Experience with steam cleaners

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Hey I am looking to get a steam cleaner mostly for doing interiors. I run a shop and deal with some nasty dirt and grime on vinyl and upholstery. I'd like to know which machines work best. There's a huge range in price and I'm on a budget. I don't want to regret getting a a cheap machine that doesn't do the job though. Can anybody give me an idea what to look at? Plus, does it help to use an extractor with these machines? Thanks for the advice!
 
I have a McCullough from harbor freight, it was under 100 smackers, works great
 
I have a daimer kleen jet. have used it religiously for interior and engine bay cleaning. for the engine if you can't have a lot of water run off. for the interior i have found that a steamer in many ways will replace an extractor unless you need to pull odors and/or deep stains. its best thing I've used on leather. The daimer gets to 300 degrees F and and up to 75psi. It is pricey though at $1100.00. I saw that griots had one for 300ish. I am a firm believer in you get what you pay for.
 
Thats what I have as well Chris, and I feel the same way about it. Works well for steaming shirts and cleaning grime around the kitchen though!
 
EVOlved said:
Funny those are the exact 2 I have been debating between. What is it about the 1385 that makes you wish so?
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While it's still better than the sub $100 version, it still lacks steam. It's ok, but the gun holder doesn't hold the gun (always falls out), there are no good settings on the gun, it takes a long time to heat up and you can never tell how much steam/water you have left... But the main difference between that and the VX5000 is the shear amount of steam it produces.
 
I purchased the 1385 and wasn't impressed. It may work around the house, but it lacked pressure to do any serious cleaning on a dirty interior. I sent it back to Amazon. I think when buying a steamer you have to spend a little more to make it worth it.
 
I have the Optima Steamer. Although very pricey, it really separates us from the rest when it comes to Interior Detailing. I based my whole business plan around it and it's working very well. Plenty of pressure and heat to disinfect and blowout cracks and crevices throughout the cabin. The A/C Duct steam cleaning is a very effective touch to a full Interior Cleaning


ac steam.jpgsteam cleaned.jpg
 
But is a Hill Injection ten times better than the 1385? Or the Carmen Super Inox 30 times better? Don't get me wrong, if I detailed full time I wouldn't think twice about getting the Carmen, but as a weekender that makes only a limited amount of sideline income on cars the MC1385 is actually pretty useful.
 
I used a mcculloch fof a while , just got the vx5000 . big difference. I tweaked it a little to get even a little more pressure
 
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