Karcher SC3 Steam cleaner

Everyone likes to have a clean tidy home. The average person probably spends at least 2 hours per day doing some sort of cleaning in the home.

There are many types of household chemical cleaning products that can be purchased but the best thing to use is steam. Steam is water which is free and chemical free. To turn water into steam you will need some sort of steam cleaning machine and I would highly recommend this one from Karcher.

At first glance it looks like a small hoover, similar size and shape and with similar accessories. You can use it a bit like a hoover too when cleaning the floors.

However it isn’t a hoover but a steamer. It’s very easy to use and can be used on literally any indoor surface.

This little steamer requires a decalcification cartridge to be inserted prior to using and one is included in the box. The cartridge protects the device from damage due to calcification and water hardness. The water hardness of your area can then be set. This is quite confusing as not many people will know what their local water hardness is.

Setting up is easy. The cartridge slots in and the wheels slot on. Then you choose head cleaning tool to attach. The floor cleaner is probably the one most people will test first. This is attached using extension pipes, floor nozzle and the micro fibre floor cloth. This will clean most types of flooring including carpet and rugs.

It certainly works on thick carpet too. I had unfortunately spilt hot wax from a melt pot on my carpet. It had hardened and I was unable to remove it all manually. This little gizmo soon got it all up. It’s also great on Lino, wood floors and tiles. There are 2 steam settings and the steam lever which works a bit like a steam button on an iron to give extra bursts of steam when required.

The machine needs just a litre of water at a time, which is usually sufficient to clean a full room or two.

It takes about 30 seconds to heat up, you know when it’s ready as you’ll hear the steam hissing. Oh the high setting, the steam is pretty fast and rapid coming out, thus making cleaning a much quicker job. The floor brush seems to just glide with ease over all my floors and the blast of steam means even the toughest stains get blasted away.

The steamer can also be used as a hand steam device too. The spotlight nozzle cleans hard to reach places such as sinks, toilets, skirting boards, and even ovens (at own risk). I put the nozzle inside the gap where my oven glass joins to my oven door to give the glass a quick clean. I also use on my inside windows and even my glass table as it’s so hard to clean with chemicals.

The manual floor nozzle which comes with a cover is intended for areas such as showers and mirrors that can be washed down.

There are also extra accessories which can be purchased separately.

When the cleaning is done. All the accessories connect or slot into the machine making it handy for storing.

So yes it’s a handy machine to have for steaming the whole house (windows included!) There are just a few minor points which let it down slightly. I was a bit disappointed that only one micro fibre floor cloth was included. It would have been nice to have at least two as this means waiting for it to be washed and dried before using it again. I’ll have to buy another one which isn’t too expensive. Also the water tank is not totally sealed meaning if the machine tips over then the water will come out as I found out on first use.

The SC3 does cost £149.99 which may seem a lot. But if you have one of these it does remove the need for mops, mop buckets and chemical cleaners.