muster up the energy to use elbow greasy and sugar soap.

I have a steam mop but it's only suitable as a mop and I can't afford to replace with a more versatile product. I wish I'd done my research better.