Steam Cleaner vs Steam Mop: Difference and Comparison

Besides cooking and drinking, water has been used for cleaning for centuries. Despite its amazing cleansing power, water still can’t clean efficiently in certain areas and situations.

However, the vapor form of water, or steam, can be used to counter those problems as steam is better than water at cleaning.

Key Takeaways

1. A steam cleaner is used to sanitize and clean various surfaces with the help of hot water vapor and detergent, whereas a steam mop is primarily designed to clean floors.
2. Steam cleaners have a higher temperature and pressure than steam mops, making them suitable for tougher cleaning tasks such as removing grime, grease, and mold.
3. Steam mops are more convenient and user-friendly than steam cleaners as they are lightweight, easy to maneuver, and require less time for setup.

Steam Cleaner vs Steam Mop

A steam cleaner is a handheld or upright device that heats water to a high temperature and then releases the steam through a nozzle to clean and sanitize surfaces. A steam mop has a water tank and a heating element that heats the water to produce steam which is released through the mop head.

Steam Cleaner is a kind of cleaning device that cleans surfaces and appliances by targeting the hot stream of vapors over the dirty areas.

Other features of Steam Cleaners include the ability to disinfect surfaces and the skill to clean without using chemicals and keep the indoor air quality high.

Steam Mop is a Steam Cleaner in the shape of a mop. In other words, a mop that uses steam to clean is called a Steam Mop. Also, Steam Mops can filter and trap the dust, dirt, and other small particles in the pad situated under the steam jet.

Comparison Table

Parameters of Comparison	Steam Cleaner	Steam Mop
Shape	Commonly a Blower-like shape	Mop-like shape
Ability to trap dust	Some Steam Cleaners can’t collect dirt and dust	Steam Mops can trap dust particles
Height of machine	Mostly a hand-held machine	Steam Mops are long like a mop
Applications	Can be used to clean any surface	Mostly used to clean floors
Dust removal	The user needs to manually wipe or clean the dirt after it comes up to the surface	The user needs to clean the dust-trapping pads installed in a Steam Mop
Type of production	Produced for normal consumers as well as industry-level machines	Mostly produced for households and normal consumers
Invented in	1960	1998
Invented by	An Italian boiler factory	Romi Haan

What is Steam Cleaner?

A steam cleaner uses the vapor form of water to clean, disinfect and sterilize surfaces. Steam Cleaners have a boiler where the water is heated to 115-155C (240-310F) and at such a high temperature, the water transforms into steam.

When this steam is forced into a surface, its heat energy can break the bonds between dust molecules. After that, the dirt comes to the surface and it can be wiped or vacuumed, leaving a clean surface.

It is said that the first Steam Cleaner was used in an Italian boiler factory in 1960. The purpose of this device was to clean machinery as steam was efficient in cleaning grease and oil.

Other than the cleaning task, the steam-heat can also sanitize, disinfect or even sterilize a surface. Steam Cleaners don’t require any other chemicals for cleaning and therefore they can maintain the healthy air quality in households.

Moreover, Steam Cleaners are more hygienic and cost-effective than other cleaning methods.

The two types of Steam Cleaners based on the type of steam they use are Hot Steam and Cold Steam. The Hot Steam Cleaners use high-temperature vapors whereas Cold Steam Cleaners use cold vapors for cleaning.

What is Steam Mop?

A Steam Mop is a device shaped like a mop that cleans surfaces using steam. In other words, Steam Mop is a mop but with additional steam power.

Steam Cleaners first generate steam by heating water around 120 C (248F) and then force it into the pores of a surface.

The pressure exerted by steam molecules on dust molecules forces them to rise to the surface and the dirt is then trapped into a microfiber pad inserted under the steam jet.

Romi Haan is a South Korean woman credited with the invention of Steam Mop in 1998. Romi used to mop floors as most people did back then – by sitting on her hands and knees.

Korean floors were very hard and she was frustrated with the task. So, she developed a machine to make her work easier and named it “Steam Mop”.

Since Steam Mops are in the shape of mops, they are mostly used to clean floors and other things that a traditional mop can clean.

Also, Steam Mops can clean up to 99% of germs and disinfect surfaces without using any additional detergents or chemicals because hot steam molecules can effectively break most of the molecules and dispose of them.

Main Differences Between Steam Cleaner And Steam Mop

1. Steam Cleaners commonly have a blower-like shape whereas Steam Mops have a mop-like shape.
2. Some Steam Cleaners can’t trap dirt whereas Steam Mops do.
3. Steam Cleaners are mostly hand-held machines whereas Steam Mops are long as traditional mops.
4. Steam Cleaners can be used to clean any surface whereas Steam Mops are used to clean floors.
5. The user needs to wipe the dirt manually after using a Steam Cleaner. On the other hand, the user can simply change the dust pad in a Steam Mop.
6. Steam Cleaners are produced for households as well as industries whereas Steam Mops are produced for homes.
7. Steam Cleaner was invented in 1960 whereas Steam Mop was invented in 1998.
8. Steam Cleaner was invented by an Italian boiler factory whereas Steam Mop was invented by Romi Haan.

References

1. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2222.1995.tb03252.x
2. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-33-4604-8_50

Last Updated : 18 July, 2023