FAQ

To make the most of your steam cleaner the following tips will be helpful in making cleaning tasks easier, safer and more productive.

There are no set rules on how to clean with steam. With the vast array of attachments supplied with your machine it is quite possible to achieve the required results using different tools in the same time frame. Most operators find that they can do most tasks using a small selection of attachments. Do not be afraid of trying something new or attempting to clean something that you have not tried to clean before.

About Steam & How To Use It

Steam-Nature’s Disinfectant

What better way to clean? No need for chemicals – uses very little water- fantastic results- vacuums up the dirt- leaves a sanitised surface and a fresh smell you may never have experienced!

If it is important for your business to provide a clean environment for your customers and you want to reduce cleaning costs then contact us and we will show you how your Steamworks® steam machine can work for you.

Cleaning fridges inside and out, stoves, vents, extractor fans, stainless steel, walls, floors and even ceilings! All areas of a Kitchen should be hygienically clean – and steam offers a natural cleaning method.

Clean grout lines and tiles without the need to use an acid wash. Produce a professional result without harsh chemicals! Clean toilet floors without the need to touch surfaces. Steam away spilt drink and ground in food, sanitising your floors as you go!

Want to get your equipment back to near new looking? Try Steam to attack the dirt and grime.

Sanitise surfaces, try it on chairs, tables and fittings which are difficult to access, you’ll be amazed how well they come up.

Glass, vents, metal grills are surfaces that Steamworks® machines can clean.

Use steam in showers, toilets and public eating areas and your customers will appreciate the high level of cleanliness your business offers.

What is it?

The Athena machine uses a little water and a little electricity to sanitise, clean and deodorise virtually any surface – without the use of chemicals.

What is "Dry" Steam?

The Athena machine, produces a high temperature, low moisture steam. Over the past few years, you have been exposed to products being promoted as “steam cleaners” that in fact use no steam at all. These “steam machines” spray large amounts of water using quantities described in “litres per minute”. You may ask, “Where’s the steam?” The Athena by contrast, is equipped to safely produce “dry” steam continuously, without interrupting the work you are doing. This significant difference relates directly to the versatility and capabilities of the Athena machine. It is unlike anything you have used before. It is mess free with temperatures hot enough to kill bacteria and germs, emulsify grease and oil as well as other surface contaminates.

How to clean Bathrooms

Toilets

Use the long steam lance or ferrule and run it under the toilet rim.
Spray the steam over the whole toilet inside and out.
Wipe down the toilet seat with a clean cloth or paper towel. You can use the squeegee tool with vac on flat surface areas if desired, but make sure to clean attachment well before using it on other areas.

Urinals

Use the brass detail brush or stainless steel scourer to give the urinal a good scrub. You may want to use the extension handle or two so not to get too close. You will find this has most likely never been properly cleaned before.
No chemicals required.

Taps and sinks

Using the detail nozzle spray around the base of the taps, the dirt will be easily blasted out.
Use the nylon or brass detail brush to scrub the tap handles, spouts and drains.
You can then use the squeegee tool to steam and vac the vanity top. Or use a cloth over the triangle head for non vac models.

Windows or mirrors

If cleaning glass with vapor for the first time, clean with vapor squeegee two times (low pressure).
First, to remove all old cleaning chemical residue from the pores of the glass.
There after, only one time for regular cleaning.
Remove leftover water with the squeegee or squeegee and vac.
For smaller windows use the triangular brush with a towel (low heat i.e. let it cool slightly first).

Auto hand driers

You can use the nylon detail brush to clean the push button. You will find that has never been cleaned before so it will make a very nice difference.

Fibreglass Fixtures

Bath Tubs: Use the round nylon brush -low pressure – Scrub bottom of tub in all directions with a non-abrasive detergent containing bleach. After cleaning, repeat the action with a cleaning/whitening agent so the whitening particles can enter the pores of the surface. Estimate 20-30 minutes per tub on the initial cleaning to completely remove all body oils and soap scum from the pores of the fiberglass.
Repeat every 2- 3 months.

