Why even consider getting a floor steam mop or a floor steam vacuum?
If you do your own house cleaning like me, time management might be a dilemma for you. At home, you have to clean your living spaces, the kitchen, bathroom, and the shower area, and you may be at a loss as to how to manage your time and resources to cover all.
Dark stains on your living room carpet may not go away by vacuuming alone. The tiles in the shower may have developed dark grout. Also, the sinks may be covered with shampoo and soap stains.
Your $100 Vacuum cleaner will not get the job done to your satisfaction. You would surely want to get a piece of machinery that will do a better job.
We will discuss here the 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. The other 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 has a canister attached to it. It 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 microfiber pad at the top of the mop. The microfiber then mops the debris from the floor or the carpet that you are canvassing.
A big advantage 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 (300F), before the steam reaches the tip of the mop, it is already cooled down. That means that the steam may not be as effective in removing stains from the carpets, floors or tiles. Also, the effectiveness of the microfiber pad in removing all the resulting debris is in question.
You may be able to remedy the low-temperature problem by using a shorter steam mop stick. 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 has an additional feature. 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. This 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.
