danglerb

We hit a patch of road construction once, like 5 miles of slow driving in muddy clay, and it basically turns to rock when it drys. They should use it to hold tiles on the space shuttle.

dr bob

Those are really BIG watts, a really SMALL half-gallon, your watch is really slow these days, or there is some supplemental energy thing involved.

SharkSkin

That's probably fine on the aluminum, but scotchbrite will remove the plating on steel parts and will eventually scrub through the paint.

The rest of you guys are cracking me up. The difference between this little steamer and commercial units like you all seem to be thinking of(or even a cold pressure washer or car wash), is like the difference between shooting a squirrel in the head with a .22 and shooting him with a howitzer.

What I'm most interested in is the stuff that you scrub and scrub, and it doesn't go away -- like the stuff on the lower A-arm in the first pic below, the big glops of cosmoline on the suspension as in the second pic, etc.

You mostly seem to be thinking of machines that move gallons per minute of water, this one uses maybe 1/2 gallon per hour. While the same issues apply, e.g. don't spray wire connectors, this unit is much, much easier to control. Those big washers would have made a huge mess of my kitchen in about 10 seconds trying to clean the oven out. This little McCulloch steamer just loosened the crud, I dabbed it up with a rag, done deal. I've used a variety of steamers & pressure washers in the past and I know, there is a HUGE difference.

H2

Bill, from the looks of your video...it looks like you already used Wally's napalm recipe and lit it with a match, climbed in, and drove off. I wondered how you got that car to smoke like that. Did you ever outrun the flames?

H2

danglerb

Its a Russell Hobbes, maybe 1.8 quart, they should be big watts at the rate I pay SoCal Edison, and tap to boil is just over 5 minutes. Usually I require caffeine immediately on demand so I use a Bunn with a constantly heated internal tank most of the time. Having a good teakettle is so handy in the kitchen.

The heating speed comes from a full 1500 watts and having the element "in" the water directly heating it. You do have to watch manufacturers claims, we bought a Cuisinart 12 cup coffee maker, and turns out in Cuisinart land a cup is 4 ounces.

IcemanG17

Rob
I dunno...but it sure sounds good huh??

From what I understand about "dry" steamers is they use a relatively low % of moisture vs just water or other pressure washers.....??

SharkSkin

Brian, that's the point I was trying to make. "dry" is not an entirely accurate description -- what it means is that it's not pumping hot water, it's emitting steam only -- so less mess(a lot less). OTOH it won't clean a large area as quickly. It's still 100% moisture, just not as large a quantity.

SharkSkin

OK, I managed to try out the little steamer on a couple of areas. On the Dodge carb/manifold, it barely touched the gunk build-up. I could grow old trying to clean that up with this little steamer! I had better luck on the rear cover of the transaxle. It took off all of the fresh gunk very quickly and easily, but again it had trouble with the older, long-term buildup. I then tried it on some cosmoline-coated suspension parts, but really all it did was clean the dirt off of the cosmoline and soften the cosmoline a little bit, as you can see on the large steel washer in the pic. I was able to soak up 100% of the mess from the transaxle & suspension experiments with a single section from the newspaper, so there is very little mess when using it.

In short, it seems to be very effective on fresh oil/coolant stains ( I tried it on the radiator side tank where the top hose had seeped at one time but didn't take a pic). I'm sure it will work extremely well on my Lloyd's floormats -- yes I will remove them from the car to do so and let them dry thoroughly before putting them back. I wouldn't use it on the original carpet though, because of the nature of the backing and because I don't want the moisture in the passenger compartment.

Having said that, it's a very useful tool to have around the house, and the revlimiter likes it so much that I've decided to upgrade to one of the higher-power Daimer units(sale ends today) which should do the jobs it's good for with even less effort. I haven't told her about it yet, I told her I was returning the McCulloch unit and she was very disappointed. The Daimer unit will make one hell of a stocking stuffer!

If one of the locals wants the McCulloch unit, knowing of it's limited use for the car, I'll let it go for $75. My take on it is that it can be very useful for maintaining cleanliness on suspension/undercarriage, but not for attaining that level of cleanliness after years of neglect. I can still return it, but will have to pay return shipping. If nobody is interested by tonight, it goes back.

If the more powerful unit does an acceptable job on cosmoline/caked on grunge, so much the better(and I'll report my results on that).

BC

I wonder if that larger one, combined with a spray of high pressure water right after it would work?

SharkSkin

The follow-up spray with water would cool the cosmoline back down IMHO. I measured 212°F at the tip on the McC unit, Daimer claims 275°F+ at the tip so it may just work by itself. Again, I don't mind if it doesn't, though I'm not going to give up so easily. I do have some other ideas. For example, I'm going to get an extra tip that I can fool with, my intent being to add a capillary tube that can inject a small amount of Simple Green into the steam. If I do it right the SG can be fed by a venturi-like action, only needing an on/off control. Even if none of these crazy ideas pan out, the machine will be a useful addition to the home for all the other things it does so well.

BC

I am thinking of getting a gas pressure washer to really clean things up.

jon928se

Sounds to me like the US needs to exclude 928 owners from the restrictions of EPA.

A decent degreaser will obviate the need to use steam. If you can't buy a Diesel or Kerosene based degreaser you can make your own - kero plus about 2-5% dishwashing liquid - mix well - spray on - pressure wash off (hot water takes the smell away quicker) . Adding about 2% of Aluminium Cleaner ?? acid also helps but don't use on wheels or allow to sit on paintwork.

Mad Chemist hat on.

scott863

THANK YOU FOR THIS POST! I was going to steam clean my perfect original carpets, and I was saved some headaches by you guys! :-)

BC

Is Simple Green not better then Kerosene and soap?

SharkSkin

Jon, I'm sure that would work but I'm looking for something in between ineffective and overkill. Something that I can use, for example, to clean my TB covers when I have them off weekend after next -- clean the front of the engine, clean tar & cosmoline off the suspension, etc. Or clean my cam towers & heads without getting water into the valley or wiring. Or clean my Dodge intake without getting high as a kite off the fumes.

I know that a steam cleaner -- a real one that moves several GPM -- would clean everything that I want to clean, but at huge expense and it would make a huge mess. Also, all of the cautions above about steam cleaning engine areas would apply any time you spray that much water in there. What you suggest would also make a huge mess IMHO. Even if it wouldn't kill the edge of my lawn where it meets the driveway, I have a real problem with the idea of hosing anything like that down the storm drains. Also, that nasty crud would stink up the gutters in front of 4 other houses on the street before it hit the drain. Just can't do it.