Porcelain Fixtures

Use only nylon detail brushes as dictated by the space -low pressure. Use only very light hand pressure on the brush. It may be necessary to wrap a towel over the brush if it appears the bristles are leaving scratch marks.
For rust stains use a non-scouring detergent (without beach if the porcelain is coloured).
Or mix your own rust remover by creating a paste of salt and lemon juice. Use the Nylon circular brush. Caution: It is possible to scratch porcelain with the nylon bristles on the brushes and to discolour some enamel paints with too much heat.

Use only a low vapor setting and light surface pressure.
Wrap a towel over the brush and re-clean the surface if scratching occurs.

Soap Scum

Soap scum dissolves almost immediately under a combination of heat and moisture.
Use a brush (small brush head) without a towel or with a towel clipped over it – medium pressure – and move quickly. Rinse the surface with a small amount of water afterwards or go back over it once more with a clean towel.
Moving too slowly can dry out the soap scum and cause it to granulate on the surface.
The surface will have a gritty feel. If this happens, apply vapor to the surface with the open brush again and re clean.

Note: Soap scum sometimes will develop a hard surface from water born minerals. If this is the case, use the brush with no towel first to break up this surface – or spray and wipe first with a mild acid, such as vinegar or lemon juice to soften the minerals.

Cleaning Around Electrical Outlets or Switch Plates

Use a Brush with a towel wrapped around it and low pressure steam.
Wipe quickly to clean away dust and dirt from the outlet.
Do not blow vapor directly into the front of an outlet or switch plate.

How to clean Blinds

Horizontal Blinds

If they have a lot of accumulated “crud” on the surfaces, pre-spray the blinds with mild detergent that you have thinned out 3:1 with water. Use nozzle with no brush. Use open vapor -medium or high pressure – to blow loose dirt and dust off surface of horizontal slats.

Switch to triangular brush with towel.
Close the blinds with top of slats facing you. – low pressure – brush side-to-side from the top down.
Close the blinds from the opposite direction and clean with a side-to-side movement from the bottom up.
Without opening the blind, remove it from its bracket and turn it so it now faces the wrong direction; put it back in its bracket and clean from the top down again. (This ensures that you have covered 100% of the slat surfaces).

Tip: For blinds, which have lots of mildew, spray the slats with a detergent that contains bleach before you begin. Allow five minutes before you start cleaning the blind.

Vertical Blinds

Triangular brush with towel (low pressure)
Open the blinds. Begin at the top of each slat.
Hold a towel in your opposite hand against the back side of the slat and move smoothly downward with the triangular brush on the front side.
Switch hands and repeat on the opposite side of the slat.

Caution: Too much heat can damage Vinyl blinds. Consider replacing rather that cleaning them.

How to clean carpet

Cleaning carpets with your Steam machine is a three-step process:

Vacuum the entire carpet first.
Spot-Clean the Carpet with your Steam machine. (The vapor causes the dirt and soil particles to loosen their grip on the carpet fibres and opens up the fibres.) Work about 5 square mts at a time. Rectangular or triangular brush -two towels are recommended when using the rectangular brush since the nylon bristles on it are stiff and cause too much drag -low or medium pressure. Use vigorous back and forth and side-to-side motions to loosen dirt on all sides of the fibres. Pre-mist with a light detergent if heavily soiled. You will see the towel get dirty as stains come off on it. Change the towel as often as necessary. Remember, the towel is your ‘extractor’ in this process, and you are removing the stain without leaving the carpet wet.
Use the brush with a towel. Low pressure – to remove any remaining spots.

NOTE: If you choose to vacuum again while the cleaned area is still warm be aware that a dirty beater bar brush on the vacuum cleaner can actually deposit more dirt back on the fibers.

