I just bought a steam cleaner from Aldi but need some advice on how to
use it. I does come with a sparse pamphlet but that just explains the
buttons, not the technique.

I tried to clean some candlesticks but the old wax refused to melt.

I pointed it at a dirty wall and apart from creating a lot of steam
nothing seemed to happen.

Should I use a brush or something with it? I tried working at the dirt
with the steam in conjunction with a paintbrush and that seemed to do
something, but I can't see what the steam cleaner is supposed to do
over and above that I can do with a damp cloth.

Can anybody make any suggestions, before I return it to the store?

Peter wrote:
I just bought a steam cleaner from Aldi but need some advice on how to
use it. I does come with a sparse pamphlet but that just explains the
buttons, not the technique.

I tried to clean some candlesticks but the old wax refused to melt.

I pointed it at a dirty wall and apart from creating a lot of steam
nothing seemed to happen.

Should I use a brush or something with it? I tried working at the dirt
with the steam in conjunction with a paintbrush and that seemed to do
something, but I can't see what the steam cleaner is supposed to do
over and above that I can do with a damp cloth.

Can anybody make any suggestions, before I return it to the store?


Out of curiosity what did you buy it for intentionally?

"Peter" wrote in message
...
I just bought a steam cleaner from Aldi but need some advice on how to
use it. I does come with a sparse pamphlet but that just explains the
buttons, not the technique.

I tried to clean some candlesticks but the old wax refused to melt.

You'd be better putting the candlestiocks in a warm (not hot) oven, standing
on a plate. When they're warm simply wipe off the wax. Wax isn't soluble in
water.

I pointed it at a dirty wall and apart from creating a lot of steam
nothing seemed to happen.

Should I use a brush or something with it?

My (Karcher) steam cleaner has an array of brushes to use with it but when
I'm cleaning a wall or woodwork I just use cloth. The steam lifts the dirt,
which is them wiped off.

I tried working at the dirt
with the steam in conjunction with a paintbrush and that seemed to do
something, but I can't see what the steam cleaner is supposed to do
over and above that I can do with a damp cloth.

Can anybody make any suggestions, before I return it to the store?

Give it another try. The dirt has to go somewhere, it won't evaporate :-)

Mary

"Peter" wrote in message
...
I just bought a steam cleaner from Aldi but need some advice on how to
use it. I does come with a sparse pamphlet but that just explains the
buttons, not the technique.

I tried to clean some candlesticks but the old wax refused to melt.

I pointed it at a dirty wall and apart from creating a lot of steam
nothing seemed to happen.

Should I use a brush or something with it? I tried working at the dirt
with the steam in conjunction with a paintbrush and that seemed to do
something, but I can't see what the steam cleaner is supposed to do
over and above that I can do with a damp cloth.

Can anybody make any suggestions, before I return it to the store?

===============
You can't really complain that it's '...not fit for its purpose....' if you
don't what its purpose is so the store would be under no obligation to take
it back.

Basically, they can be used for cleaning almost anything that requires
intricate cleaning where brushes and other cleaning materials can't reach.
For example, cleaning the various crevices on cookers, grouting between
tiles, etc. seem to be amongst the suggested uses. No doubt others will
suggest other uses but whatever you try take care because steam burns can be
very painful

Cic.

In article ,
says...
I just bought a steam cleaner from Aldi but need some advice on how to
use it. I does come with a sparse pamphlet but that just explains the
buttons, not the technique.

I tried to clean some candlesticks but the old wax refused to melt.

Stick them in a large pan of boiling water - the wax will float to the
surface.

I pointed it at a dirty wall and apart from creating a lot of steam
nothing seemed to happen.

You need to scrub it with something - I find old towels are good.

Out of curiosity what did you buy it for intentionally?

I am a sucker for a gadget that looks useful, and I like clean!

Thanks everyone for the advice, I will keep it now I know a bit more
how to use it. I am puzzled that the steam is quite cool after 10cm of
spray, I can easily hold my hand in front. Is it supposed to be used
with the nozzle very close so the steam is very hot?

Peter wrote:
Out of curiosity what did you buy it for intentionally?

I am a sucker for a gadget that looks useful, and I like clean!

Thanks everyone for the advice, I will keep it now I know a bit more
how to use it. I am puzzled that the steam is quite cool after 10cm of
spray, I can easily hold my hand in front. Is it supposed to be used
with the nozzle very close so the steam is very hot?

A gadget man, Hmmm! a woman round the corner from me buys all sorts of
gadgets...they never get used mind.

Personally nothing better than a bit of elbow grease for cleaning.

"Peter" wrote in message
...
I just bought a steam cleaner from Aldi but need some advice on how to
use it. I does come with a sparse pamphlet but that just explains the
buttons, not the technique.

I tried to clean some candlesticks but the old wax refused to melt.

I pointed it at a dirty wall and apart from creating a lot of steam
nothing seemed to happen.

