Steam cleaner recommendations?

[Oliver Closehauf]

Looking for steam cleaner recommendations. I want/need one that actually creates steam. Anyone have any suggestions?

I'm looking for something like a carpet cleaner hat injects steam but has a wet vac attached so you can suck up any residue. All I see on line are steam makers, not steam cleaners, at least not my definition of a steam cleaner.

 

[Oliver Closehauf]

I did find one that says it's ".... for the serious steam cleaner enthusiast." and it's priced that way. 1700 bucks. You could say I'm an enthusiast about a lot of things, upholstery cleaning isn't one of them. I don't want to spend more that 200 bucks.

 

[any4xx]

I ended up with two different devices after following a couple of car detailing guys on YouTube. McCulloch MC-1375 steam cleaner, which makes real steam but does not suck anything up, and a Bissell 3624 spot cleaner, which is just a really small carpet & upholstery cleaner. About $150.00 each. I’m not sure what one would have to spend on a unit that does both.

 

[Oliver Closehauf]

Thanks any4xx, what kind of pressure does that put out? Is it all steam? I looked it up and it says 58 psi water stream and 200 degrees, so trying to understand if it's steam or just really hot water.

 

[any4xx]

I’m really not sure of the pressure, but it’s definitely steam. It has a solid tank and the first time I used it I was surprised at just how long it took to cool off enough to be able to open it back up. The instructions said to wait at least 30 minutes. I tried it at 30 minutes and almost burned my fingers off. I tried again at 60 minutes and again at 90 minutes. At 90 I finally just cracked the cap slightly and stood back as it sang for the next minute or so. It does have a pressure gauge but I’m currently about 700 miles from it so I can’t tell you what kind of pressure it has.

I used it to clean grease out of some kitchen exhaust fans and it melted that effortlessly.

<edit> I just reread your post. 200° certainly wouldn’t be steam. I wonder if the added pressure at that temperature makes it “steam.”

 

[HemiLonestar]

Do you have the cloth interior? If so, you can actually take it off the seats and put in the washer on gentle cycle. Gentle dry or air dry then put them back on.

 

[Oliver Closehauf]

Its got the leather seats, but the problem is the P.O. used some kind of air freshener in it and it's a smell I can't stand. It doesn't knock you over, but spend any time in it and you'll taste it the next morning. Most people probably wouldn't notice it but I'm very sensitive to perfumes. Hell, they didn't have Safeguard at the store the other day so I got a bar of Dial to tide me over and I smell it and taste it all day. Wife loves it, but I don't.

Hoping a steam cleaner will help knock the scent in the truck down to a more tolerable level and if nothing else the wife can use it as a mop.

Think I'm gonna go with that McCulloch or maybe the model up.

 

[chri5k]

I would use any sort of "wet" steam cleaner on leather seats. Your best bet is to have a competent auto detailer perform a full detail with an ozone treatment. The full detail will get all the air freshener residue from the nooks, crannies, carpets, etc. while the ozone treatment will destroy the odors in places like the HVAC system. The cost is probably less than buying the machines and doing it yourself.

 

[Oliver Closehauf]

So I did get the McColloch, but I got the 1385. It did what I wanted. It knocked down the air freshener smell by about 70% which is now at a tolerable level.

But as far as getting rid of stains, it was not effective. But this was 10-15 year old coffee with cream and sugar (apparently). I don't know what the PO was doing but there was a LOT of coffee in there. No matter how much carpet cleaner, steam, scrubbing or even hot water poured directly on the stain and vacuumed with a wet vac, blotting the carpet with a clean paper towel would still be a little dirty, and as it dried the stain would wick back into view, and a re blot would be dirtier. It did help in the cleaning and I was able to reduce a lot of the staining, but to get it any cleaner I would have needed to remove the carpet and use "harsher methods". It is much better than it was though.

FYI the McColloch is a nice unit and comes with a lot of attachments, a really long hose and it heated up in 5 minutes and cooled down in 10 when empty.


I've considered and Ozone generator. They have a few different models at a sporting site I visit. For getting rid of deer scent etc. I'll live with this for now and decide.

 

[Later2u]

Do you have the cloth interior? If so, you can actually take it off the seats and put in the washer on gentle cycle. Gentle dry or air dry then put them back on.

Ya, that's the ticket. LOL

 

[HemiLonestar]

Ya, that's the ticket. LOL

That's exactly what I did.

 

[carl0]

I have a McCulloch MC1385, and love it. I use it around the house also.