Best Steam Mop Cleaners for the Home: clean hardwood, laminate, carpet, upholstery & more

Samuel J Tan Bathroom and Toilet, Home & Kitchen, Kitchen, Steam Mop & Steam Cleaner 0

Steam cleaners offer a much deeper clean than just mopping and wiping. Mopping and wiping only get rid of dirt and dust on the surface. In fabric and upholstery, wiping can cause dirt to go deeper. Enters the steam cleaner, the ultimate mopping machine for any surface; tile, hardwood, rug, carpet, laminate and more.

One of the biggest advantage of using a steam mop cleaner as oppose to conventional mopping is not only that it cleans deeper and sanitises without using any chemical but for the convenience. In other words, there is no need to fill and carry around a bucket of water or get your hands dirty rinsing and then drying the mop. You do however have to fill the steam mop cleaner’s water reservoir and clean the mopping pad at the end. But, you can leave the cleaning to the washing machine.

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What are Steam Mop Cleaners

Using the same tech as those on fabric steamers for clothes, these handheld steamers have the following features:

designed for steam cleaning of hard and soft surfaces
wide steaming and mopping pads that are removable and washable
large water tank to hold more water
hand held and portable design
pivoting cleaning and swivelling head for ease of manoeuvring
lightweight and long power cords
included accessories offer more cleaning options

What You Need to Know About Steam Mop Cleaners

More advanced steam cleaner comes with wet vacuum function to pick up solid objects such as spilled drinks and food. They also come with dual tank system, one for cleaning solution and the other for dirty water.

However, the idea is to have a deeper clean with one of these steam mops. So, first use a standard vacuum cleaner to suck up movable dirt and dust. Remove any debris and rubbish from the floor. This will make cleaning with the steam mop easier.

Next, use the steam mop cleaner for a deeper and cleaner finish. Use the mopping pad to go over those tough and stubborn stains. Make a rubbing motion around dirt and stains. Allow time for the steam to get to work. With stubborn stains, you might need to pretreat the area with cleaning solution.

Ways to Use the Steam Mop Cleaner

After steaming and cleaning, allow the floor or upholstery and fabric to dry normally. Ensure that the room or space is fully ventilated. Even better, open the curtains and windows to let the sun and air in. Open the doors or use a blow dryer especially on upholstery to speed up the drying process.

It is quite common for some steam cleaners to leave behind wet streaks on hard floor and sometimes upholstery. This is visible especially on dark floors and surfaces. A quick wipe with a slightly damp cloth or conventional mop will get rid of the wet streaks.

In the kitchen and bathroom, steam cleaners help remove dirt and stains from tiles, grouts, glass mirror and glass screens, stainless steel fixtures, sealed stone and marble. With the right accessories, it can even clean oily hood and dish racks. They typically come with surface scrubbers to help speed up cleaning.

Care When Using A Steam Mop Cleaner

The water reservoir usually contains enough water for a good 20 minutes to half an hour of cleaning and can be topped up easily when it runs low. There is no need for chemicals, detergent or cleaning solutions, the steam from water alone is enough to clean the surfaces.

If you live in a place with hard water, be sure to treat your steam cleaner with a descaling solution every now and then. This helps break down excessive limescale build up especially around the heating elements. You can buy off the shelf lime scale remover or de-scaler in tablet or solution form. Apply according to the instruction to decalcify the unit once in a while.

When using the steam mops be extra careful not to go anywhere near the steam outlets. These are especially hot and can cause scalding. Be sure not to allow children or pets near the steamer. Keep hands, face and any part of your body away from the steaming pad or outlet during operation.

Related: You can learn more about steam mops here: Every Hard Floor & Carpet Deserves One

Top 5 Best Steam Mop Cleaners for the Home

BONUS:

Shark Genius S5003D Hard Floor Cleaning System

1. BISSELL PowerFresh Steam Mop

The Bissell PowerFresh Steam Mop 1940 is perfect for cleaning tiles and hard wood floors. It will eliminate 99.9% of germs and bacteria using nothing but steam. Plus, a flip down easy scrubber lets you tackle those sticky messes. All you need to do is decide on a steam setting, high, medium or low and start cleaning. Quick heating system means, the unit is ready to use in 30 seconds. In addition to that, a swivel steering and long power cord means it is easy to manoeuvre and can go further.

