[The Great One]

Hi

I have just invested in a Vax, steam cleaner from Argus at £70.

Why have I not invested in one earlier?

I have knocked at least 6 hours in tottal off of my EOT cleans this week alone, by the end of next week it will have more than paid for itself!

I turned around a student clean today in 8 man hours, knocking at least 4 hours off of the clean. Now instead of the kitchen taking 3-4 hours, it is taking about 1 1/2.

For those that don't have one, go get one!

Regards

Martin

[absolutecleaning]

Martin

Have wondered before about these.

Have worried about residual dampness - is this a problem?

What sort of things can they lift?

I presume that also no product is required which can be a good selling point?

Thanks

Simon

[Bertie Boo]

Hey Martin

Last year i picked up an almost-new Karcher steam cleaner (looks like a cylinder vaciuum cleaner), complete with steam iron. It cost me all of £60 so i was well chuffed, especially as there was a recipt in the which showed that it had cost £199.99 when new.

Anyway, i just cannot get to grips with it 

It works perfectly, its just me i think. I can't work out where you are supposed to stand in order to avoid being blinded by the steam.

I also end up getting soaked from the condensed steam 

Can you give us some pointers?

Cheers

Stephen

[cml]

Hi Martin, 

We still use this as a back up on our small domestic jobs and would agree is a good machine machine.   

Enjoy quicker and chemically free cleaning.   

[The Great One]

Hi

I now use it on practicaly everything, bathroom tiles, bog, basin, everything in the kitchen, hard to reach places, skirtings, doors, stair railings.

I usually pre spray in the kitchen with de greaser to loosen the grease.

Just spark it up, and then blast away using short bursts. I now start in the kitchens and get that done sharpish, then the bathrooms and all it leaves are the skirtings and we are done.

last year was an endless stream of student cleans and each one taking 12-20 hours, yesterday was only 8 man hours.

I do find in fridges and ovens the steam builds up, but just stop and let it dissapate.

For all you guys that do EOT cleaning I can say enough how much easier your life would be with one of these steam cleaners, it also cuts down on the amount of graft and scrubbing of surfaces and the steam gets most stains off and all you have to do it wipe the surface with kitchen towel.

I am buying another one, my cleaning business has been transformed!

Vax steam cleaner Argus £69.99 or on ebay for about £35 (inc p+p)

Regards

Martin

[Art]

Hi Martin,

 Sounds like a useful tool that i'll have to get.

What model is it?

Arthur

[DREAM CLEAN]

Hi Martin,


Does the tank not run out quick?
Does it not take a long time to heat up?

Nick

[richyvezy]

Right that's it, we're off to get ourselves one tomorrow....it better be as good as you say Martin !! Tis the student changeover season and we've got a few coming up so this will HOPEFULLY help.

Richy

[The Great One]

Hi guys

It is the Vax model i am using (aqua blue) steam time is 50 mins straight, takes about 11 mins to heat up.

Just got in from a student call back.

Forgot to defrost freezer, so used the steam cleaner to do it, at 115C it made short work of it, would of been done in less than an hour ( inc setup and put away) but mummy turned up....

Argh!!!!!

Took me two hours running around for mummy, wondering why a dilapitated student house wasn't gleaming...

er.. that's age, not dirt mummy.

Rich I am 3 weeks into my student season and I'm wondering why I didn't get one from the start, years ago. I will never look back now.

Vax V081 Compact Steam Cleaner 3.5 Bar Pressure

    * 1500W steam generator
    * Great for cleaning mirrors, hard surfaces and grime from kitchen and bathroom tiles
    * 1.6 litre tank capacity
    * 3.5 bar maximum pressure
    * Heating time: 11 minutes
    * Steaming time: 50 minutes/tank
    * Steam flow rate: max 40g/min
    * Variable steam control with over-heating protection
    * Control panel: on/off & ready steam indicators
    * Steam gun with 1.7m hose
    * 15pc accessory set
    * Retail Price £69.99

Please do let me know if you go ahead with it.

Regards

Martin

[absolutecleaning]

Martin

Am I right in thinking this would work very well for cleaning dirty grout on floor and wall toilets in several office toilets we have to so soon.

