Newbie intro and questions

[klutzy]

Hi everyone, I'm so glad I found Autopia! I'm a homemaker looking for a steam cleaner for home use. I came here after someone recommended detailing forums as a good source of knowledgeable, unbiased information. I never knew about steam cleaners until recently, but the reviews of happy users make me very interested. The idea of actually enjoying housework is both exciting and unimaginable!:Banane23:



I want a dry steam machine that will work well on the house, garage, and car. I figure in the $500-800 range, maybe a little higher. I'd consider a used industrial machine, too, if anyone is selling one (I'm in western Mass. How do I post a "wanted" ad in the classifieds?). There is a lot of hype and conflicting info out there, and I'm getting confused about what features I should look for and what brands work well and will hold up over the years. Any advice for me??

 

[Accumulator]

klutzy- Welcome to Autopia!



I commented a little on steamers in the other thread.



Buy the best you can afford, and note that many are relabeled/same thing under different names. I've had good experiences (both with the product and with customer service) from Daimer. Eh, I can't find the link, but try something like "Daimer dot com" and you should find 'em.



I dunno if they make the work "enjoyable" or not, but I will say there's some satisfaction in blasting things clean so I guess that as household tools go it's as close to fun as cleaning stuff up can get.





IMO the "classified" sectionhere gets little traffic; I'd just start a thread (eh, wonder if that's poor form, I really don't know :nixweiss ).

 

[klutzy]

Thanks for responding, Accumulator! I read your comments and now Daimer is on my very short list. Their cheapest model is "on sale" for $887, more than I want to spend but I would if it's the best. Vapor Boss from US Steam is another one; two models in the home market mode, pretty sure they're not made by USS, but Italian imports. I have noticed many home brands are obviously identical, and the white Boss seems to be the same as the Whitewing. They have aluminum tanks, which Whitewing says is better than cheap, too-thin steel. Any thoughts on that? The lowest-end Therma-Kleen is another, have to get a price quote. Also low-end Amerivap, need quotes on those too. I have ruled out many home machines based on Amazon reviews, but it is VERY hard to find reviews of products not sold there. I'm so grateful for this website! I'll start a "wanted" thread, thanks for that idea too. Hopefully not bad form!

 

[Accumulator]

klutzy- I see there are no responses to your "wanted" thread (yet) but no worries on it being inappropriate IMO..



FWIW, my Daimer (model 1500C) is the same Italian-made thing that some other vendor sells under another name (and that vendor lists more optimistic specs for the exact same unit :think: ). SO...IMO when units look identical you might be safe in making assumptions and I bet the vendors are generally *not* the manufacturers.



Note that Daimer *always* says their units are "on sale"



Aluminum vs. steel...:think:...beats me, but everybody tries to make differences sound like "features" when it comes to their stuff and "shortcomings" when it comes to the competition. More if you ask me. I.e., when a steamer does *not* allow "on-the-fly" refilling, but rather requires you to stop and let it cool down, they often say this makes for a better-performing unit (not necessarily so IMO).



Look at the psi specs and buy the most potent you can afford that seems to come from a reputable place, and look at the accessories to make sure you can get what *you* might need without a huge hassle (the nearly-identical hoses/nozzle tips/etc. that everyone uses don't *always* interchange the way you'd think).



FWIW, my less-potent one only puts out "3.5 bar" according to its specs; I looked up the conversion and that works out to ~51psi (regulars here might recall that I thought it was better than that, not sure how I got it wrong :nixweiss ). IMO you'll probably want more than that, but it does handle many of jobs just fine. I wouldn't buy another that wimpy, but it's not like wasted money either.