Review and how-to: Vapor Chief Steam Cleaners by Mike Phillips

[ShaneB]

Great write up!

What are your thoughts on detergent injection in terms of what dilution to use with your cleaner of choice? I'm just now getting into experimenting with something other than the Dupray APC which is made for steam injection and am a little unsure as to how I should mix my APC. I'm going to try Poorboys APC+D at 64:1 at first and see how I like it, but I worry about mixing it too strong. There really isn't much info out there when it comes to what chemicals and how they react with steam injection

[Eric@CherryOnTop]

Mike, what is the reason it says to only use tap water and not distilled water?

[ShaneB]

Mike, what is the reason it says to only use tap water and not distilled water?

If im not mistaken they use some type of electrical current which goes thru the water to monitor the level in the boiler. Distilled water is not conductive, tap water is, and therefore the machine would probably assume the boiler is empty and wouldn't heat up if filled with distilled water.

I could be wrong but I thought I remember reading that somewhere

[Mike Phillips]

Great write up!

Takes a little time to do the work, take the pictures and then do something with it all.

What are your thoughts on detergent injection in terms of what dilution to use with your cleaner of choice?

I'm just now getting into experimenting with something other than the Dupray APC which is made for steam injection and am a little unsure as to how I should mix my APC.

I'm going to try Poorboys APC+D at 64:1 at first and see how I like it, but I worry about mixing it too strong.

There really isn't much info out there when it comes to what chemicals and how they react with steam injection

Great question Shane...

I think in the video I covered this topic by saying to dilute whatever product you're going to use to the normal dilution you would use it without steam injection and that is the rule of thumb.

So if an APC states to dilute at 4:1 then mix up your product accordingly for a the holding tank you're using with the system you own. In this case, I had to do the math, (not my strong point), and the way I did it was to first see what I had for a measuring cup.

I have a 1000 ml or milliliter measuring cup in the garage for just this type of thing.

Next I had to convert 5 liters to milliliters which is simple as it's 5000 milliliters.

Now to figure 4:1 dilution this means 4 parts water and 1 part of the product you want to dilute which will give you a total of 5 parts.

This is where I was lucky as it's pretty easy to figure out how many times "5 parts" go into 5000 and the answer if 5. So if I need a total of 5 parts of 1000 milliliters that means I'll need 4000 milliliters of water and 1000 milliliters of product and that's what I mixed for the video.


I think that's right. I'll cede to any math whizzes in the audience.


The bigger point is that just because you're using steam you don't have to or need to change the dilution of a product.

[Mike Phillips]

Mike, what is the reason it says to only use tap water and not distilled water?

Great question Eric.

With Vapor Chief, the heating element is on the OUTSIDE of the stainless steel boiler not the inside.

Thus the heating element is NOT coming into contact with any dissolved minerals and other substances found in tap water so there's no physical contact or interaction between these things thus no problems. There is a problem when the heating element is in the inside of the boiler and whatever chemical changes take place to the heating element and the boiler itself from the interaction between the two will tend to wear-out or break the unit plus void any warranty.

At least the above is my understanding....

[lolitsDanny]

I got my 75 last week and its an excellent machine. What are your thoughts on using steam to clean out speaker grills? I was a little apprehensive on using the soft bristle brush with the single nozzle and resorted to using a detail brush instead.

[jjackkrash]

My 125 came a few days ago, and I spent a little time with it last night. Its pretty impressive they way it gets the grime out of nooks and crannies.

[Ted Y]

I bought a Vapor Chief 100 over a year ago and it is a great tool! You can also use it to clean your bathrooms and tile floors. High quality product. You won't be disappointed.

[josher]

Thanks for the SOLID review and write up Mike! I am in the market for a Steamer and the 5 i have considered you guys sell so please help me eliminate a few so I can better make a decision!... Originally I was going to get a Dupray Innox Carmen injection model that is about $4,000 dollars which I think is no longer an option as I don't think I NEED one that expensive...

GOALS with steamer... Engine bay details as needed, all interior as needed.... and the occasional rim-job if the particular job calls for steam...... With the carmen innox out of the 5 options I think I have come up with 4 potentials to get......

2 in the $2,000 range and 2 in the $1,000 dollar range.

*** $1,999.99 - Dupray Hill Injection (I like this one along with the next 3 i'm about to list due to price and continuous refill ALSO the injection capabilities..... not sure if the injection is needed or worth the extra $1000)

*** $849.99 - Dupray ONE Plus - I like the price... NO INJECTION capable....

*** $1,029.00 - Vapor Chief 100 - I like this because continuous refill.... price range is good and Mike you say it's good so that helps me like it more

*** $1,999.00 - Vapor Chief 125 - I like this one IF I need injection or think it is a wiser purchase for the long run investment...... Please help me choose what would be great! I no longer want the Innox Carmen due to how big it is....

Thank you Mike and everyone else who may chime in.... appreciate the review on the Vapor Chiefs as I didn't know about these much before seeing your review. Thank you

[josher]

I realize between all of the Duprays I listed above..... the hill injection for $2,000 dollars has a self cleaning boiler and is made of stainless steel as the others are not and don't.... hmmmmmm