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.

Dirty secret place - would have to be the shower. Sorry, Mum, just can't be bothered!

A non-tester here!
Hmmm, I guess my biggest dirty secret would be the bits under the units in the kitchen..there is no plinth to stop dust, cat hair and bits of food finding their way under there. I can just about get a brush under there to sweep but it never gets properly cleaned! It's a definite biohazard.

I'm a non tester and I'm ashamed to say that my house has got a few dirty secrets. The kitchen cupboards and bathroom tiles are desperate for a good clean but my biggest problem is my oven. There is so much grease that normal cleaning fluids don't seem to touch it. I can hardly bear to look at it when I open it up, and I can't see through the glass in the door when cooking. I find it really difficult to clean off grease and it ruins the look of my kitchen.

Non tester here. I suffer from psoriatic arthritis which means that my hands hurt non stop. Nothing really touches it. It's a relief to type (thank god as I'm writing a novel) but if I have to put any pressure on my hands or my finger joints then the pain is excrutiating.

Because of that I find it difficult to grip anything. Anything that could make it easier would be a massive, massive help. I'm having to call my kids home from university to do ordinary household tasks (am a single mum) and I hate it!

Does anyone know whether a steam mop would help?

Under my sons bed, I just moved it to clean and was shocked by the "lost toys" I found and the dust build up!

I have 2 dirty secrets.. shame
The tiles in my upstairs bathroom.. I have almost given up on them! Also, the 'wet-room' flooring in our teeny bottom loo, it NEEDS steam cleaned!

Non tester here.

Dirty secrets in our house - quite a few as I don't devote as much time as I should to cleaning. Areas include blinds in front room (horizontal ones) such a faff to clean, oven, underneath beds, on top of kitchen cupboards and velux windows in sunroom as so high up. Also had dormer conversion last year so upstairs windows need doing outside debating whether to clean them myself or get a window cleaner to do it!

Non Tester here.
I would have to say my dirty secret is my oven, i hardly ever clean it and it is a disgrace! 3 kids and a dog are partly to blame. My kitchen tiles and cooker hood could also do with a freshen up!
I'd love to own one of these and be able to tackle these areas!

Not a tester! I'd love a really good deep clean of the kitchen. I think kitchens need to be the most hygienic place in the home. Ours gets a bit messy as toddler DS is a keen cook, and an even keener mess-maker. Please help me! :)

Non tester here (though I was very keen to try!).

Like so many others my oven is my dirtiest not very well kept secret. I am scared of the chemicals in most of the cleaning products and those with less of the chemicals just don't seem to be up to the job. I think I'm going to pay one of the specialist companies to do it for me.

Other than that, the tops of the kitchen cupboards could probably do with a very good clean (I've stopped looking so don't really know how bad they are) and if I was able to pull the washing machine, fridge and freezer up there is a massive amount of dust that could be cleared.

Non-tester

I have just noticed the grime behind the bathroom door and admit that I can't remember when I cleaned that last - that would be perfect for a zap with the Karcher steam cleaner. Think my oven would lovevthe steam-cleaner too as it's not been clean & shiny for years!

I am also not a tester. I had my kitchen done a few years ago. Then one day my lovely new kitchen cupboards fell off the wall scaring my mother who was just about to go and make yummy lasagne . ( I digress) Anyway, the carnage that ensued, broken bottles of vinegar, oil etc were spread over the kitchen floor. It all splatted up onto the plinths and I have never managed to get them clean. if you choose me, Karcher, that is the first place I would try to use the steam cleaner.

I'm not a tester but would love to see what a Kärcher Steam Cleaner would make of that disgusting area on the 'husband's side of the bed'.
It's foul, I don't go round there. In between his floordrobe and the jumble of wires and gadgets near the plug socket the cat has been sick at least once and Kleenex appear to be breeding. Personally I'd like to torch the lot, but given that I have to share the bedroom that's probably not wise, but steam cleaning...there's an idea!

oops just discovered a truly grim one - behind the unit that houses our tv, wii. dvd player etc my son appears to have spilt orange juice more than once without mentioning it. nice sticky mess to clear up.

non tester, despite the fact that i brush and mop the floor i always forget to do behind the door so there is a gathering of dust and treasures the dog has hid soon as tge door is opened

I'm a non-tester. Grimmest area in our house has to be behind the sink plinth in the kids' bathroom, sticky with grime, dust & cat fur - bleurgh!

I was looking at my baking trays the other day and wondering why, despite cleaning them well after each use they still change colour and look dirty. I would love to see if they can look as good as new again.

While I had the cleaner in the kitchen I would give the extractor and under the units a good clean.

Non tester

My shower door is especially grubby as is the grouting. I mostly ignore it but when a friend phoned last week to ask if she could have an emergency shower as her boiler had stopped working I noticed just how skanky it was

Non tester.

Where to start - the whole house needs a blitz. But toilet training is ongoing so the smallest room probably (probably? Who am I kidding?) needs the biggest clean!

NON TESTER HERE!

Where would I use a steam mop ... hmmmn... MN has had me dreaming over the idea of a steam mop for some time so I know this one!

• hallway and under stairs. For some reason it is always filthy, with mud from shoes, scooters and manages to combine this with great big bits of fluff that gather there. It annoys me on a daily basis and I would love to clean it every day, just so it doesn't keep irritating me. A steam mop would be the incentive to do this

• oven ... I haven't cleaned my oven since we moved in. It bothers me quite a lot that it has the grease and grime of the previous person there.

• bathrooms. This might sound quite sad but as DH does all the difficult cleaning (bathrooms, kitchens etc.) I would quite like to tackle these myself and have them all shiny so he doesn't have to spend his weekend cleaning.

I just typed a long reply and lost it. Flipping phone.

I was going to say the playroom as it has a former incarnation as a puppy room and never seems to be properly clean. Having said that though we have been in this house for a year, and I've not cleaned the oven yet so maybe that should be my dirty secret!

My sister has a steam cleaner and raves about it, I'd love to know what the fuss is about!

No tester

Where to begin... I'm allergic to housework in the sense that I hate it. If there's something else to do I will do it. I recently cleaned the oven after at least two years. It was vile. Dirt gathers under the entrance mat in the hall. The garden is accessed from the living room so summer is a nightmare. The much that comes in means dh is always sweeping. Help us definitely needed.

Non tester. My dirty secrets aren't really that secret - with three cats, a dog and miscellaneous teenagers in and out of the house it's just a losing battle. Fur felts the furniture, with this wet muddy winter and spring the floor seems permanently covered in mud. Sadly my slatternly ways are obvious to all!