How to choose a steam cleaner

Along with aqua, washing vacuum cleaner, steam mop and other household appliances, all the more important today become steam cleaners that facilitate and improve the quality of cleaning the premises of residential or other purposes.However, a wide range of steam cleaners, different appearance, functionality, cost, and other characteristics, causes most of the buyers perplexed: how to choose the steam cleaner from the mass of the proposed options?

Understanding steam cleaners

More recently steam cleaners used only when the floor disinfectionin medical institutions and were fairly bulky apparatus.Over time, the stores were upgraded to a compact size models of a variety of steam cleaners, which immediately attracted the interest of a large number of consumers.

Along with previous models, the actions of modern devices principle consists in treating the surface of the influence of a powerful jet of hot steam without the use of any chemicals.The source of the vapor acts Distilled, filtered, or normal boiled water, which is poured into a special tank steam cleaner.When the network device, the water temperature is gradually increased and reached the boiling point - converted into a gaseous state.When you click on the Start button located on the device or on the starting gun, the jet of steam escapes from the tank to the nozzle under high pressure and acts on a small surface area, the amount of which is determined by the area of ​​the nozzle used.

Surfacing high-temperature steam promotes not only the removal of long-standing and hard output fat stains, dirt, but also redemption of property from harmful microorganisms, preventing the emergence of diseases such as asthma, allergies.Particularly relevant issue of purchasing steam cleaner for home, where young children, pets, and people who are prone to diseases of the upper respiratory tract reside.

Environmentally friendly consumables, compact size and ease of operation of the device is opened unlimited opportunities for the use of steam cleaners in households, offices, medical centers.However, before you buy is necessary to consider both positive and negative aspects associated with the use of steam cleaners, most of which is revealed only in the course of operation of the device.

advantages / disadvantages of steam cleaners

Like any household appliances, steam cleaners are not without certain advantages and disadvantages, of which the buyer finds out only after the purchase and immediate use of the device.

The most significant advantages of steam cleaners are:

• destruction of various types of bacteria, fungi and other micro-organisms;
• removal of long-standing stains from clothing, upholstery, carpets and other surfaces;
• deliverance garments smell of mildew, damp, old age;
• visual update carpet under the influence of steam by raising the nap;
• cleaning contaminated sites in remote locations through a variety of baits;
• duration of operation.

Despite the fact that with a steam cleaner can wash the car interior, bathroom, kitchen and cope with the cleaning of carpets, furniture, clothing, and other interior parts, the main disadvantages of operating a unique instrument are as follows:

• on glass and other transparentsurfaces remain small stains, which are easily removed with a cloth microfiber;
• when processing old stains efforts should be made, as the dirt under the influence of steam will not disappear on their own;
• high cost.

Amid all the advantages, disadvantages of steam cleaners do not represent special significance.However, a list of pros and cons in many respects depends on the type, model and other indicators selected steam cleaner.

Types of steam cleaners

entire range of consumer steam cleaners offered today by various manufacturers, conventionally divided into 2 types:

• hand.In most cases, the manual steam cleaners are available as teapots and are the best option for the job small volume.They are compact, minimal set of additional features, low power (600-1600Vt) and cost.However, the weight of the device without taking into account the water reaches 1 kg or more, which causes difficulties when cleaning the surface of a large area, since one hand is necessary to keep a steam cleaner and a second to wipe the treated surface.In addition, the duration of continuous operation of hand-held devices is not more than 20 minutes due to the small volume of the tank (0.2-0.5 l).After filling the steam cleaner water will have to wait until the water turned into steam, resulting in large areas may take quite a long time;

• carpet steam cleaners are manufactured in the form of vacuum cleaners and are suitable for both domestic and professional use.Unlike handheld, stationary steam cleaners are powerful (1500-2300 W), multifunction devices, the intensive work which is 1 hour or more, since the tank capacity varies between 1.5-3.2 liters.However, the cost of floor steam cleaners equipped with various additional features, does not always match the budget of the middle layer of the population.

Thus, floor steam cleaners lack many of the disadvantages of manual devices, but their cost is still quite high.

Selection Criteria

steam cleaners Steam cleaners, which apparently have a similar design, but differ in cost, have a different design features that affect the performance of the device or fitted with a number of additional features that may or may not need to operate.And if you are a few, at first glance, not much different steam cleaners, which one to choose if and what characteristics you should pay special attention to?

When choosing a steam cleaner, it is desirable to consider the following points:

• manufacturer.The durability of the equipment depends on the quality of the goods used in the production of materials, so consumer electronics manufacturers is known to many, but is decent.However, models of famous brands, which include steam cleaners philips and no less popular karcher steam cleaners, you can always opt for a budget option for satisfying the conditions of future exploitation.Well proven odyssey steam cleaners, the cost of which varies between brands and philips karcher producers;
• power - affects the speed and quality of cleaning.The best option for home use acts steam cleaner with a capacity of not less than 1000 watts;
• tank volume - defines the continuous use of the equipment.heating the liquid in the tank can be of small volume for 15-60 seconds, while heating capacious reservoir it takes 10-20 minutes.For example, the steam cleaner with a tank capacity of about 1 liter is capable of non-stop work of 15-30 minutes;
• iron.The boiler is made of aluminum or steel.This aluminum pot is less susceptible to scale and heats up faster;
• vapor pressure (1.5-4 barg), along with a power tool, influences the quality of processing.For general cleaning of the house is better to buy equipment with a pressure of not less than 3 bar;
• maximum steam temperature should be about 130 ° C.This value is sufficient for the removal of various types of household pollution.This surface treatment steam, whose temperature is below 110 ° C, is unlikely to please the owner of a miracle of technology in the fight against age-old mold and stains;
• hose length (1.5-3 m) - a necessary criterion when buying a floor steam cleaner, since access to the interior, located near the ceiling or on the cabinet, is problematic with a hose length of 1.5 m, and fully lift device5-6 kg, and hold it at an altitude of some time - not everyone's strength;
• nozzle.From the number and type of nozzles depend on the functionality of the steam cleaner.The most commonly used attachments for floor cleaning, textile, window cleaning, point the nozzle, nozzle sprayer, round brush and others.

not be redundant and some extra features, such as:

• supply steam control - provides the ability to handle the clothes dry steam and remove stubborn dirt on hard surfaces - wet;
• safety valve - protects user from burns, preventing the opening of the tank if the pressure in it;
• presence of the removable tank - simplifies the process of filling the tank and release of fluid after the operation;
• protection of children is carried out in the form of blocking Start button, thereby preventing the exit of the jet of steam without first unlocking the protective button;
• control on the handle - is set for floor steam cleaners, as in the operation of eliminating the need to bend every time to switch modes;
• function continuous steam - handy when cleaning carpets, tiles in the bath and other large areas, as there is no need to keep your finger on the start button.

Before buying a steam cleaner is worth remembering that powerful devices better cleaned and disinfected the most complex surface in tight spaces.However, devices with high power and low pressure in the tank spaciousness not differ prolonged work in the conditions of intensive use.

help you better understand the specific models for home steam cleaners reviews relatives and acquaintances who have already for a long time enjoyed the device.But which one to buy a steam cleaner to solve only to future users, because only the buyer knows for what purpose it acquired a universal device.