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.

Lucky testers!

I tend to think things aren't too bad on the cleaning front, but our kitchen floor grout needs balsted - mopping just doesn't seem to do it!

can I steam clean a duvet? O I want to - would save 30 quid a go, not to mention the pillows.

helloooo

been too busy cleaning things to post!

Loving the thing so far, floor has never been cleaner!

Buuuuut, my main criticisms are, the lack of retractable power lead, could have done with more than one cloth for each head and the instructions were a bit vague. Oh, and I used it on out adhesive floor tiled dining are and the edges are now lifting up. My fault though, I just didn't think!

The cooker hood has taken a few goes, but is finally looking clean! In fact, my DD said "I never knew you could see through that bit" of the glass bit that folds out.

And just a thought, but I would like some scented oil or something to add to the reservoir to make things smell nice when cleaning...but maybe that's jusdt me!

More later. off to read the other comments.

Non tester here.

As well as the usual oven/grotty kitchen floor issues I also live with an elderly cat who for the last year has had a recurring sinus infection which has basically resulted in my entire house being coated in copious amounts of snot. And while I clean it off, we do occasionally far too often find patches of dried cat snot on the walls, floors and soft furnishings.

It doesn't come off. And it make me feel sick having to scrub at it. And the vet can't make him stop sneezing.

Non tester

My whole kitchen and dining room open plan area floor could really benefit from this. When we moved into the flat, the cleaners who did the end of tenancy clean for the last people did such a crap job and so we just did it ourselves but I have never felt like we've ever got the place looking as sparkling clean as it could do!

When we moved into our current house I had to scrape grease off the tops of the kitchen cupboards with a wallpaper scraper. We are moving soon... I cannot face doing that again!!!

My dirty secret is the kitchen and living room floors which I sweep all the time regularly but don't clean nearly as often as I should... Our lovely but hairy dog gets hair and slobber everywhere and I just can't keep on top of it!! I've also developed hand eczema in the few months we've had her, due to the frequency with which I now wash my hands, so I hate using cleaning products because they makes it worse. A steam cleaner would make SUCH a difference!!

Non tester here:
After 11 months of grappling a new baby and a super clumsy, pea-brained, mesy dog, my whole house is my dirty secret, never mind one nook or cranny. I'd love a Karcher because a) it might just save me having to get a whole new bathroom if I can restore the grout and the bit between the bath and shower that I can't get to with any of our existing cleaning implements and b) it won't matter any more that my dog thinks the kitchen floor is there for her to clean her paws on after digging up my lawn.

Tester here, been away for a couple of days so only really got to grips with the bathroom so far.

~ Did you find setting up the Steam Cleaner easy, were the instructions helpful?

The instructions were rubbish , and then I lost them, but I managed to set it up anyway - it's pretty foolproof.

~ Where have you used the Steam Cleaner?

Amtico floor (grubby bits between the tiles), loo (limescale deposits underneath the rim which attract smells - it's a badly designed pan, and it's a sod to clean conventionally), random dirt-attracting glue deposits on the edge of the shower screen, limescale around the plug hole, slightly mouldy grout, and very skanky shower hose.

~ What were your impressions from the first few uses?

Fun, noisy, reasonably effective but not actually made of magical cleaning pixies . Most disappointing realisation was that I'm going to have to wear headphones to listen to my usual podcasts while I clean, because otherwise it's too noisy, and I'm probably not going to be able to watch DVDs while I clean the kitchen at all.

Some limescale jobs I saw noticeable improvements ata first attempt, but I'm going to have to go back again after applying some vinegar to achieve proper sparkling perfection.

The filth inbetween the Amtico tiles came away nicely, but I have doubts about using intensive steaming there too often - I think it might loosen the tiles.

I tried it on a couple of black mould spots on the mastic, but wasn't surprised to see no improvement., but it worked reasonably well on normal grout.

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

My shower hose was covered in red yucky stuff which I assumed was rust, and I was going to have to replace it. However a quick once over with the Karcher made it all fall off in clumps leaving shiny chrome underneath - it was apparently just limescale with the dreaded red bacteria on top .