Thanks

Simon

[Bertie Boo]

I cant get it to work on grout  i end up fetching the grout out the tiles (or at least i did on the one and only time i tried it).

When i was doing my BICs level one the tutor threw coffee up a tiled wall for the wall-washing exercise and it stained the grout. Even she admitted that when we'd gone off to lunch she'd had to fetch the bleach out 

Stephen

[Art]

I cant get it to work on grout  i end up fetching the grout out the tiles (or at least i did on the one and only time i tried it).

When i was doing my BICs level one the tutor threw coffee up a tiled wall for the wall-washing exercise and it stained the grout. Even she admitted that when we'd gone off to lunch she'd had to fetch the bleach out 

Stephen

Hi Stephen, so BICS condone the use of bleach?

Arthur

[Bertie Boo]

Nope Art, i dont think they do.

The course i was on was run by a college which is totally, totally independant of BICs. They do all sorts of cleaning course including NVQ and Infection Control. They are also able to run BICs courses in the same way that you and I could if we wanted to.

The tutor said that she'd resorted to bleach to take the colour out of the stain that was left. There was no reference to this being part of the BICs training because as far as that went we just cleaned the wall in the same way as out tutor had shown us in order to complete the task.

We just had to ignore the fact that the grouting was stained 

Stephen

[Art]

So was the course run by BICS or not?

Arthur

[Bertie Boo]

Art

No BICs course is run by BICs. Sorry, i thought you knew that.

Basically BICs have a standard of cleaning and a range of tasks that can be taught to people. BICs do not do the teaching, rather a person (and that could be you, me, or anyone) from a company or organisation will be given the BICs papers and what-not (i think possibly some training too but dont quote me) and is then able to train people to the BICs standard.

AFAIK the requirements to teach cleaning to BICs level are that the company or organisation who wants to teach their cleaners has all the equipment and facilities to demonstrate and teach all the tasks that they choose to do. The BICs trainers are assesed by a BICs rep every 12 months.

So, in my case, the college i went to has been approved by BICs to teach their courses. The college then charges (in my case i paid my own fee but usually its the company that the cleaner worls for who pays) for teaching the course to cleaners.

As the proprioter of a clenaing company you have two choices if you want your staff to be trained to BICs standard - you either set yourself (or an employee) as a BICs trainer, or you send your cleaners to a college  (or similar) to do the course with someone who has already bought-into the BICs process.

Sorry for assuming you knew how it worked, i dont know why i did that 

Stephen

[Art]

That's interesting.

So is there any feedback forms on these 3rd party trainning bodies that you have to complete and send back to BICS as a way of monitoring how these courses are presented?

Arthur

[Joe H]

To speed up the 11 min initial heating time - fill with hot water.

[Bertie Boo]

That's interesting.

So is there any feedback forms on these 3rd party trainning bodies that you have to complete and send back to BICS as a way of monitoring how these courses are presented?

Arthur

Hi Art

I did do a questionaire at the end of it, but i can't honestly say whether that was feedback to BICs or feedback to the college.

I am guessing that it wasn't to do with BICs because if, for example, it was you who was the 'BICs trainer' in your company and you were training your staff to clean the BICs way then you wouldnt want them to send a form off to BICs to say what they thought of the training, if that makes sense?

From what i can establish, BICs are not concerned as to whether someone is a 'BICs trainer' for the purpose of training their own staff OR for running courses for 3rd parties (like the college i went to), the fact is that they have to pay BICs for the training packs for each course, plus the registration fees and what-not for each person being trained. Then there is also the modertators cost (i dont know how that works) when someone comes in every 12 months from BICs to check that the trainer is doing the training correctly.

My friend who is an NVQ cleaning assesor also used to do BICs courses but the college he works for has since stopped this as there is no funding for it (i am not sure whether it was funded previously or not) and, from what i can gather, they could never get enough interest in the courses as they were chargable.

Cheers

Stephen

[Alan Rowley]

I've purchased  the Vax model recommended by Martin and I tried it out on my bathroom today.

The nylon brush provided is looking rough already. Is this normal? The bristles are flattened.

Where can you get replacements? How long do these things last?

ALAN.

[Rob Kennedy]

http://www.vax.co.uk/shop/accessories.php?browseall=browseall&prodID=72

Rob