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

Letting off Steam .... Cleaning?

Dry steam cleaning is another type of cleaning it has power and pressure so I thought it would fit in here. This is a blog about power washing and in broad terms by definition it is a power washer.

Cleaned by Pete has and does "dry steam cleaning". Before I go to far about "live dry steam cleaning" that we do or make you read this article and then say "That is not what I thought I was going to read about"; cleaning carpets with steam it is not, upholstery cleaning with steam it is not, "wet" steam cleaning using a pressure washer supplying hot water it is not. Cleaned by Pete has pressure washers with the capabilities to do "wet steam" and does "wet steaming", but this entry is not about that. I may draw some comparisons between "wet steam" and "dry steam".

 What the blog entry is about, is "dry steam".

dry steam

n

(Physics / General Physics) steam that does not contain droplets of water

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

Dry steam sometimes called low-pressure steam is what you see when you heat water in a tea-kettle and see the vapor that starts to whistle out the little hole letting you know it is hot. Super heated water. There is no water in the stream just water in a gas stage steam. The escaping steam is under pressure 80 to 200 psi depending on how tight the lid and seal are. Only difference is our pressure is created by super heating the water in a metal coil. The feeding or incoming water pressure affects the point at which water boils or vaporizes into steam. At sea level water boils at 212°F. the norm, or mean boiling point of water. At pressures higher than the pressure of the atmosphere sea level, water boils or vaporizes at temperatures higher than 212°F.  We have to have the water hot enough to turn into its gas or steam. Now your asking you have hot steam how does it clean something? The expanding water as it  passes through the coil is getting hotter and hotter and a special nozzle slows down the flow even more. This puts the steam or vapor under additional pressurization since it cannot remain a liquid. The dry steam now exits the nozzle. The water that that has been super heated to at least 212°F or great, is being totally vaporized and is increasing in volume still. It now exits the nozzle and hits the air, this is called "flashing to steam." Depending on the system, from 5 to 15 percent of the volume is vaporizes, this is now our pressure for cleaning expanded water into steam increasing by volume.

Do you remember your Science teacher crushing a metal can then putting in a small amount of water? He then takes a pair of pliers and holds it over the flame of the Bunsen burner once it starts to warm the wrinkles pop out and the can starts to swell. Water turning into steam and displacing more volume.

This steam vapor, with a properly designed steam cleaning nozzle, is also propelling it. The steam is exiting the nozzle, hitting the air and starts to cool forming water droplets, small tiny water droplets are propelled in the vapor or stream to the object that is in need of cleaning. These super hot water droplets hit the object and break or explode while the expanding steam helps cleaning it also. This type of cleaning will use 80% less water and is great for grease, oil or inside applications since there is little to no runoff and easy to aim and control. The object being cleaned is usually wiped with an absorbent towel at this point collecting anything still remaining or is liquified by the heat. Cleaned by Pete has three low pressure steam units all the same brand all made sometime in the 1960's with no moving parts they don't ware out. If you ask why three the same? One uses powered or cake soap in the steam's stream. Number two use liquid soap in the steam's stream and number three is a back-up. All the units are heated with propane which is a more "friendly gas" to the environment less "green house" effects. Making our "dry steam cleaning" the most environmentally friendly clean we do.

While this form of cleaning was "fazing out" during the 1960's here in the United States it was growing in Europe and Australia where it has had good growth and development even up till today. They have steam cleaning car washes and portable units for hospitals and restaurants even portable gum cleaning units. You might ask well if it is so good why did it die off here then? A new type of cleaning was being developed here in the States. It was making great strides and developments by crossing a "steam jenny" with a higher pressure pump. The "pressure washer" as we know it was being born.

Cleaned by Pete just went out to the breakers and found an old dirty, grease caked, grimy motor case to steam clean. This is it it has not been pretreated or soaked in cleaner or degreaser,

Cleaned by Pete is using only live low pressure steam with powered soap mixing in the stream of the steam. The water pressure entering the steam pot is around 30 pounds or less a small stream of water enters, this is what comes out.

You can see what is going on here when the steam is cleared out a little, Cleaned by Pete dry low pressure steam cleaning.

Motor after dry steam cleaning. Cleaned by Pete

As pictured above after dry steam cleaning, Cleaned by Pete

Steam pot set up out side while we clean and disinfect a terracotta floor that was once a "hot tub area". Cleaned by Pete

Grout lines cleaned tile cleaned with in minutes any hot water left is evaporated, Cleaned by Pete dry live steam cleaning

Old greasy hydraulic hose-reel from the railroad we're going to use for a high-pressure hose line.

