McCulloch hand steamer

Accumulator said:
Hey, that does look like a handy little thing!
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Just that whatever 8oz. of water weighs, plus the weight of the unit and the fact of the power cord, IMHO I'd rather use the one I linked to :fencing:
 
LeMarque- Heh heh...I hear ya, but if I were gonna bother getting out anthing remotely the size of a "real steamer" ....well, I'd just get out a real steamer :D



That little thing seemed like a whole 'nother animal entirely.
 
Accumulator said:
LeMarque- Heh heh...I hear ya, but if I were gonna bother getting out anthing remotely the size of a "real steamer" ....well, I'd just get out a real steamer :D



That little thing seemed like a whole 'nother animal entirely.
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Yeah, OK. You got me thinkin' [video=vimeo;11141660]http://vimeo.com/11141660[/video]
 
LeMarque said:
Just that whatever 8oz. of water weighs, plus the weight of the unit and the fact of the power cord, IMHO I'd rather use the one I linked to :fencing:
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I had one of those and it paid for itself. The draw back was the hose and nozzle in the back of a truck. It didn't pack very well for me. That and the tip broke off while working on some carpets and then it was useless to me.



If this one works as advertised, I would prefer the smaller form factor. I don't need as much water/steam as the roll around unit holds.
 
Jean-Claude said:
... the tip broke off while working on some carpets and then it was useless to me.
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The steam jet nozzle broke on me as well, but I used 3m plastic bondo and it's as good as new.
 
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LeMarque said:
FWIW, I purchased this one Amazon.com: McCulloch MC-1275 Heavy-Duty Steam Cleaner: Home & Kitchen as a backup to my vx5000 and it works great. Holds a lot of water, has a few useful attachments.
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I just bought this. Suppose to be coming today. Can't wait to try it.

Edit: Today I used it. Very nice. I just used it around the house, bathroom, kitchen, and my sliding glass. It works great and can't wait to try on my cars.

Its not loud at all either.
 
Have you found this (or any other) inexpensive steamer to be particularly good at cleaning engine and undersides of cars? I would love something to help me further detail old cosmoline covered bits on my cars. I hate to use $$$ worth of solvents.
 
LeMarque said:
FWIW, I purchased this one Amazon.com: McCulloch MC-1275 Heavy-Duty Steam Cleaner: Home & Kitchen as a backup to my vx5000 and it works great. Holds a lot of water, has a few useful attachments.
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I have one of these. It was bought for use in the house, we have *a lot* of white ceramic tiled floors with light grout, & the main purpose was to keep the grout clean. (Why anyone would use light grout on a floor in this part of the country...but then again I bought the place.... :wall )



It works. However, the flow of steam isn't huge - sort of like comparing a garden hose to a fire hose - and the steam pressure is moderate. I opened the hood of my daily driver a week ago or so & used it to clean some of the winter road grime in there. As long as I could get the wand close to what I wanted to clean, it did a fairly good job. But holding the wand & aiming it at the engine from up above didn't really do anything. Haven't had the opportunity to try it on the wheels or calipers yet - but it is beginning to warm up so maybe soon!
 
WaxManRonnie- Glad it's working out for you!



Brad B.- I used my Daimer to do that to the e36 M3 I had. It took all that steamer's power to do what I wanted to the undercarriage. Using a steamer on the oe undercoating (the wax-based stuff that most call "cosmoline") is a kinda weird experience; the heat primarily "compromises" the product, melting it and turning it white/opaque rather than "cleanly steaming it off". Gotta get it just right to a) clean things up the way I think you want, b) *not* remove too much of the stuff, and c) not compromise what you want to leave intact, either functionally or appearance-wise. Expect a few "oh [shoot]!" moments!



When you do get it just right, it works pretty well.



FWIW, having BTDT, when it comes to "detailing the undercoating" type work, I now stick mostly to the time-and-money intensive solvent approach. For *other* undercarriage/engine compartment stuff, the steamer is great, but watch it around...well, stuff that could be compromised by steam/water/heat. Yeah, hey, intuitively obvious, right? Heh heh heh... ;)



Kevinch- See how it works for the calipers/etc. It was failure to do that job that prompted me to buy my Daimer 1500C; my DeLonghi steamer (~55psi IIRC), while great for household work, just couldn't get the job done when it came to stuff like brake calipers. Worked fine for less demanding work though.
 
Great feedback, Accumulator. I kind of figured a miracle product didn't exist, but one can always hope. I guess I'll stick to my solvent and toothbrush method. What a mess!



I was recently under my Carrera, places that nobody will ever see, and the grungy factory spray on goop had me wishing it was gone. No realistic worries for corrosion. This thing will never see snow or salt and rarely sees rain. Still, it bugs me.



My temporary solution....take it off the lift and don't look at it. :)
 
Brad B.- Heh heh...but you know it's there ;)



Consider how long it took for the stuff to get grungy...if you do a light job with the solvent (even if you merely "clean the goop") it might stay nice for a good long time.
 
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