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I’ll confess to being intrigued by the concept of steam cleaning for a little while. Watching users blast dirt out of places that on the surface has a strange appeal. And, while I’ve tried other chemical free cleaning products, simply cleaning with hot water seems a little alien to me.
Could the Beldray 15-in1 Steam Cleaner really clean dirt without the help of even an eco-friendly cleaner? Would it tackle even tough marks such as limescale, and would I find the fact it was a corded appliance difficult when it came to cleaning in bathrooms?
Armed with the box, instructions and the many parts, I replaced some elements of my weekly clean with the Beldray 15-in1 Steam Cleaner, and having finally emerged from a cloud of steam, here’s how I found the process.
Specifications
Before we dive into how I found using the Beldray 15-in-1 Steam Cleaner, it will help to explain a little about its specification. Designed for use around the home, its main features are:
- Lightweight – 2kg
- 15-in-1 product that can be used on most surfaces and floors
- Rapid heat up – only 20 seconds until ready for use
- 550 ml watertank
- 16 mins of steam cleaning from a full tank
- Hand held or as floor cleaner with extension hozes
- Flexible hose for reaching awkward corners
- Variety of attachments
- 5m power cord
- 26.6 x 15 x 26.5 cm in size
First impressions and set up
For some reason, I didn’t associate the words 15-in-1 with a product that would have lots of different parts. I’d assumed that there would maybe be a few different nozzles, so when the box arrived, I was a little surprised to open it and find so many parts inside.
Add to that what felt like a slightly limited instruction manual, and my first impressions were that this could be a bit of a challenge for someone who wasn’t that au fait with setting things up. Nonetheless, once I identified the different parts according to the instruction booklet, the rest of the set up was surprisingly simple.
You can simply use the steam cleaner as is, although adding the general nozzle means you can place a bit of distance between yourself and the steam which makes the experience more comfortable.
Once you’ve decided which fitting is right for the cleaning you want to do, it’s a case of adding it securely to the end and turning it in the direction of the arrow (shown on the fitting) to make sure it’s on tight. Then, it’s time to add the water and let it heat up.
Filling the water tank is done by using the funnel and jug provided. Given it’s a corded small appliance, it’s not recommended you fill direct from the tap. It took around 4 full jugs to fill the Beldray 15-in-1 Steam Cleaner to the top and this needs to be done when the appliance is switched off.
A see-through section on the side of the main body of the cleaner clearly shows how much water is in there at any one point. You can refill as and when required as it only takes 20 seconds to heat up. A red light running around the top of the cleaner lights up to show when it’s heating and then clears once it’s ready.
Using the Beldray 15-in-1 Steam Cleaner
My initial plan for testing the Beldray 15-in-1 Steam Cleaner was to test it in one or two locations in the bathroom, kitchen, on upholstery and on floors.
This changed a little – both for negative and positive reasons. The upholstery pad wasn’t included in the box as it should have been – instead there were two floor mop covers, and secondly once I realised how powerful the steam cleaner was, I ended up using it in more areas than I had originally planned!
Bathroom cleaning with the steam cleaner
My starting place was the bathroom. I have large crittal style shower screens and walk-in showers which collect limescale like there’s no tomorrow. I used the window cleaner attachment which you slot over the upholstery cleaner and set to, in the hope it would remove the tough water marks.
Using the Beldary 15-in-1 steam cleaner on the shower screens was pretty easy. The long 5m cord meant I could plug it in in my bedroom when using it in the ensuite, and there’s a plug outside the door of the family bathroom so access was simple.
In the ensuite, I made the mistake of using the fixed nozzle as opposed to the flexible hose which meant cleaning at the very bottom of the screen felt difficult. With the flexible hose however it was far easier to turn the squeegee style head in different directions.
The results? Although on first glance it appeared to clear the limescale quite well, it wasn’t consistent across all of the screen, and the more stubborn deposits needed the help of some cleaning spray and a scrub with a microfibre cloth.
In the family bathroom I took a different approach and used the general nozzle to blast the shower screen before cleaning it my normal way with diluted Zoflora disinfectant from Amazon and a microfibre cloth. Compared to normal, this certainly felt like it helped the process and lifted some of the marks in advance.
In the remainder of the bathroom cleaning, I used it around the bathroom sealant on the shower tray, in grout lines, on the shower rail, inbuilt tiled recesses around the sink tap and then had a brainwave.
If you have males in the house, I’m hoping you’ll relate (or maybe it’s just the males in my house?), but if you don’t feel free to read on as this point won’t be relevant.
However, without going into too much detail, I often find the underneath of the toilet seat gets easily discoloured. Bleach removes the stains of course, but I wondered if steam could too?
I wasn’t expecting a great result, but I added the brush tool to the end of the general nozzle and started to clean. To my surprise, it absolutely worked. I didn’t take pictures as it didn’t feel appropriate, but take my word that the underneath of the seat is now white again.
Mopping the bathroom floor once it was vacuumed was the final stage, and again, although I wasn’t expecting huge results without any cleaning products, the bottom of the mop proved me wrong.
If anything, given the bathroom was only mopped a week ago and has had little use this week as one of my son’s has been away, it may well have made it cleaner than my usual mop and bucket approach.
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Kitchen cleaning with the steam cleaner
As I have an open plan kitchen dining and living space, I was little more reluctant to use the steam cleaner too heavily in the kitchen, as having seen the amount of steam it produces, I didn’t want to end up with a moisture heavy space.
I therefore decided to use it mainly in the corners and around the edge of kitchen worktops, to give the glass induction hob an extra cleaning blast, around taps and underneath the rim of the undercounter sink.
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However, as with cleaning the bathroom, it struck me that there could be some additional uses for the steam cleaner that I’d not factored in. I’d also decided to deep clean my oven on Saturday night, meaning I had this job still to complete, along with the filter unit from my recirculating kitchen extractor fan being overdue a clean as well.
Once again, the steam cleaner proved its worth, helping to loosen the remaining food deposits from the oven racks, and blast easily through the grease build on on the extractor filter.
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Final verdict
My main issue with the Beldray-15-in-1 cleaner? I cleaned for way longer than I normally would as I realised just how many other cleaning jobs I could tick off with it already set up and in use. It’s not a complaint in the slightest as with regular use of the product, I am sure it would eventually cut down cleaning time in the long run.
It was slightly heavier to handle than I expected, although not uncomfortably so, and certainly wasn’t harder to use on the floor than a standard mop.
A word of caution however. Please do read the warning leaflet that comes with it advising steam can still release from the unit even after you take your finger off the activation trigger. I forgot once or twice meaning I moved the unit and directed steam where it wasn’t meant to go.
It didn’t tackle the limescale in bathrooms quite as well as I’d hoped, but to be honest, I’m not surprised as it’s never easy to shift. Other than that, it dealt with every other task I thew it at admirably.
Having been surprised at how many toxins cleaning chemicals were released into my home when I tested the Molekule Air Pro, it was also reassuring to get such a good clean only using water.
Would I continue using it to clean my home? Absolutely yes. Would I recommend it? I think it’s worth the money for sure.
Next on the list to tackle are the grout lines on the bathroom floor tiles which are a little discoloured, and I’m interested to see how it will handle any mould that will undoubtedly appear on the grout lines in the shower. I’m also planning on getting hold of an upholstery pad to give my sofas a clean, which with two sons and a dog will certainly give it a run for its money.
View the original article and our Inspiration here
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