Suitable for hardwood, ceramic, granite and marble, linoleum
Power: 1500 watt with high, medium and low steam level settings.
Includes: microfibre soft pad, microfibre scrubby pad, spring breeze fragrance discs and carpet glider
Water Tank Capacity: 16ox
23 foot power cord

More advanced models that support multi function such as the PowerFresh Pet, PowerFresh Deluxe, PowerFresh Lift-Off and PowerFresh Slim are also available from Bissell but the PowerFresh Steam Mop is a good starting point.

2. LIGHT ‘N’ EASY All-In-One S3601 Steam Mop

Here is a good example of a multi-function unit. While the PowerFresh Steam Mop does what it says on the tin, a straight forward steam mop, this All-in-One Steam Mop from Light N Easy offers more mode of usage. The user-friendly Detachable Handheld Unit with different accessories allows you to use the cleaner beyond just a floor cleaner.

Three modes, steam mop, handheld steam cleaner and garment wrinkle remover
Suitable for various floors surface: marble, tile, grout, ceramic, stone, vinyl, laminate, and sealed wood flooring.
Power settings: high, medium or low steam settings
Includes washable micro fibre pad

3. Shark Steam Pocket Mop S3501 Hard Floor Cleaner

The Shark Steam Pocket Mop super heats water turning it into steam in just 30 seconds so you can apply it to clean dirt and grime from sealed or glazed hard floor. The water tank holds 450ml water and the power cord measures 20 feet. The unit uses dual sided steam pocket pad with 2 washable micro fibre pads included. On top of that, there is a pumping lever on the soft grip handle. Use this to generate the correct amount of steam for mopping. Pump 5-10 times depending on the amount of steam required.

4. PurSteam Steam Mop Cleaner ThermaPro

The 10-in-1 Therma Pro steam mop has a convenient detachable handheld unit like the Light n’ Easy steam mop above. This means it is flexible enough clean almost anything and everything in the house. But being a steam mop cleaner first, it is capable of cleaning laminate, hardwood, tiles, carpet and rug.

The built-in handheld steam cleaner can be detached and applying either the straight nozzle, window squeegee, bend nozzle or nylon brushes to go beyond a mop. Now you have a steam cleaner, handheld garment steamer, window, mirror and glass cleaner and more.

The multipurpose steam cleaner is light and manoeuvrable with a 340 ml water reservoir. This is enough for 20-25 minutes of steaming on the lowest setting. If the steam is turned up to maximum, you will get about 10 minutes of cleaning.

Multi function steam cleaner
Water Capacity: 340 ml
Cleaning time: up to 25 minutes

5. Shark Steam Mop S1000A Hard Floor Cleaner

This is steaming made easy with the Shark Steam Mop S1000A. The hard floor cleaner and sanitizer has an XL Removable Water Tank and 18-Foot Power Cord. Use the steam generated to clean grease and grime without the use of chemical. Moreover, the lightweight and manoeuvrable design allows it to access tight spaces. Here is a straight forward steam cleaner that does the job and does it well enough to be on our list.

BONUS: Shark Genius S5003D Hard Floor Cleaning System

The Shark Genius S5003D Steam Mop uses double sided dirt grip washable pads. Shark prides itself with the Genius Head using direct steam channeling and steam blaster technology to deliver the power of steam cleaning. The former distributes steam throughout the pocket or cleaning pad. This creates an ultra wide cleaning zone on the dirt grip pad on which to absorb and trap dirt. The latter is a nozzle that directs burst of steam on targeted area to tackle stuck-on mess. Use this to attack debris from grout lines, crevices and corners. Finally, for convenience, it features a touch free head; attach, clean and remove the dirt grip pad without touching it.