Most protein-based stains – like food or bloodstains – can be “set” at temperatures above 1800F or by the passage of time. Once ‘set’ the stains are chemically bonded to the surface and cannot be easily removed. If they have not been ‘set’, most of such stains can be removed by soaking them for 10-15 minutes beforehand with an enzyme detergent in cool water.
Man-made carpet fibers have a melting point of 250deg.c and above, so they cannot be melted by the heat generated by a steam vapor cleaning system, but they are like hair in that they can be heat-set to retain a physical shape at temperatures ranging from as low as 200deg.c to around 300deg.c. In other words, you can’t melt them but you can change their shape with the heat generated by a vapor system, especially if you linger too long in one place.
Normal back-and-forth motion used in cleaning a carpet prevents heat build-up in the fibers and you don’t need to worry about damaging it.
Carpet fiber colour is also sometimes heat sensitive, especially some oriental carpets that were made with vegetable dyes, which were never “set” by boiling during the process of making their original threads. The colours in these carpets can bleed into surrounding fibers.
Such sensitive carpets can be successfully cleaned with steam, but always use extreme care not to expose them to high temperatures, excessive water or harsh detergents.
You have an advantage with a Steamworks NZ Ltd cleaning system in the ease with which you can control both heat and moisture quite easily with your cleaning technique – without using chemicals that leave destructive residues.
Most carpet cleaning systems don’t allow this much finesse and cannot be used on oriental carpets.

Nicotine and Tar

The combination of nicotine and cigarette tar forms one of the most distinctive substances you will encounter in cleaning. It is a light yellow film on every exposed surface in a room where smoking has occurred. The yellow film gets hard but stays slightly sticky, so that dirt and grease stick to it. It is difficult to wash off without hard scrubbing with strong detergents or an alkaloid solvent. Fortunately, it dissolves at high temperatures and becomes a light yellow oil that has the consistency of sewing machine oil. When this nicotine/tar film is touched by a hot towel clipped over the triangular brush it immediately dissolves and flows into the towel, turning it yellow all the way up the side of the brush.

You can remove it from flat surfaces as fast as you can move the brush over the surface.

How to clean ceilings

Wear your safety goggles
Cover the 300mm floor tool with the steam mop or an absorbent towel such as a cloth nappy.
Hold the head on the ceiling, allow the heat to build up for 5 to 10 seconds then slowly drag it along the area to be ceiling in a slow back and forth motion.

Acoustic Tile

Caution: some commercial Kitchens use a ceiling tile with a very thin textured vinyl coating. The heat from a vapor cleaning system will remove the texturing and smooth out the vinyl.
Do Not attempt to clean this type of ceiling using Steam.

How to clean using steam and chemicals

Using Cleaning Chemicals with Steam

An important factor with a steam vapor cleaning system is that no chemicals are added to the water. If something extra, such as detergent, degreaser or rust remover, is needed, pre-spray directly on the stain before cleaning it with steam. Or if equipped, as on the Athena model, use the chemical injection facility. In those cases where there is danger of causing a stain to ‘run’ if the surface is sprayed directly, you can spray a light mist onto the surface of a towel and pass vapor through the towel to clean the stain.

NOTE: Because heat makes chemicals work faster, the rule of thumb is to use so little that you do not get the stained surface wet. An easy way to do this is to use a spray bottle that you can adjust to a fine mist. A two second press of the chemical injection switch will deliver approx. one teaspoon of chemical to the steam.

Avoid exotic chemicals and use “natural” chemicals where possible.

Lemon juice will soften hard water deposits in bathroom areas, and is a natural bleach. A paste of lemon juice mixed with salt is a good rust remover.
Vinegar is also a natural acid for removing hard water deposits but has no bleaching action like lemon juice.
Either baking soda or plain carbonated water will polish stainless steel if you need to leave it looking extra bright after you clean it.

A steam vapor cleaning system eliminates the need for cleaning chemicals in most ordinary jobs, which involve water-soluble dirt or substances. However, some stains are not water-soluble, such as grease. If a degreaser or solvent has to be applied, keep in mind that heat makes any chemical work better. Use only about 1/10th as much of the cleaning agent as you would without the STEAM.

