# steam cleaned



## J and J (Apr 4, 2010)

Well after reading one or two threads on here about using a steam cleaner on the engine I thought I'd give it ago, and here is the result

Before




























After


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## themainlegend (Aug 10, 2010)

Awesome mate!! Which steam cleaner do you have as i'm looking to buy one soon!!


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## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

Looks so much better mate, good job.


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## J and J (Apr 4, 2010)

themainlegend said:


> Awesome mate!! Which steam cleaner do you have as i'm looking to buy one soon!!


Thanks, will have to let you know as the garage I work for brought it.


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## Pookini (Jan 19, 2011)

That's a cracking job mate! Well done


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## Mirror Finish Details (Aug 21, 2008)

The little Karcher one in Halfords will do the job as well, about £70 if I remember.


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## james_death (Aug 9, 2010)

Nicely done...:thumb:


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## CraigQQ (Jan 20, 2011)

what about the earlex system? £40(tesco direct), says it lasts 90 minutes of continous steam from a 4L tank.
says its suitable for cars ect..

worth a punt?


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## Mirror Finish Details (Aug 21, 2008)

CraigQQ said:


> what about the earlex system? £40(tesco direct), says it lasts 90 minutes of continous steam from a 4L tank.
> says its suitable for cars ect..
> 
> worth a punt?


It has no on off triggar, more a wall paper remover.


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## CraigQQ (Jan 20, 2011)

Mirror Finish said:


> It has no on off triggar, more a wall paper remover.


Thanks mate. Saved me £40.


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## HalfordsShopper (Jul 8, 2008)

wowow, what an amazing turn around using just steam. :thumb:

Imagine how clean you could have got it with some degreaser and a PW.


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## justina3 (Jan 11, 2008)

did have look on halfords website couldnt see the karcher steamer for £70 anyone got a linky please


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## mattsbmw (Jul 20, 2008)

CraigQQ said:


> what about the earlex system? £40(tesco direct), says it lasts 90 minutes of continous steam from a 4L tank.
> says its suitable for cars ect..
> 
> worth a punt?


this is no good for cleaning as you need pressure for a steam cleaner to clean.

I bought a nilfisk one from machine mart, hoping to try it on my engine bay soon.


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## Chicane (Mar 31, 2011)

what about this vax one on offer at argos?


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## justina3 (Jan 11, 2008)

bump this thread i was hoping to get a steamer tommorow was hoping for some extra advise

cheers


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

I've got this one: http://www.karcher.co.uk/uk/Products/Home__Garden/Steam_cleaners/15181040.htm -

Bought it off a sales thread on here and it cleaned up my interior wonderfully a few weeks back. Got rid of some water stains on the seats and an awful dog smell (the car was new to me)

Great little piece of kit, think i gave about £90 for it

Just did a quick fleabay search and found this: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/karcher-SC112...Cleaning_CA&hash=item1c1c1cfa0d#ht_500wt_1156


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## J and J (Apr 4, 2010)

themainlegend said:


> Awesome mate!! Which steam cleaner do you have as i'm looking to buy one soon!!


The sticker on the bottom say this: Commital Sami and model is: TR 6 PRO

Hope this helps mate


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## J and J (Apr 4, 2010)

HalfordsShopper said:


> wowow, what an amazing turn around using just steam. :thumb:
> 
> Imagine how clean you could have got it with some degreaser and a PW.


I used AutoSmart's G101


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## dcj (Apr 17, 2009)

Chicane said:


> what about this vax one on offer at argos?


I havent used a steam cleaner yet but would have thought even if that model was powerful, with just a narrow outlet nozzle like that it would take a long time to do a car interior.


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## dcj (Apr 17, 2009)

I,m seriously considering getting a steam cleaner for interior work but a few questions need to be asked:

1. Does a steam cleaner do a good job on heavily soiled seats/carpets?
2. Will a steam cleaner work off a generator? I ask this because I,ve tried boiling a kettle on a generator before and its a bit of a struggle to start with.
3.How long do these steam cleaners take to heat up enough to start cleaning.
Dont fancy running a genny for 10 minutes just to heat the sc up.

Any help appreciated. Thanks


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## swordstoke (Aug 7, 2010)

Excellent stuff! 

Time to invest methinks


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## DampDog (Apr 16, 2011)

One of these little beasties might be worth a look..

Silverline 265438 1500 w Steam Cleaner: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

I Google's em and the can be found for around £45..


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## Superspec (Feb 25, 2011)

I tried my wallpaper stripper without the big stripping bit on the end. It worked to be fair but the hose gets bloody hot, you can't stop it and it condenses very quickly so you get a lot of water as well as steam. I liked the finish it left me with on the door cards and dash (wife's car) but won't be using it again.

I will buy a steam cleaner though, like the look of the Nilfisk 520? (I think its called that)


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## Superspec (Feb 25, 2011)

Chicane said:


> what about this vax one on offer at argos?


The company I work for sell those, they are rubbish. (So I don't sell many!)


