Can You Put Floor Cleaner In A Steam Mop?

Steam cleaners utilize the power of heat via steam to eradicate germs, bacteria, bedbugs, viruses, and other pests. However, they often never leave behind a fragrance as others would prefer. So can you put floor cleaner in a steam mop? Well, it depends.

Besides delving into this question’s answer, I’ll demystify quite a few facts touching on steam cleaners and floor cleaners in this article. What’s more, the article also highlights the pros and cons of using the steam cleaner with any other cleaning solution, the benefits of using it with distilled water only, and a few more stuff. Be my guest.

How The Steam Cleaner Works

The steam cleaner needs only water and heat to make your carpet clean. The explanation behind this is quite simple.

Dirt and your carpet have adhesive forces. That’s why it’s hard to get rid of dirt from the carpet using cold water alone. However, when you use steam, the heat has enough energy to break these forces and cause the two (dirt and carpet) to separate.

At this point, you’ll only need a piece of cloth to wipe the dirt away. That’s why at the nozzle of a steam cleaner, there’s a cleaning tool.

So Can You Add The Floor Cleaner?

Anything is possible, even adding salt to tea; what matters is if it’s recommended. Well, there are different types of steam mops. While most of them will have a “water-only” precaution on their labels, a few will come with tailor-made additives to use with water, and others will recommend suitable additives to use.

It’s never safe to add the floor cleaner to a steam mop that condemns using any additional solutions with water in them. From experience, doing so is likely to cause corrosion of parts and possibly, damage. You also run the risk of voiding the underlying steam mop’s warranty.

Benefits Of Using The Steam Mop With Distilled Water Alone

Now let’s set our eyes on the benefits of avoiding any additives (including the floor cleaner) to the steam mop machine.

It Keeps Harmful Chemicals Away

Detergents and other cleaning solutions are fond of igniting allergic reactions. They have an unsafe chemical combination that can trigger various reactions and cause diseases in humans. The fragrances, toxic chemicals, and other elements aren’t all safe.

For example, most detergent fragrances often cause sneezing, coughing, and other adverse effects. Some of the chemicals aren’t also safe to stay in contact with for long.

For these reasons and more, steam mops are safe to use where kids and pets live.

It’s Less Costly

Since the mop only needs water to work effectively, you don’t have to spend money on other cleaning solutions again. With the other floor-cleaning methods, you may have to spend money on cleaning solutions, scrubs, and other stuff like bleaches.

Hot Steam Kills Bacteria And Viruses, Too

Apart from removing chime, soil, and other undesirable particles, hot steam kills bacteria and viruses. You don’t need a unique solution (sanitizer) to do away with the pests. The better news is that it kills almost all of them in just one cleaning. What a fortune!

It Acts As A Deodorant

The steam mop will always also do away with various unpleasant smells from your house. My experience with it has evidence that it ultimately drives away the smell of cigar. Others also testify that the mop can remove odors of different kinds.

Using The Steam Mop Correctly: What NOT To Do

Leaving The Mop Plugged For Long

This is the most common mistake with steam mop users. It’s important to understand that the steam mop often heats up to the right temperature only in a matter of seconds.

If left to heat for longer, the steam produced will be hotter, and it may damage not only your flooring material(s) but also the mop itself. It’ll also make you pay more energy bills.

Don’t Use Hard Water

Hard water contains minerals that often form deposits on the surfaces they’re used. This usually happens in the long run. When. You use hard water with steam mops; the deposits will form on the mop’s nozzles and cause malfunction. They may also form on your flooring materials like carpet.

Using The Mop On “Delicate” Floors

Delicate floors are those whose surfaces aren’t resistant to hot steam. Examples are laminate and hardwood floors. Their joints and or surfaces are often vulnerable to steam, which can easily cause damages to them.

Vacuum The Floor Before Using The Steam Mop On It

A vacuum cleaner picks up large particles to leave your floor quite clean. There’s profit in using it, saving your steam mop from picking up this stuff and lowering its lifetime as a result. Steam mops are designed for small debris, bot big ones.

Don’t Use The Mop On Walls

The main reason for avoiding a steam mop for your walls is to protect the walls from various damages. The hot steam is known to cause the peeling of the paint, which can lead to further damage on the wall’s surfaces and materials.

Using One Mop Cloth Throughout The Exercise

Mopping a large floor using the same mop cloth may cause inconveniences along the way. You expect the mop cloth to get dirty, and the more you use it, the more it gets even dirtier.

Using it without changing will only have you spreading the dirt around. The best thing is to have spare mop cloths to use — if you have a large floor to mop.

Handling The Mop While Plugged

It’s highly risky to handle your mop while plugged. Always ensure that all its parts (like mop cloth, glider, and the rest) are attached to it prior to plugging. The machine often heats up fast, and you can leave with injuries if you try being a hero.

The Bottom Line

Can you put floor cleaner in a steam mop? Yes, but only on the one that recommends so. There are multiple types of steam mops, some of which allow for the use of extra cleaning solutions. Read about the mop carefully to know its type. You know what to do if it allows you to add other cleaning solutions.