After low pressure steam cleaning or "dry steam cleaning", Cleaned by Pete.

 A pressure washer simply pushes hot water out of a restrictive nozzle under greater pressure. The narrow passage, the nozzle, increases the water's pressure, the more pressure (psi) and volume (gpm) is what impacts cleaning power. In pressure washing the water is heated but the volume and pressure put forth is such that it all can not be all turned to a gas so you have a greater amount or water leaving the nozzle thus "wet steam". Wet steam or some steam with alot of hot water, pressure is doing most of the cleaning. Wet steam is heated water under pressure of at least 1000 psi or greater, the pressure is supplied mechanically by a pump not by expanding water. There is greater water run off with the pressure washer, plus over spray and relocating the grease from here to there.

For information about dry steam cleaning visit www.cleanedbypete.com website by just clicking the link and find the page on vapor and steam cleaning.

added this section as an update 3/18/2013

BBQ and Out-side Kitchen Area Steam Cleaning
 Cleaned by Pete's residential cleaning service

Stripping down the BBQ for cleaning this one is about 3 years old and this is its first cleaning. Cleaned by Pete

Baked on and chard on Cleaned by Pete will remove the burners and clean under and remove all the grease, grime, and get the BBQ looking close to new. What you see is not from charcoal. What you see is crumbs, drippings and animal fats that are carbonating at some point they can ignite.  This one is really baked on and will take more than one cleaning

Looks more like a "smoke house" than a grill we will not be able to get 100% on the first cleaning session and will need to put this on a regular cleaning, Cleaned by Pete.

Grills, flame separators and burners will all be cleaned too, Cleaned by Pete.

Dry steam cleaning, starting we are steaming the out-side first to help warm up the cleaner that has been applied, Cleaned by Pete.

Cleaned by Pete, applying our learned cleaning techniques from years of hood, duck and exhaust fan cleaning to cleaning the BBQ and the kitchen area.

Cleaned by Pete uses dry steam to clean these out-side residential kitchen and BBQ areas. Most of these BBQs are "built-in" units and set in finished cabinetry, so water run off is not what you want. Dry steam works the best for us with little to no run off and no water pressure forcing its way into places we don't want it to go.

After the steam clears, we can start to see that we are making great progress, this is the 2nd pass, you can see quite a big difference that Cleaned by Pete has now made.

Three years of cooking and three years of grime are mostly gone now, Cleaned by Pete will be able to remove more with the next service cleaning.

This shows the water stream before heating. This small stream water will be turned into steam as pictured above, and that steam is quickly evaporated after doing the cleaning leaving little water runoff. Cleaned by Pete is saving water and has no runoff environmental friendly dry steam cleaning.

Cleaned by Pete's dry low pressure steam cleaning. Most of these BBQ systems use electrical starters, regulators, heat probes water does not play with electricity, and even careful pressure washing will force water where it should not go and have too much runoff. High steam temperatures cut and melt grease and animal fats aid in cleaning of kitchens. For these reasons dry steam fits this cleaning the best.

Drying time is as fast as the steam can evaporate, Cleaned by Pete, will now buff off the water spots and any residue then do a final wipe down.

Cleaned by Pete also steam cleaned the other items on the patio or kitchen area.

Looking good after the final wipe-down is finished, Cleaned by Pete residential cleaning of outside kitchen and BBQ areas.

Finished up all the steam cleaning of all the stainless items, counter tops, work areas, BBQ, sink, steamed any spills off the floor and cabinetry. Cleaned by Pete, will return tomorrow and power wash the patio, furniture, landing and then clean out and vacuum the ash and burnt wood from the fireplaces, readying it for entertaining and cooking this spring.

If you think you need our "residential kitchen, BBQ, or entertaining area cleaning" give us a call for a free prompt estimate or to answer any questions you many have. Call 417-459-7869


There is also one more benefit from dry steam cleaning that is since the dry steam is hotter, at least 214 degrees it kills germs, or disinfects. During the Swine Flu year we ran this add. Looks a bit dated now but helped get the word out. They are still using dry steam to kill bed bugs in mattress and hotel rooms it is a much different unit but still works on the same principal. Just think of this, that BBQ we cleaned above has to be quite disinfected with all the steam so if anything remains, it too is disinfected ready to cook on.

Cleaned by Pete: doing more than just 
"power washing" call us for your cleaning and washing needs.
417-459-7869

www.powerwashingspringfieldmo.com