Why even consider getting a floor steam mop or a floor steam vacuum? If you are like me and are doing your own house cleaning, you might be faced with a dilemma as of how to best use your time and resources when it comes to cleaning your living spaces, the kitchen, the bathroom area, and the shower area.
Your carpet in the living room may have developed several dark stains that will not go away by vacuuming alone. The tiles in the shower may have developed dark grout, and the sinks may be covered with shampoo and soap stains.
Since you have already spend over $100 for the vacuum cleaner which doesn’t really do the job to your satisfaction, you want to make sure you are getting a piece of machinery that will do a better job, that is for sure.
We will discuss here pros and cons of two competing carpet cleaning technologies that go beyond vacuuming. The first one is a carpet steamer, or a carpet steam mop, and the second one is the carpet steam vacuum. We will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both.
Floor steam mops
Floor steam mop is an appliance that looks like a mop but it has a canister attached to it, and uses an electric heater to bring the water in the canister to a boil. The resulting water vapor is then led through the mop handle and the vapor is then sprayed through the micro fiber pad at the top of the mop. The micro fiber then mops the debris from the floor or the carpet that you are canvassing.
A big advantage for many people of the steam floor mop is that it is environmentally friendly, that is, it will not dispense harmful and potentially toxic chemicals in your house that might take days to be removed, and may even accumulate, causing air toxicity in the house.
A disadvantage of the steam mop cleaner is that, even with a high temperature setting of as much as 300 F, before the steam reaches the tip of the mop, it is already chilled significantly. That means that, in all likelihood, the steam will not be as effective in removing carpet stains, or any other stains from the floors or tiles. Also, the effectiveness of the micro fiber pad in removing all the resulting debris is in question.
You may be able to remedy the low temperature problem by removing the steam mop stick or using a shorter one. That way, the steam temperature will be maximized, and tougher stains will be removed.
Floor steam vacuums
The steam vacuum is similar to a steam mop, but it has an additional feature, namely, it sprays the water onto the carpet, agitates the carpet, and then vacuums the resulting liquid back into the “dirty water” tank.
The advantage of a steam vacuum is that, since it does vacuum up most of the debris, it is typically used with detergents and cleaning chemicals, which enables it to be more effective in fighting carpet stains, even compared with the best steam mops.
However, when you are environmentally conscious, you will realize that, even the best suction mechanism will not remove all chemicals from the carpet or the air.
So as you see, the decision of what would be the best floor cleaner depends largely on you.