Did you find setting up the Steam Cleaner easy, were the instructions helpful?

Yes, it was very easy. I only referred to the instructions for filling/switching on the first time. Other than that I just got on with it.

Where have you used the Steam Cleaner?

Bathroom - taps, shower cubicle, bath surround, sink, toilet seat
Kitchen - floor, cupboard doors, ceramic hob
Living room & stairs/landing - carpet
Other - rugby boots!

What were your impressions from the first few uses?

It can be messy. There seemed to be a lot of muck sprayed around in places like the bathroom and kitchen. Anywhere that wasn't absorbent really. I guess it's to be expected really when the pressured steam blasts grime away but it was surprise.

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

I think the carpet and the nooks and crannies on taps and the kitchen cupboard doors. My living room carpet is due for renewal now my children are old enough to be trusted not to drop so much stuff on it and there are many long standing marks. The steam cleaner shifted these (and a tea stain on my parents carpet that has withstood many removal attempts!)

Another non-tester

I would love a steam cleaner though I wouldn't know where to start! Oven? Dogs bed? Skirting boards?

I could go on at length (but won't)

My name is Honeydragon and I throw out rugs rather than try to clean them

Nothing does a good enough job to keep on top regularly even the vax only gets them so clean.

So I bin ,em.

OMG - non tester guilty grot spot alert. It has to be the shower room shared by my 2 sons for the past 8 years. It's not great in there! Even the ceiling is mouldy...

In the rest of the house I tend to clean as I go to keep housework manageable but as they are either using it or asleep in their room when I'm home I don't go in there much

I'd love a steam cleaner!

Our dirty secret is my husbands office, he has a huge desk which I can't navigate to get the windows clean.

my home's dirty secret - skirting boards behind the furniture. Never get done. when they get so bad, it's time to repaint the room.

non tester here

kitchen floor is horrendous and so is the oven - would love to give them a BIG clean, I just seem to overlook that room!

My house is generally filthy, but I'd say that by far the dirtiest place is the granny flat which is a place that I hardly dare venture for fear of what I might find!

Non tester here

Oh god where to start on the hidden filth in my house (and some not so hidden!)

Behind the loo - Ds is a sprayer and there are lots of pipes. It looks clean but there's always a lingering smell because of all the crevices.

The oven - Only gets cleaned about once a year. Did it a few months ago but needs doing again. Last time I scrubbed so hard I felt like I had been to the gym!

Bathroom - I try my best but the blooming mildew/mould keeps coming back on the grout, ceiling, bath sealant. I'm sick of breaking my back balancing on the edge of the tub scrubbing it off. I hate it being there because I feel like we are breathing in spores every time we get a bath/shower. We have the extractor fan on every night and the window open a crack, just don't understand why it won't stay away.

The car - It's been off the road so has now sprouted mould which refuses to stay away.

The worst though is the downstairs carpets. I vacuum constantly and borrow carpet cleaners but it's 10 years old and gone through 4 babies/toddlers and looks and smells awful no matter what I do, I've even spent a whole day on my hands and knees scrubbing it by hand with bleach water and floor cloths. Can't afford to replace it and the floor is concrete and freezing cold so need it

Non tester.

We had a lovely new fabric sofa 2 years ago. DH and DS have sat on it every day in their horrible filthy jeans and it is no longer pinkish but a nasty grey. And it stinks :( I want my settee back.

another non-tester - not so much a dirty secret as a floor of shame that we can't hide:

we have the world's stupidest kitchen floor. it's made of super-glossy white tiles that are incredibly easy to damage (i've cracked one already just by knocking a spoon off the worktop). and it attracts general crap like nobody's business. and nothing, and i mean nothing, gets it properly clean without leaving a scudgy residue. except possibly mopping it daily, and clearly i'm not going to do that because i can't be arsed.

Mine is the utility room floor, it has a rubber floor which has got some weird mucky patches which won't come out.

another non-tester. Had my fingers crossed that I'd get in for the trial, but no luck, however I have been following everyone's feedback so far.