Adding Chemicals to the Tank

If you have a detergent injection model (e.g. Athena) put a LOW SUDS detergent in the detergent tank (call Steamworks NZ Ltd to order an excellent low suds degreaser and gum remover formulated specifically for use with steam). If you put high suds detergent into the tank, bubbles will form in your waste bucket and will cause the machine to stop. Should this happen, empty the waste bucket and resume use.

Important: Never put anything in the water tank or boiler but water.

How to remove chewing gum

Use a wire or nylon detail brush for carpets.
Heat up spot of gum for 1-3 seconds, release small amount of approved Gum remover using the chemical injection facility or pre spay the spot.
As the chemical hits the gum, scrub for few seconds and gum will dissolve.

Removing Wax, Tar etc.

Comment: Many stains are only stuck on the surface of materials and can be quickly removed by ‘blowing’ excess material away from the surface from the side. This prevents driving the particles deeper into the fiber. This applies to things as copier toner, gum, crayons, dirt, makeup, tar, etc. Always try to vacuum any loose residue off the surface before you apply vapor to it!

How to clean curtains

Draperies

Triangular brush with towel – low pressure – hold a folded second towel: in your “off” hand. On single-ply draperies the stain will usually go through and be deposited on this towel.

Sheers or One-Ply Fabric

If the drape is heavily soiled, mist the soiled areas very lightly with a gentle detergent. (Don’t use enough to get the fabric wet.) Use the triangular brush on one side of the pleat at a medium pace (about 100cms per second) from the top of the drape to the bottom, moving with another towel against the backside of the drape at the same time. The vapor will go through the fabric and remove dirt from both sides simultaneously.

Insulated or Multiple-Layered Fabric

Same technique as for single-layer but be extra cautious about moving too slowly if cleaning insulated draperies, since the insulation is generally heat sensitive. It is better to go over the surface twice at moderate speed than once at low speed.

How to clean kitchen areas

Cleaning the floor

Attach the floor tool and lock it in place at the bottom of the extension handle.
Notice the bottom of the tool consists of bristles and a squeegee. To scrub the floor, use the steam only and angle the head so that you are scrubbing with bristles and not the squeegee. Scrub about one square meter. Switch off the steam and switch on the vacuum and use the squeegee to suck up all the moisture.

To clean the grout (floor and walls)

Use the nylon brush.
Gently rub brush along the grout and watch the dirt pour out. The dirt here is a build up of years of cleaning with a mop.
It may be a huge task to clean the grout on a large floor area, so we suggest not spending too long on a section at a time. After a week or two you can cover a large area and it should not require cleaning again for some time.

Bench tops

Stainless and laminate bench tops can be cleaned using several different methods.

Spray and wipe method. Hold detail nozzle about 10-20 cm from surface. Direct steam onto surface and wipe with cloth. Use detail nozzle in cracks and seams.
Use the small squeegee tool. Apply steam and squeegee along the bench top systematically working your way along the surface. Steam a small section the go over again with the vacuum on.

Fridge seals

Wear your safety gloves.
Use the detail nozzle. The detail nozzle is what the small nylon and brass brushes attach to.
Hold a rag or tea towel in your left hand about 25 cm away from the nozzle (or opposite if you’re left handed). Spray the steam along the fridge seal and blast the steam into the towel. The purpose of the towel is to avoid blasting the dirt all over the room and yourself.

Exhaust hoods

Wear your safety goggles.
Cover the 300mm floor tool with the steam mop or an absorbent towel such as a cloth nappy.
Hold the head on the range hood, allow the heat to build up for 5 to 10 seconds then slowly drag it along the area to be cleaned. If the area is heavily soiled you may need to change mop head or towel when it gets very dirty.

