CLEANING & HYGIENE
The Power of Steam Cleaning
Kärcher explains the cleaning power of steam, and questions why more businesses haven’t yet switched on to the benefits.
Steam cleaners can be used to quickly and hygienically clean countless areas completely without chemicals. This makes them all-purpose; suitable for hard floors, bathroom and kitchen fittings, tiles, glass and machinery, as well as refreshing and smoothing textiles, without the need for special cleaning agents for each application.
Generating pressurised steam at up to 8 bar pressure, they feature on the government’s Water Efficient Technology List*, making them time, environmentally and cost efficient and well as a health-conscious alternative for users, particularly beneficial to staff with sensitive skin and/or allergies.
Over recent years the use of steam as a cleaning agent has grown in popularity in UK households - partly due to the trend towards hard flooring - in industrial settings such as commercial kitchens and the automotive industry the use of steam for cleaning has been long established to remove even the most stubborn deposits. Indeed, jets of steam have been used to remove oily and greasy dirt from vehicle engines for nearly 60 years. Yet despite its versatility, awareness of steam and the principles of how it works are still surprisingly low. When the R&D team from the global cleaning technology giant Kärcher were engineering their latest products they found that three factors played a critical role – the mechanical action of the steam jet, its high temperature, and the condensation of steam particles as they collide with a surface.
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The mechanical energy of the jet of steam emitted is generated by excess pressure in the boiler at a temperature of up to 170ºC. The jet hits the surface to be cleaned at high speed thereby overcoming the adhesive power of any dirt.
Temperature is another critical factor for producing a good cleaning result. The higher the temperature, the lower the mechanical energy required for dislodging dirt. Moreover, when the steam collides with the surface and the dirt, the two heat up at different rates. These thermal strains loosen the bond between surface and dirt.
Lastly, water in the form of hot steam has a very low surface tension, (which is ordinarily only achieved with tap water softened with surfactants). Its microscopic particles penetrate beneath the dirt and, unlike a brush, into small pores that even brushes and small-diameter fibres cannot reach. As steam condenses there, it instantly overrides the electrodynamic action of the dirt and dislodges it.
What is more, the cleaned surfaces are very soon ready for use again, because steam is only a percentage of water by mass and is hot, the residual moisture evaporates quickly eliminating the moist breeding ground germs and bacteria love.
Steam products can definitely give your premises a clean bill of health - the Kärcher SG 4/4 Steam Cleaner and SGV 6/5 and SGV 8/5 Steam Generating Vacuums are all certified to disinfect, killing 99.999% of bacteria without chemicals†.
principles of how it works are still surprisingly low.”
its versatility, awareness of steam and the
“Yet despite
Steam Generating Vacuums combine a steam cleaner with a wet and dry vacuum cleaner in one, meaning germs and bacteria are immediately extracted together with the condensed water in the same pass. The Kärcher SGV 8/5 has been specifically designed to meet strict hygiene requirements, with its unique automatic self-cleaning action; after each use hoses, pumps and pipes can be automatically flushed to remove deposits and prevent germ formation – clean and ready for action, wherever and whenever it is needed.
www.karcher.co.uk/professional.
www.tomorrowscare.co.uk
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