I'm now 38 weeks pregnant with DC2 and I've spent most of my time either being sick or chasing/entertaining DD who is 2. Housework has been the one thing that has slipped standards, a well meaning MIL isn't helping matters as she seems to like to re-organise my cupboards rather than clean the areas I need help.

The area I really want a steam cleaner to help me on is the flooring, we have carpet in the lounge, which is fine to hoover, but the rest of our floors are a mix of lino, tiles and slates. Mops are a hateful thing and I have yet to find one that is effective [usually end up on my knees scrubbing it clean] one was binned because slugs set up home in the pole, another because a mouse had nested in the rag head and had mouse babies in it. The latest one, which was only used once had an infestation of earwigs. It makes me boak that my floors are being cleaned by something that isn't clean. So I've just ignored it for now and wipe up spills as I go, at the moment with a foot as I just cannot bend :)

DH was thinking about buying me a nice piece of jewellery for my birthday this year... I never, ever thought I'd say this, but I want a steam mop for my birthday! wah

I am not a tester but I have one and the power washer!!
I love it as I can clean without using any chemicals and it just feels really clean. My lot have dust allergies and eczema, and I would reccomend it for reducing these. I LOVE it.
I use it for :
Built up grime the room goes from just clean to sparkle new
Corners
tiles and grease removal in the kitchen
Windows ( do need a squeezy for it)
Wooden flooring
Sliding door surrounds.
Bathroom got rid of the lime scale on an old toliet.
Curtains.
furniture (it is ok at this gets the grim off but not really deep stains)
Inside the car.
spider attack.

You don't need the special cloths they give with it just, buy some cheap flannels and away you go. I do need a lot of these as I clean the whole (wooden floored)house with the machine.
BECAREFUL with wooden varnished/waxed floors if you spot clean with no cloth it will take the varnish off. For me this was great as I was moving into a new house and the floors needed redoing. It is fine on wooden floors if you use a cloth over the end and not the fine noozle.

I would also like to know if it is ok to put aromatic oils in it.

The power washer is amazing too:)

Non tester here. Would love to use the steam cleaner on my cooker hood and the bathroom walls, which are totally tiled. Have not been able to properly clean the top bits since we moved in 3 years ago, eek!

Non-tester here

I used a steam cleaner for the first time at the weekend at my parents' house. My Mum has been harping on about the wonders of steam for months but it wasn't until I tried it on her floor that I was converted!

Now I need one in my life! I need to get my house ready for sale. With a young baby, an excitable dog and a dodgy back my floors need the love and attention only a steam cleaner could give! I think though that my 'dirty little secret' would have to be the oven. It it now at the stage where I am afraid to use the grill in case my house catches alight!

It's really difficult to choose one little secret place that's in need of a really good clean - it would be easier to choose one little place that's not!

But probably the best place to start would be the place I avoid as much as I possibly can, other than swooping in to change towels and the loo mat - the downstairs loo. I have two young boys and dh and they all use it. No matter how much I clean it with ordinary cleaner, I can never get rid of that Public Toilet smell - you can smell the cleaner but you can also still smell the undertones of pee. And I don't know what else to try - the family bathroom is also used by the two boys but doesn't smell, and dh it must be said is obviously already very well house trained and probably better at cleaning than me too so no problems in our bathroom, just downstairs. And it's horrible because that's where I have to direct guests if they've come to visit because the rest of the house is too messy to let them wander freely, especially upstairs and I have a smelly cloakroom.

So it would be fantastic to have a steam cleaner - it's about the only thing I haven't tried and it looks and sounds like it might actually solve the problem from what I've read about it online...

And then I'm sure it would also make a fine job of the rest of the dirty secret house - from the kitchen floors (which conveniently hide most dirt from being immediately visible to me at least, dh usually spots it and wipes it up before I get to it, so help on that front would make him very happy too) to the oven which never gets more than a regular annually quick wipe and the sofas we got from ebay that are very nice but have a distinct whiff of mildew or having been stored in the damp about them, and that's before I've got started on the rest of the kitchen and the bathrooms that are all a bit grubby... ponders on the sad state of the house and it's grunge