Ovens, Grills

To remove baked-on grease: No need to pre-heat the oven or grill. In fact, it works better if the surfaces are cool.
To clean stoves ovens and hotplates of baked on food take the large nylon brush and fit to the detail nozzle. Fit a stainless steel pot scourer to the round brush. The scourer will become heated by the steam and will cut through baked on food from grillers, oven door glass and stainless steel surfaces. When complete make sure that no pieces of the scourer remain to contaminate food preparation areas. For smaller areas the detail nozzle can be fitted with the small stainless detail brush for use in more confined areas. The longer detail lance comes with it’s own detail brushes and may also be used to reach tight areas.

Pre Spraying

For even faster results you can spray with a light misting of degreaser 3-4 minutes before cleaning or with Athena model use the detergent injection as you scrub.
Clean up with towels or vac as you go before the cleaned area dries.

How to clean upholstery

Use an upholstery tool or brush with clean all-white towels.
Never use more than a fine mist of detergent. The fabric should not even get wet.
Only use low pressure when cleaning any kind of fabric.
Use fast, light strokes, and avoid getting the fabric wet.
When cleaning silk, warm up the towel and then turn off the vapor entirely before touching the fabric i.e. if the towel is too hot to touch with your hand, it is too hot for silk.
Be patient with stubborn spots; work on a spot gently for no more than a minute at a time, then wait five minutes for the area to dry and repeat.
Use circular movements or back-and-forth and side-to-side movements to get all sides of surface fibre.
Finish with a brushing in one direction that will give the fabric a uniform appearance.

NOTE: Always determine the colour-fastness of any fabric – especially with reds or blues – by taking a clean, moist, warm towel and gently rubbing a small area as far down on the back or other out of the way place on the furniture as possible. If colour comes off on the towel you may need to have the piece dry-cleaned.

How to clean walls

Tiled walls

Use large brush with towel or the Steam Mop head with microfiber cloth on – low heat.
Move quickly with smooth strokes.

Painted walls

First, look carefully at the condition of the paint itself. If it is thin or was a very cheap grade of paint originally, cleaning it with anything may cause the paint to dissolve and wipe off.
For heavy stains or extremely dirty walls mist the towel with a light detergent before cleaning the wall. Follow up with a clean towel. Change towels often.
Caution: Water based paint of any kind can be removed with a vapor cleaning system just by applying higher heat and moving slowly. The paint will absorb into the towel.

Wallpaper

Vinyl or normal paper. Use a pad inserted under the towel with the triangular or rectangular brushes.
If no pad insert is available, clip towels over the rectangular brush to prevent bristles from poking their way through the towel while you are cleaning the wall (low pressure).
Use smooth, rapid strokes. Spray light detergent on the towel to clean greasy stains.
Go back over the area with a clean towel after cleaning with detergent.

NOTE: Use only low pressure and clean quickly while you are cleaning any kind of wallpaper.

How to clean wooden surfaces

General

Avoid getting natural wood too wet or hot.
move quickly and don’t linger in one spot with the steam on, the wood will go white (like putting a hot coffee cup on your polished wood table).
use the appropriate tool, either a floor head with a squeegee or a microfiber Steam Mop head.
use low steam

Fine wood floor surfaces

use a Steam Mop floor head with a microfiber cloth, or use the appropriate brush for the size and texture of the surface (low pressure) with a clean towel clipped over the brush.
Heat up the towel away from the surface and turn off the vapor before applying the brush to the surface to do the cleaning.
Use light detergent only when absolutely necessary and spray it on the towel before wiping, not on the surface.

Waxed Wood

If the wood surface is waxed, use only cool moist towels to wipe down the surface.
You can remove old wax with smooth cotton fabric, such as a cotton nappy (several layers) wrapped over the triangular brush (low heat).
Do not use a regular terry cloth towel because of the towel’s rough texture, which will leave stroke marks in the waxed surface.

Planning your work

Working efficiently with steam cleaning systems – plan your work

Assess the Job. Try to clean everything that will use the same brush at one time, because changing brushes slows you down.
Don’t skimp on towels or mop heads. A dirty towel will drag dirt onto the next surface. If you don’t want the washing – try using paper towels to finish off and dispose of once used.
Also, don’t use damp towels – they won’t absorb dirt into their surface. The idea behind using a towel is that dry cotton sucks up” the dirty moisture droplets from a surface as the vapor works its magic.