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

dcj said:


> I,m seriously considering getting a steam cleaner for interior work but a few questions need to be asked:
> 
> 1. Does a steam cleaner do a good job on heavily soiled seats/carpets?
> 2. Will a steam cleaner work off a generator? I ask this because I,ve tried boiling a kettle on a generator before and its a bit of a struggle to start with.
> ...


Hi bud, i'll try and answer you're questions as best i can...

1. Yes it does. I bought a car not long ago which stank of wet dog and the steam cleaner got rid of it all. I would suggest brushing/hoovering first to remove the larger particles of dirt, but the steamer will penetrate the seat material/carpet and blast it away. Don't forget though, they aren't hoovers unless you also buy an extractor which will be big bucks £££

2. Not sure about this one, i just use it off an extension

3. The Karcher one i have takes 7-8 minutes to heat up so if you're running a Genny for this time it might get a bit of a pain in the ****.

Hope this helps

Jb


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## Superspec (Feb 25, 2011)

dcj said:


> I,m seriously considering getting a steam cleaner for interior work but a few questions need to be asked:
> 
> 1. Does a steam cleaner do a good job on heavily soiled seats/carpets?
> 2. Will a steam cleaner work off a generator? I ask this because I,ve tried boiling a kettle on a generator before and its a bit of a struggle to start with.
> ...


I would have a look at how powerful your genny is. Steam cleaners (and kettles) are going to pull a lot of power, nothing less than 2.5kw, probably closer to 3kw for a steam cleaner. If you struggled to boil a kettle with it I think you'd struggle to use a steamer.


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## Cops (Jun 22, 2010)

Would this be up to much, it is virtually the same spec as the Nilfisk 520 but £120 cheaper!!?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1-5L-COMPACT-...omeGarden_CLV_Cleaning_CA&hash=item1e607c205f


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## PrestigeChris (Nov 17, 2009)

Cops said:


> Would this be up to much, it is virtually the same spec as the Nilfisk 520 but £120 cheaper!!?
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1-5L-COMPACT-...omeGarden_CLV_Cleaning_CA&hash=item1e607c205f


whats with the free peeler and oven glove lol. seems an ok machine


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## CraigQQ (Jan 20, 2011)

PrestigeChris said:


> whats with the free peeler and oven glove lol. seems an ok machine


:lol: im guessing its more aimed at house cleaning then :lol: or it gets that hot that you need the oven glove to hold the nozzle :lol:

they way i see it, there could be two main reasons that this is so much cheaper than the niflisk..

number one.. quality.. i might not be as good build quality as the niflisk

number two... its not aimed at car cleaning.. once you slap a detailing tag on it, price bumps £50 :lol:

my guess would be the first one.. in that this is likely made for irregular home use.. where the nilfisk is likely made for more regular semi pro/pro use.


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## justina3 (Jan 11, 2008)

I also have been looking into these as it seems the cars i get in part exchange latley people go out of there way to get as dirty as they possibly can, done the rounds yesterday and halfords had there own branded steamer on offer from £69 down to £19.99 for that money i took a punt, had a little play last night and the attatchements it comes with are very good spot cleaner carpert cleaner with cloth boots extension the list goes on it is clearly dedicated for car use, first car in today is a fiesta with seats that have had water leaking on them through the sunfoof for over 5 years !! will try and take some pics as i go along.


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## ROMEYR32 (Mar 27, 2011)

DampDog said:


> One of these little beasties might be worth a look..
> 
> Silverline 265438 1500 w Steam Cleaner: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools
> 
> I Google's em and the can be found for around £45..


This is what im going for!


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## Cops (Jun 22, 2010)

Cops said:


> Would this be up to much, it is virtually the same spec as the Nilfisk 520 but £120 cheaper!!?
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1-5L-COMPACT-...omeGarden_CLV_Cleaning_CA&hash=item1e607c205f


Ive decided to try this, if its no good my missus can have it for the carpet and windows, along with the tattie pealer!


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## Cops (Jun 22, 2010)

Well it came 2 days later. Sturdy and does exactly what it says on the box. Good machine for the price, i have done my engine and doors and they have come up fine. For the amount of times it will get used it is not worth me spending any more


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## Superspec (Feb 25, 2011)

Cops said:


> Would this be up to much, it is virtually the same spec as the Nilfisk 520 but £120 cheaper!!?
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1-5L-COMPACT-...omeGarden_CLV_Cleaning_CA&hash=item1e607c205f


The Nilfisk produces steam at upto 150 degrees so you really do get vapour. This one produces steam at 105 degrees which will be very wet. It looks a good buy though but the spec isn't the same as the Nilfisk.


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## Cops (Jun 22, 2010)

Superspec said:


> The Nilfisk produces steam at upto 150 degrees so you really do get vapour. This one produces steam at 105 degrees which will be very wet. It looks a good buy though but the spec isn't the same as the Nilfisk.


point taken, I looked at the capacity the wattage and the working pressure, I thought steam was steam at any temperature over 100! Anyway it does its job


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## Eheis5 (Apr 25, 2011)

Looking good :thumb: Hard to keep using water and some APC/degreaser when you see that.


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## phillipnoke (Apr 1, 2011)

Karcher SC 1020 Steam Cleaner 1.2L £115 tesco are doing them for £64.50 until tomorrow


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