Should I use a brush or something with it? I tried working at the dirt
with the steam in conjunction with a paintbrush and that seemed to do
something, but I can't see what the steam cleaner is supposed to do
over and above that I can do with a damp cloth.

Can anybody make any suggestions, before I return it to the store?

FWIW; we bought a Polti steam 'cleaner' after a long-ish
demonstration at an 'Ideal Home' show. IMHO, all of the
demonstrators from all the manufacturers gave basically the
same 'instructions' - so interpret the following in the light
of your own experience and equipment. Fundamentally the 'cleaning'
is accomplished by the cloth you hold in your hand - ideally,
held about an inch from the mucky item - you use the steam
exiting from the nozzle to 'blast' the muck away from the surface
onto the cloth. The nozzle needs to be at a very shallow angle to
the surface and very close to the muck so that the muck is transported
off the surface and blown onto the cloth.
Cloths need to be folded and new areas exposed at frequent intervals.
What the steam cleaner is supposed to do is provide a mechanism (steam)that
will dissolve the 'stickiness' of any muck -and- a transport mechanism
(aka a blast) that'll put the muck onto a collection device aka piece
of cloth. It's sorta 'not the way I expected it to work"!
We've got a Tuf-crate full of worn out towels. cotton dusters etc.
which get used and then cleaned in the washing-machine; they get
very dirty so the muck must have come off the carpets, windows, tiles,
floors ... wherever.

The idea that one vaguely waves the steam generator's nozzle
(and/or tools) over a surface which magically becomes clean is
..... IMHO ... a copy-writers dream ... . Nevertheless, the devices
do _assist_ one to clean many surfaces without using chemical
'cleaners',

YMMV

--

Brian

Fantastic! Thanks so much for taking the time to make that
instruction.

"Peter" wrote in message
...
Fantastic! Thanks so much for taking the time to make that
instruction.


After you've mastered the use of a 'steam cleaner' ...
perhaps you'll devote some time to mastering using
newsgroup posting ?

--

Brian

After you've mastered the use of a 'steam cleaner' ...
perhaps you'll devote some time to mastering using
newsgroup posting ?

Why, what's wrong?

"Peter" wrote in message
...
After you've mastered the use of a 'steam cleaner' ...
perhaps you'll devote some time to mastering using
newsgroup posting ?

Why, what's wrong?

He can't tolerate anything which deviates from his standards.

Don't worry, just ignore the flack.

Mary

On Thu, 08 Sep 2005 18:49:51 +0100, Peter
wrote:

Out of curiosity what did you buy it for intentionally?

I am a sucker for a gadget that looks useful, and I like clean!

Thanks everyone for the advice, I will keep it now I know a bit more
how to use it. I am puzzled that the steam is quite cool after 10cm of
spray, I can easily hold my hand in front. Is it supposed to be used
with the nozzle very close so the steam is very hot?

You wouldn't be able to hold your hand anywhere near the outlet nozzle
of my old Earlex steamer (approx 10 years old)! Brilliant for cleaning
cookers, as well as making ceramic floors sparkling. However, its
original use was for stripping wallpaper and it was jolly good at
that, too.

MM

In article ,
says...
After you've mastered the use of a 'steam cleaner' ...
perhaps you'll devote some time to mastering using
newsgroup posting ?

Why, what's wrong?

It's normal to quote some of the post to which you are responding so the
casual reader has at least half a clue what's going on. But you knew
that anyway :-)

I just bought a steam cleaner from Aldi.

Perhaps you just bought the wrong one. There are a lot of them on the
Sky shopping channels which have the thin, whispy steam you describe.
I bought a Shark Portable on eBay after watching the Sky demo every
night for a week, and being convinced by it.

It arrived 2 days ago, since when I have cleaned vinyl floors,
grouting, a microwave oven, 6 square feet of concrete, 45 of rendering,
an emulsioned wall, several gloss painted doors and about 90 square
feet of corrugated fibre glass roofing which was thickly coated with
algae.

And used approximately one gallon of water in the process!

The blast is terrific, and you really would not want to get any flesh
near it.

The only reason I'm here, now, is because I'm too tired to do any more
today, but tomorrow is another day!

It's one of the best puchases I've made in the forty years since I got
married, and the number of ideas I have for its use (spot weeding?) is
almost limitless.

Tony.

Perhaps you just bought the wrong one.

Aldi had another steam device that looked like an electric watering
can; but I didn't buy that. Mine was in the recent special offers and
features a pressure regulator knob, gauge and LED switches. It looks
like a pressure washer.

After I sprayed mist at things and nothing seemingly happening I was
dubious at first. However, thanks to the tips on this DIY group I
have, as you, become very excited my the capabilities. I have been
able to clean very awkward surfaces to unfeasibly new condition.

I find that I have to use the nozzle more like a pen and the cleaning
process is quite intricate. I am using it at about 10mm from most
surfaces. I have to watch not to linger for too long on paint as it
becomes plastic. Whether this is just lack of power or that my
surfaces are unreasonably dirty I don't know, the machine says 4 bar
pressure is delivered. Is that enough?

