FOOD SAFETY AND STEAM CLEANING
The power of steam
Daniel Took, Head of Professional Product Marketing at Kärcher UK, discusses the importance of steam cleaning and how, when used effectively, it can save time and increase cleaning efficiency.
Cleaning is crucial within any facility. With multiple surfaces, workspaces and user demands, maintaining building cleanliness standards is challenging. When done well, it protects the buildings’ reputation, ensuring a fresh and welcoming arrival experience and, more importantly, ensuring that facility users can visit in a safe and clean environment. Keeping up with a busy facility’s demands requires an efficient, productive cleaning regime.
While there are many advantages associated with using detergents to increase cleaning efficiency and remove dirt, many budgets are restricted, making it difficult for FMs to commit to a diverse range of cleaning detergents. A viable and effective alternative is steam-based cleaning: an efficient method of dirt removal that eliminates unwanted pathogens, germs, and bacteria.
How do steam cleaners work?
Water is heated to boiling point, after which it’s expelled via the cleaning nozzle at temperatures around 100°C. Steam particles contact surfaces at up to 170km/h, allowing the steam to penetrate deeply, reaching any nooks and crannies difficult to reach by hand.
This combination of heat and pressure aids in eradicating dirt on surfaces by breaking down oils and grease for efficient removal. It’s important to note that the steam cools the further away the cleaner is held from the surface. Therefore, for the most efficient use, steam cleaners must be guided directly over surfaces.
Additionally, high pressure and heat eliminates bacteria and pathogens as they’re unable to survive the steamy conditions, resulting in the removal of up to 99.999% of enveloped viruses. This ensures surfaces are left clean, protecting the overall health of facility staff.
Steam’s effectiveness in targeting hard-to-reach areas greatly reduces the need for detergents. It gets underneath the dirt, loosening it from the surface. As users go over the dirt with the steam cleaner and its attached cloth, the dirt is mopped up and removed. The high heat and small vapour droplets also ensure surfaces dry quickly, reducing downtime. Detergents are often used to tackle stubborn dirt,
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but the effectiveness of steam and vapour particles makes it unnecessary for effective cleaning, resulting in a more environmentally friendly, chemical-free process.
Boosting cleaning efficiency
Deploying dedicated cleaning machines that provide real solutions to tasks will minimise downtime and boost productivity. The high pressure and temperature output from steam cleaning machines makes them ideal tools for achieving cleaning efficiency, as they can be applied to a wide range of surfaces, from tiles and wood to glass and ceramics.
Kärcher’s new SG 4/2 utilises onboard water tanks to help workers clean for longer. These tanks ensure staff can move between different tasks without having to repeatedly fill up with water. Furthermore, if the tank is filled with warm (not hot) water, the time it takes for the water to boil is reduced, enabling cleaners to tackle dirt quicker. The SG 4/2 is a compact machine featuring an all-in-one box design, takes only three minutes to heat up and produces 4-bar pressure, ideal for deep cleaning and sanitation without chemicals.
Moving to all-in-one solutions enables staff to better handle any attached cables, reducing the health and safety risk. Loose cables strewn across the floor supplying water and electricity pose a danger to fast-paced working environments, where multiple users might pass through corridors at any one time. Compact machines reduce the number of cables present, ensuring users stay safe whilst surfaces are cleaned.
Making the move to steam cleaning
It’s important to understand where you’ll get the best use out of steam cleaning, and the accessories that will maximise results for a clean and safe environment. The positives are numerous, from increasing efficiency to saving on detergent costs and eliminating unwanted bacteria, germs and pathogens. Shifting to steam cleaning is a great way for cleaners and FMs to ensure effective cleaning. With its versatility across numerous surfaces and the multitude of accessories available, adding a steam cleaner to the arsenal is an effective move that pays long-term dividends.
www.kaercher.com/uk
twitter.com/TomoCleaning
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