Work Techniques

Always work from the top down on any project. This way dirt and drips will not fall on cleaned surfaces.
Work efficiently. Avoid changing back and forth from one type of brush to another. Start with the smallest brush necessary and clean corners and other tight areas first, just as you would if you were painting. Work your way up to larger brushes as you clean.
Speed up your work on hard surface floors where you need to do a two-step process (scrub and clean) by scrubbing 1 to 3 square meters and immediately vacuum dry or wipe up with a loose cotton or industrial paper towel if your steam cleaner is not fitted with a vac. system.
Just throw the towel on the floor and mop it over the cleaned area using the brush.
You can also use industrial paper towels (sometimes called “wipes”) that can be thrown away instead of cotton towels. This is especially advisable when cleaning bathroom floors so you do not have to handle towels that may be soaked with urine residue.

Clean Up As You Go

A surface will be twice as clean after you finish if you do not allow the cleaned area to dry before wiping it up.
All surfaces-even glass and metal -have pores just like skin does. The superheated vapor works because heat opens the pores, allowing trapped dirt and grease to be released. If you don’t wipe off the released dirt immediately, it will sink back into the open pores and trapped once again when the surface cools.

Working Speed

Be thorough but move quickly. The dry steam vapor you are using will clean faster than you think it will.
As a rule it is better to go twice over an area quickly than once slowly.

Temperature Considerations

The temperature of the vapor at the tip of the nozzle is between 100 and 120c, depending on the brush you are using (having a towel wrapped over a brush raises the temperature).

WARNING: A towel clipped over a brush can get hot enough to burn you as long as vapor passes through it but it will cool within seconds after the vapor is turned off.

Adjusting the steam volume

Always start cleaning with low pressure and increase the pressure if the substance being cleaned requires it.
Low or medium pressure is recommended for most cleaning tasks. This will extend the operating time before the water tank requires re-filling.

The Mop Heads & Towels

The purpose of using towels or a fitted mop head with your steam system is to absorb moisture and dirt as a surface is cleaned. 100% white cotton terry cloth towels work best.
Wash towels hot, with strong detergent and bleach.
Always use dry towels. Wet ones will smear dirt.

USEFUL TIP: Using a scented fabric softener when washing the towels or mop heads will “per- fume” the air when the heated vapor goes through them later.

Which accessories to use

The standard tools for the Athena are. Contact Steamworks for industrial machine tools.

Large Floor Head comes with three removable attachments. Squeegee, Brush and Carpet attachment.
Small Head comes with three removable attachments. Large Squeegee, Small Squeegee and Brush. Use this for smaller areas e.g. windows, mirrors, stainless benches, wheelchairs etc.
Nozzle/Ferrule for directing a lot of vapor at a surface or blowing loose debris out of cracks and crevices. Use for toilets, drains, mats, anywhere which is hard to get and will with stand a blast of hot steam!
Multi-use mouth comes with six removable attachments, large and small polyester brushes, stainless brush, scraper, trapezoid and vertical vacuum mouths.
Polyester detail brush on soft surfaces.
Stainless steel brush is ideal for baked on grease and grime. It is perfect for cleaning the BBQ and kitchen grills.
Brass detail brush (not standard) on most metal surfaces. It is also ideal for cleaning chrome, brass and glass.

There are numerous other accessories for both the steam only and steam and vac models. Ask Steamworks NZ Ltd for the complete list of accessories to see what other accessories might make your specific jobs easier.

TIP: When attaching an accessory to the hand piece. Clean the inside of the fitting were it slides onto the hand piece with a shot of steam to remove grit that will make attaching of the accessory difficult. Applying some light oil to the O rings will help to increase their life.

Using distilled water

USING DISTILLED WATER

Check your manual for information about your model machine.

If you are in a hard-water area, you can use de-mineralized or distilled water to eliminate the possibility of creating hard water stains while you are cleaning fabrics and to prevent build up of mineral deposits around the valves in the system.

