Budget Steam Cleaners

Best steam cleaners for most homes

The highest praise is generally reserved for the most expensive steam cleaners, discussed further below. However, most homeowners aren't really looking to spend up to $1,000 on a steam cleaner. We found good reviews for some simpler, less expensive machines, but they don't steam for as long and they don't have a continuous-fill feature -- which means they must be turned off and allowed to cool before refilling.

The McCulloch MC-1275 (*Est. $110) earns solidly good reviews at consumer sites. This budget steam cleaner is lightweight, and it can steam for up to 60 minutes with a 50-ounce tank capacity. Many owners say the McCulloch steam cleaner works well for small jobs such as bathroom grout, shower doors and tile floors/walls. In general, owners find that using the McCulloch helps them to reduce the amount of chemicals they use, although using a steam cleaner does not completely eliminate the need to use chemicals. Most owners say it does a good job with tile grout and day-to-day floor cleaning, but the pressure never gets high enough to clean mildew off shower doors. Some say the attachments work well, but others say that they aren't very durable and that replacements are hard to find. Still, we found better reviews for the McCulloch steam cleaner than for other inexpensive models, including several from Euro-Pro.

The McCulloch MC-1275 comes with casters, which adds to the ease of mobility as compared to some other models. Accessories include several brushes of varying sizes -- most made of nylon, but one of brass. Two extension wands, a funnel, measuring cup, window tools, squeegee and a terry cover for the floor brush are also included. Preheat time is about 5 to 10 minutes, and the steam temperature can reach 250 degrees Fahrenheit (some higher-end cleaners can reach over 300 degrees). A steam control switch helps to regulate the steam flow, and an indicator light tells you when the steam is ready. You need to empty out the water tank after use -- an important step in reducing mineral buildup. Using distilled water can prevent this problem. There is a one-year warranty, but the boiler itself is only warranted for 90 days.

We also found some good reviews for the SteamFast SF-275 (*Est. $100), which has a 50-ounce tank. In fact, the SteamFast and McCulloch steam cleaners look almost identical. There's a good reason for that -- the two are made by the same Kansas City based company called Top Innovations. Reviews for both machines are similar.

We found better reviews for the Shark Ultra Steam Blaster (*Est. $100) than we did for some other Euro-Pro Shark steam cleaners. Like the McCulloch and SteamFast models, the Shark steam cleaner has rolling canisters and looks a lot like a small canister vacuum. Like the other two cleaners, the Ultra Steam Blaster comes with an array of extension wands, a floor attachment, brushes, a squeegee and a nozzle attachment. However, the Shark Ultra Steam Blaster only holds 16 ounces of water compared to 50 ounces for the McCulloch and SteamFast models. This means you'll get only about 20 minutes of cleaning time before needing to refill the Shark model. We found good comments for the Steam Blaster, but for the same price, the McCulloch and SteamFast offer much larger water tanks and longer cleaning times.