When I purchased the machine I had thought that I would just waft it
about from 40cm or so and everything caught in the hot steam would be
miraculously cleaned. Maybe that was hoping for too much but I would
recommend this machine.

I have no idea what the floor and curtain cleaning attachments could
do though. They would appear to just blow warm steam at the fabric,
How would that clean it?

wrote in message
ups.com...
I just bought a steam cleaner from Aldi.

Perhaps you just bought the wrong one. There are a lot of them on the
Sky shopping channels which have the thin, whispy steam you describe.
I bought a Shark Portable on eBay after watching the Sky demo every
night for a week, and being convinced by it.

It arrived 2 days ago, since when I have cleaned vinyl floors,
grouting, a microwave oven, 6 square feet of concrete, 45 of rendering,
an emulsioned wall, several gloss painted doors and about 90 square
feet of corrugated fibre glass roofing which was thickly coated with
algae.

Yes, that's the trouble with a newgadget.I remember- almost forty yearsago -
when we got a new automatic washer/drier (the only one on the market at
£152 - IN THOSE DAYS!).

Every fabric thing in the house which could be moved was washed and dried.
And watched.

The only reason I'm here, now, is because I'm too tired to do any more
today, but tomorrow is another day!

You'll get bored.

It's one of the best puchases I've made in the forty years since I got
married, and the number of ideas I have for its use (spot weeding?) is
almost limitless.

I agree, they're wonderful machines.

But no good for washing nappies, the Bendix won on that score.

Mary

Tony.

"Peter" wrote in message
...

I find that I have to use the nozzle more like a pen and the cleaning
process is quite intricate. I am using it at about 10mm from most
surfaces. I have to watch not to linger for too long on paint as it
becomes plastic. Whether this is just lack of power or that my
surfaces are unreasonably dirty I don't know,

It might be that your paint isn't a good one ...


I have no idea what the floor and curtain cleaning attachments could
do though. They would appear to just blow warm steam at the fabric,
How would that clean it?

I don't know, but it does.

Mary

You'll get bored.

I know, but it's already repaid its cost, in my view. A week from now
it will probably go into its box and reappear rarely. But, by gum, the
place will be a lot cleaner by then (:-

Tony.

wrote in message
oups.com...
You'll get bored.

I know, but it's already repaid its cost, in my view. A week from now
it will probably go into its box and reappear rarely. But, by gum, the
place will be a lot cleaner by then (:-

Oh yes!

Are you going to keep it like that?

I didn't :-(

Mary

Tony.

MM wrote:
On Thu, 08 Sep 2005 18:49:51 +0100, Peter
wrote:

Out of curiosity what did you buy it for intentionally?

I am a sucker for a gadget that looks useful, and I like clean!

Thanks everyone for the advice, I will keep it now I know a bit more
how to use it. I am puzzled that the steam is quite cool after 10cm of
spray, I can easily hold my hand in front. Is it supposed to be used
with the nozzle very close so the steam is very hot?

You wouldn't be able to hold your hand anywhere near the outlet nozzle
of my old Earlex steamer (approx 10 years old)! Brilliant for cleaning
cookers, as well as making ceramic floors sparkling. However, its
original use was for stripping wallpaper and it was jolly good at
that, too.

MM
I have one of those and cleaning the cooker is the last thing I would
have thought to use it for.

Kevin

wrote in message
oups.com...

MM wrote:
On Thu, 08 Sep 2005 18:49:51 +0100, Peter
wrote:

Out of curiosity what did you buy it for intentionally?

I am a sucker for a gadget that looks useful, and I like clean!

Thanks everyone for the advice, I will keep it now I know a bit more
how to use it. I am puzzled that the steam is quite cool after 10cm of
spray, I can easily hold my hand in front. Is it supposed to be used
with the nozzle very close so the steam is very hot?

You wouldn't be able to hold your hand anywhere near the outlet nozzle
of my old Earlex steamer (approx 10 years old)! Brilliant for cleaning
cookers, as well as making ceramic floors sparkling. However, its
original use was for stripping wallpaper and it was jolly good at
that, too.

MM
I have one of those and cleaning the cooker is the last thing I would
have thought to use it for.

Steam cleaners are also excellent forcleaninground the bases of taps.

Mary

Kevin

Are you going to keep it like that?

Not a chance, but I'm having so much fun (in your mid seventies your
ideas of fun tend to change from those in the first 5 decades don't
they?) so don't spoil it for me.(:-

Tony.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Are you going to keep it like that?

Not a chance, but I'm having so much fun (in your mid seventies your
ideas of fun tend to change from those in the first 5 decades don't
they?)

YES! :-)


so don't spoil it for me.(:-

I don't want to spoil anything for you.

Come up and see me sometime and we can compare devices :-)

Mary

Tony.

Come up and see me sometime and we can compare devices :-)

Yabadabadoo.

Tony.