Steam Cleaning, Springfield and the greater Ozarks area

Steam cleaning with a pressure washer

I have talked about things a pressure washer can do but here is one thing most pressure washers can not do. Some pressure washers equipped with heaters, and can heat water to very high temperatures but today's modern washer can not make true dry steam. If you see someone saying they clean with steam and are using a modern pressure washer it is somewhat of a misstatement, what it should say is cleaned with "wet steam" which is hot very water that may have some water vapor associated with it but contains a large amount of water. True steam cleaning involves cleaning with the water vapor or steam only there will be little to no run off.

 "There is a temperature below which steam will start to condense into water droplets. This is called the saturation temperature, and it varies with the pressure of the steam. Steam that is exactly at its saturation temperature is called saturated steam. Steam that is below its saturation temperature contains droplets of moisture and is called wet steam. Steam that is above its saturation temperature is called superheated steam." This statement appears at; http://wiki.answers.com, which may or may not be the end all or absolute one stop conformation for all answers but we will use it here. What you read here is that more pressure water is under the higher the saturation level and the more heat it will take to turn it into dry or superheated steam. Dry steam falls into the two categories "saturated steam" or "superheated steam" if there is any water out put in the stream it would be considered "wet steam". Now why do I even bring up this topic and why go into detail about it you may ask, well it is just for information and to educate you as a consumer. You will see adds that may offer; "We Steam Clean", "We offer the areas only steam cleaning service", "Steam Cleaning for Concrete" while some companies may have this capability most are using "wet steam" for this type of cleaning. There is nothing wrong with wet steam we use it to clean up sidewalks, driveways, restaurant pads and drive troughs, cleaning up grease and grime that cold water does not begin to clean. Know what you want and what service you are getting is why I'm writing this blog hoping to help you the consumer to understand what a professional power washer does and to arm you with  knowledge to help protect your home and property.

The simple fact is the more pressure and how many gallons you are pumping (1000 to 4000 psi at 3 to 6 gpm), the longer it takes to become a vapor and water vapor is steam, this is what we are looking for. These pressure washer can heat water to "wet steam", steam that is below its saturation temperature contains droplets or excessive moisture, hot water use for cleaning. While some units can can equal temperatures of those produced by a dry steam unit it will still still have a large water content. There are some units out on the market now in the industrial and commercial field that you have a chose of settings; cold water pressure wash, hot water pressure wash, and live steam. Most pressure washers out on the market are either a cold water pressure washer or a hot water pressure washer, some manufactures will refer their to there machine as a "wet steam unit". Most of us will hear the term "steam cleaning" you'll think of a laundry, carpet, drapery or furniture cleaners, they use live steam and low pressure  around 150 psi to clean with they don't want large amounts of water left in what they are cleaning or inside your residents. Very little water is associated with dry steam cleaning. The pressure is made by water being heated into vapor or a gas, building and expanding as it is heated then forcing it to escape or exit a special nozzle, lance or gun, expanding when it hits the atmosphere, pressure is not made or created in the pressure washers pump.

One reason people associate steam cleaning with pressure washers is that the first steam-cleaners looked somewhat like today's pressure washers, and these steam cleaners grew into today's pressure washers with refinements and new technology. These old steam cleaners with names like Fireball, Sioux, Steam Jenny, Kotas and others offered a steam cleaning mostly used in the auto and industrial cleaning arena. Catalogue stores as Montgomery Ward or Sear's and Robuck's even had there brand names on these units

Looking more like a train boiler than a modern power washer these were the first steam cleaning machines.

Still very large steam boilers and heavy steam hoses being used.

We are now just starting to enter the world of the modern world of pressure washers this smaller unit with a much smaller boiler and a self contained power power source.

Even smaller and more compact pressure unit you can see more water run off in this picture "wet steam"

Both "wet steam" and "dry steam cleaning" have there places in the world of cleaning. Cleaned by Pete offers both types of cleaning and can explain what is right for your needs. Dry steam does have several places where we use it.  Cleaning of modern day BBQ's with there electronics and delicate wiring taking a "wet steam high pressure unit in to blast away at this would not work greasy water run off all that water on the self-lighting units, lamps and lights, 

Dry steam cleaning by Cleaned by Pete

 

Dry steam cleaning by Cleaned by Pete

Dry steam cleaning by Cleaned by Pete

Dry steam cleaning by Cleaned by Pete

 

temperature probes and gauges would not work, dry steam works here very well. Restoration of an auto motor compartment cleaning with a modern day washer would tend to leave a mess due to water run off and blasting off grease and grime, dry steam helps here more control and less run off. We have cleaned inside "hot tub areas where water run off is and issue the tile floors were cleaned with dry steam and sanitized all at the same time.

Cleaned by Pete 417-459-7869