Important: Your Steam machine will work with hard water, but minerals will build up on the heating element and around the valves if you don’t take the time (once a month) to run a mixture of white vinegar and water through it. These mineral deposits can eventually cause the valves to stop working.

What else can you clean with steam?

OTHER THINGS YOU CAN CLEAN WITH STEAM

What can I use it on?

The system is practical for any surface with the exception of those surfaces that are extremely heat sensitive. The system has additional uses besides sanitation. Defrosting freezers, thawing frozen pipes are an example of the non-cleaning applications. The use of Athena machine in general contributes directly to better indoor air quality by reducing chemical residues and removing airborne particles.

Where does the chemical go?

Nowhere! The appliance only uses clean, clear water. No chemical is needed when using this system.

Some machines have a detergent dispenser for hard to remove grime.

Where does the water go?

The water is poured into a special non pressurised tank, it flows into the boiler that super heats and changes it into a hot “dry” steam cloud. The unique benefit of the Athena machine is that it produces a low moisture, high temperature steam and allow you to add water in the tank at any time without any risks. We like to call this a “dry” steam because so little water is left behind and so little is used. This patented system gives us the proven power of heat and steam to safely sanitise and clean while reducing chemical use. This reduces the time and effort required for many tasks.

Why don’t I just scrub away with soap and a sponge?

Our existing cleaning regime consists of applying a chemical or abrasive cleaner, then wiping or scrubbing the surface until the contaminant appears to be removed. This method requires much physical effort, often degrades the surface and exposes our lungs to toxic fumes. The Athena machines, combine heat with very fine water particles that penetrate even the pores – whatever the surface. This proven process thoroughly removes contaminants and leaves the surface free of residual chemicals. Visually superior results are achieved with less effort and no exposure to harmful chemical effects. The Athena machine also allows you to sanitise and deodorise areas that are impossible to treat mechanically or chemically. It’s easier and does a better job in less time.

Where does the dirt go?

Depending on the application, the dirt loosened by the Athena machine is simultaneously absorbed in a terry cloth bonnet, vacuumed up, or rinsed and wiped away using an absorbent cloth.

I have terrible allergies to common house hold pests like dust mites. How can this system help me?

The Athena machine, unlike other cleaning or pest control methods, uses heat to do the work, not chemicals or poisons. Let’s consider the dust mites: The Athena machine provides you with a method of penetrating all of these surfaces thoroughly with a temperature of 160°C. Five seconds are enough and the heat kills the mites without over wetting the surfaces reaching into the pores and pockets of fabric, bedding and carpets. The articles treated are completely dry in a matter of minutes. No chemical detergents here to affect your indoor air quality.

I have chemical sensitivities, how can this help me?

Because this system uses only water, you are not introducing anything into your environment that has new chemicals or new odours which may affect your well being. Using the Athena machine, will actually remove chemical residues left behind from previous cleaning procedures, as well as removing odour, from garments and other fabrics. In addition, using the Athena provides you with a means to sanitise many critical surfaces which are important to your health (as carpets, mattresses etc.) without using bad smelling toxic germicides.

What is continuous flow?

The continuous flow function means that the steamer is fitted with a separate tank for water reloading, not under pressure, which automatically feeds the boiler, thereby guaranteeing unlimited autonomy. It enables you to fill the steam cleaner with water without shutting it down and waiting for the boiler to cool. When you run out of water, simply open the reservoir and fill with water.

Are these systems being used in a commercial setting?

Yes they are. Many of the systems are being used in hospitals, retirement care facilities, the food service industry, hospitality industry, and government institutions such as schools and universities. The use of this method improves indoor air quality, reduces the physical effort involved with cleaning and provides a more thorough approach to cleaning. Because the use of chemicals is reduced and because water does not involve the regulatory requirements that many cleaning chemicals require, the method requires less management time and reduces paperwork.

How can we contact you?

email: Rob@streamworks.co.nz

call: +64 21 456983