Steam cleaner

Helina

Helina

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I just bought a steam cleaner mainly to take off old wallpaper in the house and cleaning the bathroom etc.
Then it came to my mind if anybody has experience of using the steam cleaner in the boat ? Like if the classfibre doesn't get damaged of the high temperatures. In the boat there is gelgoat, topcoat, polyester-, vinylester- and epoxy resin. Are these surfaces ok to clean with steam ?
Would be nice if somebody has information to share.

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My brother-in-law used it to clean out the space when he removed and replaced his old cooker with new.

Worked a treat on all the old baked on mess that invariably gets spilt down the back and sides. That was on wood and grp.

Donald
 
I know people have used the steam generators from wallpaper strippers to supply a 'steaming box' for making bits of oak etc flexible to be bent into shape as ribs when building or renovating wooden boats.
 
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Then it came to my mind if anybody has experience of using the steam cleaner in the boat ?

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I used a hired wallpaper stripper to steam clean my diesel tank [12 gallons capacity and no access hatches]. Amazing amount of muck came out.
 
This just caught my attention as I investigated the same question a little while back, I had taken purchase of an old Parker racing dingy with some big holes that needed repair and was looking at using a steam cleaner to clean some parts. I have quite a range from my big machine which runs at 2000 psi and a working temp of 270 oC to my little hand held steamer so asked my local grp supplier the max temp for epoxy and gelcoat, he came back with an answer of 105 oC for thermal stability, so I came to the conclusion that the top end steam cleaners which use dry steam have a working temp of 120 oC would be too high and most domestic steam cleaners and wall paper strippers are not dry steam and run a max of 100 oC because they use a boiler system to develop pressure and steam would be safe to use as the chance of getting the core piece of material your working on too hot is highly unlikely.
and please dont use it on any furnishings with natural protein fibres such as wool and cotton as the max temp for these are 60 oC and you can cause brown out or felting, theses were my thoughts but would be interesting if any one has any construction info on epoxies and gelcoats and the effect of high heat



James
 
Recent post, I think on effects of heat on epoxy. Softens at lower than I thought - certainly less than 100C.
 
My understanding is that epoxy softens at 85-90C .
I have used hot air blower to undo epoxy glueing in wood. It took though quite a while to melt and with a steam cleaner you just hold the steam there for a little while so the temperature of the whole structure doesn't get high at all.
The representative of Kärcher said that the steam temperature when coming out is app. 130C and drops a lot within a few centimeters.
Go figure, maybe it's then safe with GRP polyester resin ?
 
Used it to clean grooves in sliding windows, and in the stackpack where algae grow in crevices. Just make sure you wash away the green rivers immediately.
 
When I first go my boat I found it great for cleaning.
I used one to clean mildew and old flaking paint - great to get into corners and places that elbow grease will not reach - brings the motor up a treat by removing built up grease from hard to get into places.

Was told one perl of wisdom which has kept mine going strong - that is to remember to put a bit of vasoline or someting similar on the thread of the filling cap or you will only get to use it once - they tend to corode on.
 
You sound knowledgeable about these things and can maybe answer a question. Some years ago I bought a small professional steamer with pressure boiler and wet vacuum cleaner - and a wide range of tools. I think it was 130C or maybe higher but I found that by the time the steam had expanded between the orifice and the work the temperature felt only warm on the hand. Obviously the expansion had caused cooling which had caused the steam to condense, so it was pretty impressive though pretty useless! For that reason I got rid of it at a great loss.

Did I buy the wrong machine? What sort of machine really does 'steam clean'?
 
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